Shopping Cart Safety

An average of 21,600 children ages 5 and under are treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries associated with shopping carts each year. The National Safe Kids Campaign has established the fact that the number of children ages 5 and under injured in shopping cart-related injuries has increased more than 30% since 1985.

Children suffer injuries such as lacerations, contusions, fractures, and concussions as well as internal injuries from jumps and falls, cart overturns, and pinches from the folding mechanism in the seat. Children are also at risk of injury from running into, or being hit by, shopping carts, from tipping over while climbing onto the outside of the basket, and from getting fingers or toes caught in the wheels.

Falls from cart seat and baskets are by far the most common shopping cart-related injury. Shopping carts have a high center of gravity and a narrow wheelbase, making them top heavy when loaded and therefore easy to tip over, especially when a child is placed in the seat. Standing children increase their risk of falling or tipping the cart. An average of 5% of the children who fall from carts require hospitalization.

Typically, children fall or slip from shopping carts when they are not properly restrained. In 80% of those cases, the cart was not properly equipped with a safety belt, or the belt was broken. It is sad to state that research has shown that even when shopping carts are equipped with safety restraints, parents do not use them, and even worse, they leave the child unattended in the cart. Hundreds of injuries could easily have been prevented.

Some Prevention Tips:

• Always use the safety belts to restrain children in shopping cart seats.
• Consider bringing a harness or safety belt with you when shopping to prevent your child from falling or climbing out of shopping carts.
• Always stay close to the shopping cart.
• Do not let your child stand in the shopping cart.
• Never let a child push or steer the shopping cart.