
Product | Primary Injury | Injured Body Part | Primary Age Group | ER Visits Per Summer |
Fans | Laceration | Finger | 1 to 5 | 5,213 |
Bicycles or accessories | Internal organ injury | Head | 5 to 10 | 184,531 |
Fireworks | Burns, thermal | Hand | 10 to 15 | 9,496 |
Water skiing | Laceration | Face | 15 to 20 | 4,239 |
Mountain climbing | Strain or Sprain | Ankle | 20 to 25 | 1,450 |
Fishing | Foreign body | Finger | 40 to 50 | 18,971 |
Riding power lawn mowers | Strain or Sprain | Trunk, lower | 50 to 60 | 5,014 |
Outdoor awnings or shutters | Laceration | Head | 60 to 70 | 636 |
Garden hoses, nozzles or sprinklers | Laceration | Face | 70 to 80 | 5,357 |
According to ValuePenguin’s data scientist Dr. David Ascienzo:
- Your toddlers’ tendency to touch and grab things can hurt them badly: Children aged 1 to 5 years run a high risk of hand injuries during the summer from touching or grabbing fans, hot grills, beach chairs and folding chairs.
- Keep an eye on your bike-riding or ‘dive-bombing’ kids: The vast majority of summer injuries sustained by 5-10-year-olds were from biking and swimming pools. Another worrying injury was from young children this age accidentally consuming swimming pool chemicals.
- Adults & Seniors need to be careful too: Performing routine, and seemingly harmless tasks in the summer, like fishing, lawn maintenance, moving air conditioners, opening outdoor awnings or using garden hoses, nozzles or sprinklers can be deadly for adults and seniors.
To identify the most common product-related summer injuries, Dr. Ascienzo looked at emergency room data from 1998 through 2017 from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. You can read his full report here: https://www.valuepenguin.com/2018/05/what-are-most-common-product-injuries-summer