In April, the Annals of Emergency Medicine published a report on lawn mower injuries that contains some sobering statistics.

Researchers analyzed emergency room and hospital records from 1996 to 2004 and found that nearly 663,400 people went to the emergency room and almost 12,000 people were hospitalized in lawn mower accidents during that period. The research was drawn from two large databases: the National Hospital Discharge Survey and the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System run by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The major hazard causing accidents was flying debris. Other injuries happened while trying to fix lawn mowers. Bystandanders, including children, were among the injured.

Men were hospitalized for lawn mower accidents five times more often than women. The most common diagnosis was fractured toes. Most emergency room visits were due to cuts, often when debris from under the mower hits body parts.

Having fractured toes was the most common diagnosis requiring hospitalization, followed by amputated toes. The most common medical procedure required for hospitalization was for intensive surgical cleaning of wounds, infections or burns.

Other activites that resulted in injuries included:

• Running over an extremity (hand or foot)
• Servicing mowers that were turned off (often while replacing motor blades)
• Servicing mowers that were running (such as clearing brush from the mower)
• Tripping over a stored mower
• Sustained physical stress from mowing
• Touching hot surfaces on the mower
• Falling on slippery surfaces while mowing

You can view the abstract of the article for free: "Lawn mower injuries in the United States: 1996 to 2004," by Vanessa Costilla, David M. Bishai, April 24, 2006.