Highchair accidents

Abstract

In order to establish guidelines for highchair accident prevention we investigated causes, mode and complications of highchair accidents by the following methods: The charts of 103 children attending our Accident & Emergency department for highchair related injuries were studied retrospectively. Questionnaires were sent to the parents to obtain detailed information about the mode of accident. They were also asked to suggest preventive measures. In addition, a random sample survey was performed with 163 families inquiring about the rate of highchair use and the incidence of highchair related accidents. Of the 103 infants, 15.5% had sustained a skull fracture, 13.6% a brain concussion, 2.0% limb fractures and 68.9% a simple contusion of the head or lacerations to the scalp or face. The questionnaires were fully completed by 61.2% of parents. Every second family reported that their infant had tried to stand up in the highchair before falling off (only one child had been wearing a restraint). In a further 14.3% of accidents the highchair tipped over. Eighty-seven percent of parents would appreciate a pre-installation of restraints, 54.0% requested more informative instructions for users, and 33.3% asked for products with better stability. The random sample survey revealed a highchair use rate of 92%; 18% of families used highchairs equipped with restraints, and 6% reported highchair accidents sustained by their children. We conclude that most highchair accidents occur when unrestrained infants try to stand up. Pre-installed child restraints, better manuals for users and increased highchair stability should be recommended as promising accident prevention strategies.

Parents' perceptions, attitudes and behaviours towards child safety: a study in 14 European countries

“…Also, more than half agreed that many child safety products have unclear or complicated instructions. These findings are in agreement with the study by Mayr, in which 80% of parents interviewed would appreciate a preinstallation of car restraints, 54% requested more informative instructions for users and 33% asked for products with better stability (Mayr et al 1999). This information is useful to determine the link between parental perception of safety equipment and use (Ehrlich et al 2001), as well as parental misconceptions of safety equipment, which may jeopardize the safety of their children (Ramsey et al 2000).…”

Pediatric Injuries Associated With High Chairs and Chairs in the United States, 2003-2010

“…17 Other research indicates that restraint use among children sustaining injuries associated with high chairs may be as low as 3.2%. 18 Therefore, it is likely that parents and other child caretakers could greatly reduce the number of high chair-related injuries by consistently engaging the safety restraints. Caregivers should be reminded that the tray portion of the high chair is not a safety restraint, despite popular belief to the contrary.…”

Biofidelic neck influences head kinematics of parietal and occipital impacts following short falls in infants

“…When averaging across all fall trials for a fall height, impact surface, and impact location, none of these average peak angular accelerations exceeded the 10,000 rad/s 2 concussion threshold lower bound. Mayr et al (1999) reported 13.6% of children (7–30 months old; mean=13 months) experienced a concussion following a fall from a highchair. Tarantino et al (1999) reported 11% of 167 children (< 10 months old) experienced a closed head injury following a < 4 ft fall.…”

“…Both children were under 2 years old. Mayr et al (1999) reports 16% of 103 children 7–30 months experienced a skull fracture following a fall from a highchair. Tarantino et al (1999) reported 17% of 167 infants < 10 months old had a skull fracture in falls < 4 ft. Future work will incorporate the fall kinematic data in this study with published pediatric skull ultimate stress data (Coats and Margulies 2006) to develop risk curves for skull fracture.…”