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This week, I’d like to extend best wishes to my fellow dads as they prepare to celebrate Fathers’ Day on Sunday.
For some, the ideal Fathers’ Day weekend includes fishing, golf or taking in your favorite team’s ballgame with your kids. But for most, that day ends with a cold drink, a favorite lawn chair and a family gathering in the perfectly manicured, envy-inducing yard Dad works so hard to make the pride of the neighborhood.
And as we mow and trim our way to the front cover of Better Homes and Gardens, it’s important to stop and employ the appropriate safety measures.
Lawn mowers account for an alarming number of emergency room visits each year. According to data gathered from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, an average of 84,944 lawn mower-related injuries were treated in U.S. emergency departments each year from 2005 to 2015.
The nature of the injuries varied from lacerations to broken bones, burns to sprains and strains, and the most commonly injured parts of the body were the hands and fingers followed by the feet and toes.
In addition to all those compromised digits, a troubling number of children — about 17,000 per year, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) — are treated in emergency departments for injuries sustained in lawn mower accidents. Some of those children are operating machines they are too young to operate, and others are injured by an adult who isn’t aware the child is dangerously close to the lawn mower.
So let’s look at a few, standard safety practices to keep our do-it-yourself landscapers and their little helpers around the fire pit and out of the trauma bay this Fathers’ Day.
1.) Keep the kids out of the yard unless they’re old enough to help. The AAP recommends children not operate a walk-behind mower before age 12 and reach age 16 before operating a riding mower. When they are old enough to participate in the beautification of the family property, children should be trained to properly operate lawn mowers and taught to respect the various dangers they pose. Before children are old enough to help, they should be kept inside while an adult is mowing or kept far away from the mowing and monitored. Never allow a child to ride in your lap while operating a riding mower.
2.) Never assume your lawn mower blades are off. Lawn mower blades rotate at high speed and can break, sever and otherwise maim fingers and toes in an instant. Never attempt to unbind a blade that’s been stalled with hands or feet, because the blade can begin rotating again suddenly. And never assume the blade has stopped spinning because the motor’s been shut off. If you must remove grass or debris from the blade, make sure both the engine and the mower deck have shut down, and use a stick or broom handle to clear the blade.
3.) Watch out for unexpected projectiles. Powerful lawn mower blades can turn stones, fallen branches, children’s toys and virtually any rigid debris into fast-flying projectiles that can seriously damage eyes and lacerate any other parts of the body that are exposed. Be sure to comb the yard before mowing to collect any items that could be picked up by the mower deck and ejected toward the operator or anyone else in the vicinity of the yard. Also, it’s important to wear safety glasses and hard-toed shoes to protect the eyes and feet from anything the blades may expel. Don’t ever operate a lawn mower without assuring that the safety shield most have to prevent ejecting objects from flying is in place.
4.) The blades aren’t the only danger. If your lawn mower is gas powered, that means combustion is occurring in your engine. And where there’s combustion; there’s heat. Lots of heat. Lawn mower engine blocks can reach temperatures above 200 degrees Fahrenheit, and exhaust can be as hot as 240 degrees. At temperatures this high, skin will be badly burned if it comes into contact with the engine block or muffler of the lawn mower. Exhaust will cause severe burns as well and can start fires if loose clothing or dry debris is exposed to it for too long. It’s important to wear long pants while mowing and to be conscious of the exhaust and its high heat.
Riding mowers are not only hot; they’re heavy. Roll-over accidents are far too common and lead to broken and severed limbs, bad burns, and, in the worst scenarios, operators being pinned under heavy, hot and still engaged machinery. Be wary of steep pitches while driving your riding mower. If you feel uncomfortable on a hill, it’s a good sign you shouldn’t be there. And if you get stuck in mud or a ditch, seek help from a neighbor or friend. Don’t free your machine alone.
So as you begin mowing those glorious stripes — that would make greens keepers at Augusta National Golf Club proud — into your lawn, remember to stop, smell the roses, stay safe, and keep those hands healthy to hold your loved ones this Fathers’ Day.
