Doors Can Be Dangerous!

How often do you think of a door as a source of injury? Doors can be a cause of injury and some basic safety measures can help reduce those injuries. Minor injuries often involve bruising or a blackened fingernail when a hand is caught in the latch end of the door as someone carelessly closes it. However, injuries can be much more severe, leading to broken bones or even the loss of a limb. These serious injuries usually involve the hinge area of the door.

The National Safety Council (NSC) reported more than 300,000 door-related injuries requiring hospital emergency room treatment each year in 1994, 1995 and 1996. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) statistics show that 116,657 finger, hand, and wrist injuries involving doors were treated in emergency rooms in 1996; of those, 44,676 involved children under the age of 14.

How do these injuries happen? Picture this: a door is opened, and a child is standing near the hinge area. He puts his hand on the wall and his fingers curl around the corner of the door frame. Then, the door closes because of an automatic door closer or because someone closed it. It is also possible that a gust of wind slams the door closed. The result: the child's fingers are trapped between the door facing and the hinged side of the door.

Automatic door closers that slow down or prevent slammed doors can help prevent injuries at the latch (doorknob) side of the door. However, as the door shuts, it creates an inescapable trap at the hinge end of the door. The automatic door closer may then make it more difficult to open the door, and a child may not have sufficient strength to push the door back if fingers are caught in the hinge area. Also, a child caught in the hinge area may not be able to reach the door knob to open the door.

As the door closes, the pressure exerted at the hinge area of a door can reach as much as 40 tons per square inchnothing can resist that! Try shutting a door with a wooden pencil between the edge of the door and the door jamb to witness what can happen to a finger.

The National Safety Council refers to an incident such as this as "unintentional injury" rather than "accident." The term "accident" would indicate it was unavoidable and unexpected; but in fact, most injuries are preventable. Most childcare environments install safety devices on cupboard doors, stove tops and electrical outlets, as well as smoke detectors and fire extinguishers. Door safety guards are another safety device that should be considered.

The General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Defense Childcare Center Guidelines require door hinge safety guards in their child development centers. The National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care has included this standard in the revised National Health and Safety Performance Standards for Out of Home Child Care (to be available in 2000).

Safety devices

Automatic door closers and other devices can prevent doors from closing completely helping to prevent broken and bruised fingers. Door hinge guards cover the space between the door and the door jamb at the hinge side, and can help prevent major injuries at the hinge side of the door. Door hinge guards are available at reasonable cost. Most are fairly simple to install and do not require removal of the door. Here are some things to check to prevent door-related injuries:

• Ensure that hinges are firmly installed and that the door is not "wobbly."
• Make sure automatic door closers are correctly adjusted so that they pause long enough to allow anything in the latch area, including hands, fingers and feet, to be removed quickly prior to that final slam.
• If the door is fitted with a panic bar, inspect the space at the ends of the bar. If it is so close to the door jamb when the door is closed that it creates a pinch hazards, consider having the panic bar shortened or replaced.
• Is the door handle of the type that the door may be easily opened by a young child, thereby allowing the child to leave the room unnoticed by the caregiver? Consider replacing those handles or install alarms (such as travel alarms) to sound if the door is opened.
• When fitting door hinge guards, make sure they allow the door to open to its full extent. Some doors open to 180°, and any hinge guard that does not allow this is likely to pull away from the door, leaving the finger-pinch hazard still there.
• Try to avoid hinge guards that use glue as the method of attachment. If the surfaces to which these are attached are not properly prepared, the hinge guards can easily become detached. Also, many glues cannot stand up to the wide extremes of temperature that may be encountered in some geographic areas.
• Both the opening hinge side and the hinge pin side (where the hinges protrude) should be protected by the hinge guard. Injuries at the hinge pin side can include not only amputations and crushings, but also head lacerations if the child falls and strikes his or her head on the protruding hinge.
• If there are glass doors, ensure that the glass is shatterproof or of the wired glass variety. Also, place a warning on the glass (such as vinyl window decorations or children's art samples) to prevent someone walking into the glass.

A building owner, tenant or operator now may be held responsible for injuries that occur as a result of a door not being fitted with adequate safety devices to prevent injury. The primary reason for installing safety devices such as door hinge guards is to help protect the children in your care from injury, but taking such preventive measures can also help protect you from potentially high medical costs and lawsuits. Remember to inform your insurance agent of any safety improvements in your home or center; ask about premium discounts related to your improvements.

Doors need no longer be dangerous. Door safety works and by putting in placement appropriate safety measures, injuries to children, staff and visitors can be reduced.

By Tony Cross, A.C.I.I.
President, Fingersafe

Internet Resources

www.fingersafe.com

www.fingerguard.com