Lawn mower injuries among local kids are on the rise this year. Here's how to prevent them.

Lawn mower-related injuries to children treated at Nationwide's Children's Hospital have spiked in 2024 by more than 350% compared to this time in 2023 and 2022, according to the Columbus hospital.

Nationwide Children's treated a total of nine lawn mower-related injuries in minor patients in April and May. By comparison, there were a total of eight in 2022 and a total of 10 last year.

While these numbers are small, Tracy Mehan, director of research translation and communication at Nationwide Children's, noted that their hospital is just a small part of a larger statewide and national picture of injuries that are often serious and possibly life-threatening.

"We see loss of fingers, hands, toes, feet, deep cuts, burns, broken and dislocated bones, eye injuries, all of those types of things happen from lawn mowers," Mehan said.

Every year, about 10,000 children nationwide are injured by lawn mowers and these injuries are the number one cause of major limb loss for children under 10 years of age in the United States, according to the University of Iowa's Injury Prevention Research Center.

A study by that university found that the majority of the thousands of lawn mower injuries to kids, around 70%, were sustained when the child was a bystander and struck by the lawn mower while getting too close and not being seen or heard by the operator.

Roughly 25% of the childrens' injuries resulted from falling off a riding lawn mower while a passenger, though such lawn mowers are not designed with a passenger seat.

Keeping kids safe during mowing season

Mowing season still has a handful of months to go, and with kids out of school for summer and itching to play in the warmer weather, an increase in these types of accidents are of great concern, Mehan said. But they're also completely preventable, she said.

Mehan recommends taking precautions to make sure your children don't see the lawn mower as a toy, including not allowing them to play on it when it's off or stored away, or to ride on your lap while a riding mower is in use. Parents or caretakers should wear appropriate safety gear like eye and ear protection to signal the seriousness of the machinery to children.

Many lawn mower-related injuries also come from objects unexpectedly flying out from under the lawn mower while it's in use, so operators should first try to pick up stones or sticks that could be launched from the running blades before mowing their lawn.

Ideally, children should not be outside in the first place while a parent or caretaker is mowing, but under supervision indoors instead, Mehan said. Children playing outside might not be heard over the lawn mower's engine and could get too close.

Mehan also recommends storing the lawn mower before letting the kids back outside, as a recently-run lawn mower could still be hot and possibly result in burns if a child touches it.

If parents are seeking help with lawn chores or kids are hoping to earn summer money, children should be at least 12 years old to operate a push mower and at least 16 years old before using a riding mower. Adults should always supervise their children and supervise teens until they've demonstrated they can properly use the mower.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Nationwide Children's says lawn mower injuries to local kids are up