Risk Management Alert Topic: Protecting Children's Fingers from Door Injuries Did You Know? A closing door can exert up to 40 tons per square inch of pressure along the gap between its hinges. Did You Know? The National Safety Council estimates that 300,000 injuries are caused by doors every year. Consumer Product Safety Commission statistics for the last available year cite 44,676 injuries to fingers, hands, and wrists of children under the age of 14. Did You Know? Door injuries result in an estimated 15,000 amputations every year. Individual incident costs can be astronomical...two cases where the finger actually was reattached had respective price tags of $725,000 and $600,000. A frequent injury in a YMCA involves a child whose hand or fingers are caught in a closing door. Some times it is a minor pinch...often it is much more. Fortunately, this is a loss that a proactive YMCA can prevent. Closing doors frequently inflict bruised, cut, or smashed fingers, torn or cracked fingernails, broken bones, and even amputations on unwary children...injuries that happen very quickly, often before staff can react to prevent them. Basic supervision and monitoring, especially in the proximity of doors, may prevent many of these injuries. Specific areas of focus for proper supervision include the following: Utilization of appropriate pinch protection hardware may also significantly reduce the potential for injury. For a relatively small cost a YMCA may protect the children it serves from a potential life-altering event by installing such hardware on all doors that are in childcare areas or are frequently used by children. Fingershield Safety (USA) (www.fingershieldsafety.com),Fingersafe USA, Inc. (www.fingersafe.com), and Mountain View Enterprise (www.fingerguard.com) are some of the manufacturers of such equipment. Extent and method of protection, durability, and costs vary significantly. The different products may not be equally suitable for your specific needs so you should carefully compare their attributes. Whatever hardware you select should prevent (not just discourage) the entry of a finger into the danger zone from both sides of the door. It should protect the door through the full extent of its swing (i.e., it should be capable of protecting doors that open 180 degrees). Attachment should use screws rather than glue for a stronger, more durable connection. The cost of a few hundred dollars to install this hardware is negligible when compared to the reduction in exposure to the hundreds of little fingers that come in contact with these doors each and every day. Please call us at 800-463-8546 to discuss this or any other risk management safety concern, or visit our web site at www.redwoodsgroup.com to learn more about YMCA risk management related issues.
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| Risk Management services are provided by The Redwoods Group to assist the insured in fulfilling its responsibilities for the control of potential loss-producing situations involving their YMCA operations. The information contained is not intended as legal advice; it simply represents trends in the YMCA industry, related industries and/or law. Laws and suggested standards are under constant review by courts, states and trade groups. They can be vastly different in each jurisdiction. For legal advice relating to any subject addressed, YMCAs are advised to seek the services of a local personal attorney. The information is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind and The Redwoods Group expressly disclaims all warranties and conditions with regard to any information contained, including all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The Redwoods Group assumes no liability of any kind for information and data contained or for any course of action you may take in reliance thereon. |
| released 9/21/05 |