The Summer’s Top 7 Hazards

My father paid me to cut our grass spring and summer for 50 cents.

When our sons were old enough to start, we paid them 10 times that and considered it a bargain.

A friend warned me to buy steel-toed shoes for them to protect their feet.

As a kid, I cut our family’s grass in sneakers.

Steel-toed shoes were expensive for two boys who would quickly grow out of them.

Besides, our sons preferred sneakers.

Were we bad parents to let them do it in sneakers?

Many home owners are compulsive about the sight of neatly mowed lawns.

They pour hundreds of dollars into sod, fertilizers and other preparations to pamper their lawns.

In their haste to get that lawn in shape, some – like me – ignore precautions.

Besides sharp, spinning power mower blades, cutting grass with a riding mower on slopes can endanger you if gravity takes over and the mower tips.

That happened to my wife’s father cutting grass on his pond dam.

When the mower tipped over, he was lucky he was not pinned under it. No one was around to help him had he been seriously injured.

Lexington Medical Center’s emergency room and Urgent Care Center physicians see lots of mower injuries:

• Toes, hands, and fingers getting caught in blades.

• Rocks and sticks run over and flung at them.

Some even start tinkering with the mower and reach under to unclog it without powering it down.

Those spinning blades create hideous injuries.

The cuts and bruises are hard to repair because whirling blades cause complex lacerations and fractures and can bury grass and dirt in the wound.

To be safe:

• Wear closed-toed shoes, work gloves, goggles or sunglasses and long pants for protect from flying debris.

• Keep kids away from push mowers and off riding mowers. These aren’t other ride-on toys.

• Hire a pro to service your mower or learn how to do it properly.

It’s critical to disconnect the spark plug to prevent it from an accidental start.

Turning a push mower’s blade manually can ignite the engine and injure you.

Next: Take care on the water or you could drown.