Common Garage Door Injuries in Summer

Summer means warmer weather, more honey do projects, and more kids playing outside. If you have a garage, summertime is also a time when certain garage door injuries are more likely to occur. These accidents can not only cause minor injuries, such as cuts, scrapes, and falls, but may result in more substantial injuries, including:

Dismemberment (loss of fingers or limbs)
Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
Death

In other words, these summertime garage door injuries should not be easily dismissed. Especially when many of them are easily preventable.

Pinching or Crushing Injuries
These types of injuries typically occur when fingers are caught between section joints. The consequences of these injuries can be amputations on the more serious end of the spectrum and painful cuts and other injuries on the less severe end of the scale.

Either way, teaching children to avoid placing their hands near section joints of the garage, ever, can prevent these types of injuries. Remaining vigilant when opening or closing garages to verify that no child is in the area will help as well.

Additionally, keep an eye on children playing near the garage, any time the door is open. Unexpected accidents occur all the time, but these types of tragedies can often be avoided with actions similar to what’s been described above.

Additionally, when garage doors fall, some children may be caught in the path and injured by a door falling on them. These types of injuries may result in devastating injuries like traumatic brain injuries, broken or crushed limbs, or even death.

Getting Locked in the Garage
This is especially problematic in older garage doors that may be in various states of disrepair. Rusted springs or springs that are cracked or have loosened can cause the garage to fall unexpectedly trapping young children in the garage.

During summer, this can be a problem on two fronts.

Garages can get extremely hot during the summer.

Many people store hazardous chemicals and other materials in garages that can put off noxious fumes when temperatures rise.

Aside from being diligent about garage and garage door maintenance, you may consider installing a garage exhaust fan that draws toxic fumes and oppressive heat out of your garage.

Word of Caution
Finally, don’t rely on built-in safety features that are supposed to cause garage doors to reverse when children cross their paths. A recent study concluded that while 88 percent of garage door openers reversed, according to design, when encountering blocks of wood, nearly 40 percent of them failed to do so, coming down on child-sized mannequins instead of reversing course. Don’t let tragedy strike.

Instead, teach your children to respect and avoid garage doors whenever possible and to never play in or around them.