FACTS

1. When it comes to yard work, there are few injuries as prevalent as strained or pulled muscles. They affect people of all ages, fitness levels and physical builds, often striking inflexible or improperly stretched muscles groups that displayed no prior signs of rigidity.

2. After all, more than 164,000 people are injured from falling off a ladder. Ladder injuries can cause mild to serious problems, such as bruises and broken bones or concussions and spinal damage.

3. Lawnmowers present a range of safety hazards. Engines are prone to stalling due to:

• Improper, stale fuel, rusted spark plugs, damaged carburetors.

4. Tractor injuries include muscle strains, bruises, bone fractures and breaks due to rollovers, collisions or attempting to fix entangled parts. Rollovers account for the majority of tractor-related injuries, occurring when tractors are driven in hazardous weather conditions or maneuvered across uneven terrain.

5. From manual clippers to more contemporary battery-powered tools, yards with large bushes and hedges require a hedge-clipping routine. Cuts and lacerations usually take place when mishandling or losing control over a clipper. This is especially common with older, rusty or poorly maintained trimmers without smooth, even applications or designs that are clunky to handle.

6. Chainsaw-related injuries include muscle cramps from handling the tool too long, as well as strains and spasms that result from chainsaw’s vigorous vibrations. In severe cases, individuals lose control of chainsaws and risk grave bodily harm. Chainsaws should always remain out of reach from pets and children whether in use or not, plus securely stored when off.

STATS

• About 20 % of people who get hurt cut themselves, mostly on their fingers or hands while changing or sharpening the mower blade or removing something stuck in it.
• When a walk-behind or riding mower injuries from sharp, spinning blades can amputate a finger, toe, or even a foot when someone slips under the mower, as happened to 3 % of the more than 85,000 people injured by mowers.
• Of the injuries connected to lawn mowers, 95,193 (11.1%) required hospitalization, compared with 169,125 (7.3%) for all other types of lawn and garden equipment.
• LawnStarter’s data analysis shows that in the past decade, U.S. emergency rooms reported an estimated 3,195,333 injuries tied to lawn and gardening equipment. That amounts to an average of 319,533 per year or a little over 875 per day. Injuries include amputations, burns, nerve damage, broken bones, cuts and bruises.
• While there’s no way to know for sure, the recent rise in DIY lawn and garden work prompted by the coronavirus pandemic could lead to more injuries in 2020 than in recent years.