Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) has urged parents / guardians to not allow their children near lawnmowers unsupervised or to ride on lawnmowers.

CHI stated that each season, its trauma team reports life threatening injuries sustained from lawnmowers.

While accidents involving lawnmowers can affect all ages, toddlers are at a particular risk, as accidents occur most frequently among this age group.

Consultant plastic surgeon, in CHI at Crumlin, Catherine de Blacam said:

"The accidents that we see every year happen when a child is riding on with a parent and falls off or when they are following the lawnmower and slip under it."

Main points to remember when operating a lawnmower if a child is present:

Life-changing injury from a lawnmower blade only takes a second;
Children should not operate lawnmowers;
No riders other than the operator should be allowed on a riding mower;
Children should never be outside when a lawnmower is in use;
Teach children to avoid running after or alongside lawnmowers;
Children who have been given a ride on a mower in the past, may run into the area unexpectedly;
Remove stones, toys and sticks from the area before mowing;
If operating a riding mower in reverse, always look for children behind the mower;
Riding mowers should be driven up and down slopes to avoid the mower tipping over;
A running lawnmower should not be left unattended.

Blacam added that once the child slips, it could get caught in the moving blades, and these injuries are "devastating" and potentially "life-threatening".

The only safe way to mow the lawn when young children are present is to have another adult watch them indoors and far from the very real danger, Blacam said.