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Shopping
Cart Injuries
Despite a decline in
many other types of unintentional childhood injuries, the number of
shopping cart related injuries continue to increase substantially.
Shopping cart injuries cause serious pediatric morbidity in children
five years of age and under. A child’s life can change
dramatically within a few seconds. These injuries are
potentially fatal.
Falls from shopping
cart seats and baskets are the most common form of shopping
cart-related injury. Head injuries account for approximately
two-thirds of all injuries associated with falls from shopping
carts. The majority (85-90%) of shopping cart injuries occur
within a retail environment. The remainder of the injuries occurs in
the establishment’s parking lot. A high number of injuries
involve direct parental supervision. 91% of the time, the person
pushing the cart was six feet or less from the cart at the time of
injury.
Consumer Product
Safety Commission (CPSC) 2002 data:
1. 4,736 serious head injuries
2. 564 concussions
3. 155 skull fractures
Despite preventative
strategies currently in place, a significant number of serious
shopping cart injuries continue to occur. Safety belts
(straps) alone, without a redesign of the shopping cart will not be
successful in eliminating these injuries. Present preventive
strategies are ineffective and insufficient.
Bottom Line:
We have a problem that is not going to disappear!
Mechanism Of Injury
Three common causes
of injury include:
• Falls from the seat area
• Rear tip-over
• Side tip-over
Falls from the seat
area:
• Accounted for 4,736 serious head injuries in 2002
• According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), 51% of
cart falls are from the seat area.
• Are foreseeable and predictable.
Rear tip-overs:
• Occur when a downward force is applied to the shopping cart handle
in conjunction with the dangerously high center of gravity that
occurs when a child is placed in the seat.
• A significant variable is the location of the handle and child
seat in relation to the rear wheels.
• An average sized adult can provide sufficient force to tip over
some styles of shopping carts simply by placing forearms on the
handle and leaning on the handle.
• If a child leans forward while in the seat, the shopping cart will
tip rearward more easily.
• Fractured femurs are a commonality with this mechanism of injury.
Side tip-overs:
• A child located in the seat area can reach out and over the side
of the shopping cart with resultant side-tipping of the shopping
cart.
• Injury may also occur when a child reaches out and over the side
of the shopping grabbing a retail item or display object.
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