Lawn Mower Injuries Preventable

June 1, 2007 -- Awful lawn mower injuries -- all of them preventable -- send 9,400 kids and teens to emergency rooms, several medical societies warn.

How bad are the injuries? Just look at who's sending out the warning: the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Academy of Plastic Surgeons, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

"It never ceases to amaze me how our emergency rooms continue to see the devastating injuries that lawn mowers can cause, ASRM President Lawrence Colen, MD, says in a news release.

"Partial limb amputations, face and eye injuries, and mutilating hand trauma caused by these machines can change the lives of the afflicted forever," Colen says.

The medical societies make several safety recommendations:

• Keep children under the age of 6 inside when your yard, or an adjacent yard, is being mowed.
• Don't let kids ride as passengers on mowers or let them be towed behind mowers.
• Don't let kids play on or around stored mowers.
• Don't let kids operate mowers unless they show you they have the strength and know-how to operate a mower safely.
• Don't let a child operate a hand or power mower until he or she is 12 years old. Don't let a child operate a ride-on mower until he or she is 16.
• Wear sturdy shoes -- not sandals -- during mowing.
• Before mowing, pick up stones, toys, and debris from the mowing area.
• Always wear eye and hearing protection during mowing.
• Mower blades should be adjusted by adults only.
• Don't pull backward on a mower or mow in reverse. If it's absolutely necessary to do so, look carefully behind you before backing up a mower.

"Lawn mowers severely injure thousands of children every year," AAP President Jay. E. Berkelhamer, MD, says in the news release. "So many of these tragic injuries could have been prevented with just a few precautions."