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Injuries associated with... GARAGE DOORS
Entire CHIRPP database, as of May 1995, all ages
SUMMARY (183 records)
Garage door-related injuries were most frequent among children 10 to 14 years of age (28.4%), and 71.0% of these injuries were to boys. Injuries associated with garage doors occurred most commonly in the summer (37.7%). Most of the injuries happened in the patient's own home garage (77.6%), and many were due to a body part being caught in the door (36.6%) or the patient being in a dangerous position (36.6%). Most patients with garage door-related injuries (56.8%), received advice only or minor treatment, 37.7% required medical follow-up after leaving the emergency department and 4.9% of the patients were admitted to hospital. Injuries to the fingers or hand accounted for 62.4% of all injuries. The most frequent type of injury were abrasion, bruising or inflammation (34.6% of all injuries).
SPECIFICATIONS OF THE SEARCH
A May 1995 search of the entire CHIRPP database (423,663 records) was conducted. There was no age restriction. Records were selected if the injury i) was coded for electrical garage doors (code 0138), garage doors (code 1886), miscellaneous doors (code 1849) and separate garages (code 1830), or ii) if the text fields included the following word segment "GARAGE." The records selected were excluded if the injury was not caused by i) a garage door (e.g., description appeared to refer to a regular door used to connect the garage and the interior of the house), or ii) if the garage door was incidental to the injury (e.g., hit or ran into a garage door while engaged in another activity). The number of records identified was 183.
OVERALL OCCURRENCE
Among all CHIRPP records (423,663), the proportion of records accounted for by injuries associated with garage doors was 0.04% with a yearly range from 0.03% to 0.05% between 1990 and 1993, with no apparent trend over time.
AGE AND SEX DISTRIBUTION OF INJURED PERSONS
NUMBER PERCENT OF % MALE*
INJURIES
<1 years 3 1.6 33.3
1-4 years 28 15.3 75.0
5-9 years 49 26.8 67.4
10-14 years 52 28.4 65.4
15-19 years 11 6.0 90.9
20+ years 40 21.9 77.5
Total 183 100.0 71.0
* Of all injuries in the CHIRPP database, 59.7% are to males.
SEASON DURING WHICH INJURY OCCURRED
NUMBER PERCENT OF
INJURIES
Summer (June-August) 69 37.7
Spring (March-May) 54 29.5
Fall (Sept.-Nov.) 34 18.6
Winter (Dec.-Feb.) 26 14.2
Total 183 100.0
WHERE THE INJURY OCCURRED
NUMBER PERCENT OF
INJURIES
Own home garage 142 77.6
Other residential garage 18 9.8
Commercial enterprise 11 6.0
Construction site 3 1.6
Other 2 1.1
Unknown 7 3.8
Total 183 100.0
TYPE OF GARAGE DOOR
NUMBER PERCENT OF
INJURIES
Automatic or electric door (definite or probable) 76 41.5
Manual door (definite or probable) 40 21.9
Unspecified 67 36.6
Total 183 100.0
HOW THE INJURY OCCURRED
The following is a list of frequently occurring circumstances and factors in injuries related to garage doors. Each case has been assigned to only one category and percentages are based on 183 persons injured. Category assignment is based on the level of detail available in the description of the injury.
NUMBER PERCENT OF
INJURIES
Caught or cut fingers or hand in garage door 108 59.0
Garage door came down on patient 43 23.5
Hit against garage door 9 4.9
Repairing or installing garage door 6 3.3
Door broke or malfunctioned 4 2.2
Slipped or fell when opening/closing garage door 2 1.1
Lifted off ground by garage door 2 1.1
Foreign body in eye when opening/closing garage door 2 1.1
Cut on glass of garage door window 2 1.1
Movement of garage door over turned baby carriage
or stroller 2 1.1
Suffered sprain or strain while opening/closing
garage door 2 1.1
Cut by garage door opener 1 0.5
Total 183 100.0
NATURE OF INJURY AND BODY PART INJURED
NUMBER PERCENT OF
INJURIES
Abrasion/bruising/inflammation 70 34.1
-finger 40
-leg or foot 14
-trunk 8
-head 4
-arm 4
Cut/laceration 67 32.7
-finger 46
-head or neck 12
-leg or foot 6
-arm 3
Crushing injury 27 13.2
- finger 27
Fracture 18 8.8
- finger 13
- leg or foot 4
- head or neck 1
Sprain or strain 10 4.9
-arm 4
-leg or foot 4
-finger 2
Minor head injury 4 1.9
Concussion 2 1.0
Dental injury 2 1.0
Asphyxiation/difficulty breathing 2 1.0
Foreign body in eye 2 1.0
Other 1 0.5
No injury detected (3)
Total *205 100.0
* Up to three injuries may be specified for each record.
21 patients (11.5%) sustained more than one injury.
TREATMENT PROVIDED
NUMBER PERCENT OF
INJURIES
Left without being seen 1 0.5
Advice only, or treatment with
no need for follow-up 104 56.8
Treated, follow-up required 69 37.7
Admitted to hospital 9 *4.9
Fatal injury **0
Total 183 100.0
* The percentage of all CHIRPP injuries that resulted in hospital
admission is 5.7%.
** It should be noted that fatalities counted by CHIRPP include only
those patients who were dead on arrival at the emergency department
or who died in the emergency department. They do not include people
who died before they could be taken to hospital or those who died
after hospital admission.
PROFILE OF PATIENTS ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL
Of the 9 patients admitted to hospital, 8 were male and 1 was female; 5 were one to four years old, 2 were five to nine years old, 1 was ten to 14 years old, and one was an adult. An automatic or electric garage door was involved in the injury of five patients and the type of door was unspecified in the other four. Three of these patients suffered fractures; one of the skull, one of the femur and one of the finger. Two patients were admitted with asphyxiation injuries. Two patients suffered cuts, lacerations or other wounds; one of the upper arm and one of the fingers. One patient was admitted with a dental injury and concussion. One patient suffered bruising to the trunk.
Seven patients were injured when garage doors fell or came down on them and two caught their fingers in moving parts of garage doors.
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