PREVENTABLE LAWNMOWER ACCIDENTS ARE ON
THE RISE IN PENNSYLVANIA AND THE UNITED STATES
There are approximately 180,000 lawnmower accidents per year. Recently, featured on the CBS early morning news, was the case of Betty Forsythe, whose grandson suffered catastrophic injuries in Pennsylvania in a lawnmower accident. In the interview, Ms. Forsythe, of Duncannon, PA, noted that her grandson, Dylan, lost three fingers and one of his feet and stated “Children are fast, children are quick. If you are the parents or grandparents, if you are watching children, just don’t allow them to be in the same area where mowing is done”. In the same story, Dr. Scott Cozen of Shriner’s Hospital for Children, a specialist in pediatric and hand and foot surgery, indicated that he has treated dozens of children injured by lawnmowers and stated that lawnmower accidents are the number one cause of foot amputations in children nationwide. He noted that “either the child is riding on the mower with Grandpop or Dad and subsequently falls off and has a devastating injury while playing in the yard and the child is inadvertently run over. He further noted that the majority of the kids injured by lawnmowers are teenagers. Many teenagers are cutting the lawn for allowance, at which point the lawnmower gets stuck and they do something stupid such as putting their foot in, reaching their hand in and resulting in an amputation.
A lawnmower can be a dangerous machine causing catastrophic injuries and death if not used properly. Most lawnmower accidents are catastrophic with over half requiring amputations of toes, feet, legs or fingers. It is noted that the summertime is the most dangerous time for kids and lawnmowers. Apparently, children do not have an appropriate fear of power lawnmowers and with a parent mowing, they cannot hear the child running up so that even with backing up or going forward, the child can often end up under the mower.
Recently on the ABC “Good Morning America” show, the case of Henry Burmester, a 4 year old, was noted. Unfortunately, Henry Burmester‘s father accidently ran over Henry’s foot with the lawnmower. His Dad, Donald, was backing up the mower and never saw his son coming as the spinning blade hit the boy’s leg and foot. According to the report, the Burmesters began a campaign and non-profit organization called “Know Before You Mow” to alert parents and kids to the dangers of lawnmowers. It includes chilling public service announcements that demonstrate how quickly a child can run into trouble with a lawnmower.
The Pennsylvania personal injury attorneys of Reiff and Bily, we have been researching and handling product liability matters for approximately 30 years. Product liability law mandates that manufacturers have a responsibility and a legal obligation to produce safe products. Nowhere is this more important than in the manufacturing of both regular and riding lawnmowers.
Recently, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled the Lawnbott robotic lawnmower noting that this product posed a safety hazard to consumers. It was found that the blade of the lawnbotic mower remains spinning until the mower was lifted beyond 45 degrees, which was enough room for the hand or foot to be caught in the blade. The distributor, Kyodo American Industries, recalled the product. The importer of the lawnmower was Kyodo American Industries of Lawrenceville, GA.
On July 10, 2008, the United States Consumer Products Safety Commission recalled 20,500 Honda lawnmowers manufactured by the American Honda Corporation of Torrence, CA. It was noted that said mowers had a hazard whereupon the lawnmowers rear shield could break off allowing debris to be thrown towards the operator, posing a risk of blindness or laceration to consumers. These lawnmowers were sold across the United States from October 2007 until June 2008. This means you should check your lawnmower before cutting grass this weekend to make sure that your lawnmower was not within the classification of recalled lawnmowers.
If you have suffered a serious injury, including deep cuts, loss of fingers and toes, burns, broken fractured or dislocated bones and most seriously death, it is essential that you contact an experienced personal injury lawyer and product liability lawyer in Pennsylvania at Reiff and Bily who have handled many product liability cases for 30 years, working on a contingent fee basis, charging a small percentage of the recovery. They will not get paid unless there is a successful recovery.
Many of the accidents caused by lawnmowers can be prevented by manufactured installed guards or other safety prevention devices. Unfortunately, the manufacturers frequently make profits over safety (a wrong priority) and do not install safety or preventative measures in order to keep costs of the machine low. Many accidental injuries could have been prevented in the manufacture of a safe riding lawnmower, any accidents involving children, reverse movement by the lawnmower whereupon the blade does not stop operating. Many manufacturers of riding lawnmowers use a simple and expensive no mow in reverse safety feature (NMIR). NMIR safety features have been designed into all MTD/Cub Cadet lawnmowers since early 1983 and into riding lawnmowers manufactured by John Deere beginning in 1998. By 2001, riding lawnmowers manufactured by Toro, Snapper, and Kubota, were all equipped with NMIR. Sears Craftsman, Husqvarna and Murray did not equip their riding lawnmowers with NMIR safety features until approximately September 2004.
Unfortunately, the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) has failed to create any mandatory safety standards for riding lawnmowers. Lawnmower manufacturers have known for at least 30 years that NMIR safety features would prevent young children from suffering catastrophic injuries from back over blade contact accidents. Additionally, lawnmower rollover accidents are attributed to many catastrophic injuries and death. Nearly all serious injuries and deaths can be prevented if manufacturers installed rollover protection systems (ROPS) as standard equipment before the lawnmowers are sold to the public. Many have chosen not to provide for driver protection, once again putting profits over safety.
At the Pennsylvania catastrophic injury lawyers of Reiff and Bily, we believe that manufacturers have an obligation to produce safe lawnmowers and if they do not do so, they should be held responsible for the injuries or deaths that they cause. If you or someone you love was injured because of a lawnmower, you should seek counsel with the resources and expertise necessary to successfully prosecute your claim. To learn more about the frequencies of lawnmower backover accidents, as well as other lawnmower accidents, and the steps that manufacturers are now taking to prevent the injuries and to learn more about what you can do, please feel free to contact us.
Backover blade contact accidents are not your fault. You can do several things to help prevent these terrible accidents and catastrophic injuries to children. Please consider the following:
1. If you have been affected personally by riding a lawnmower or backover accident or know a relative who has send the information to this website by contacting us.
2. In certain instances where an individual has received permanent injuries as a result of a riding lawnmower accident, the victim and the family may be entitled to make a claim against the lawnmower manufacturer providing for the child’s past and future medical needs, loss of wage earning capacity, as well as to recover monetary compensation for non-economic damages such as physical pain and suffering, physical impairment, physical disfigurement and mental anguish. By contacting the law firm of Reiff and Bily, we can assist you.
3. You can contact the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, Inc. and their industry and request action on their part to resolve this problem.
4. You can encourage your elected officials and government agencies to legislate solutions to this problem.
It is always important to follow the manufacturers safety recommendations contained in the Operators Manual for your lawnmower. However, unfortunately, even if the manufacturers safety recommendations are followed, there will be instances where blade contact or rollover will occur due to design defects in the lawnmower which could have been easily avoided.
The Pennsylvania defective product lawyers of Reiff and Bily, we are committed to preventing lawnmower accidents and other vehicle accidents which could have easily been prevented by an inexpensive solution by the manufacturer instead of putting profits over safety.
