When young students are required to use certain devices or objects in science classes for experiments, those students could be at risk of suffering a serious burn injury. Anytime science classroom experiments require students to use flammable materials, a serious fire could start and students could suffer disfiguring and severe burn injuries. A recent report from CBS 8 San Diego discusses a burn injury case in which a sixth-grader in the Encinitas Union School District sustained life-threatening burn injuries. That student’s family recently filed a lawsuit against the school, and that claim highlights the serious dangers of particular classroom activities.

Science Classroom Experiment Resulted in Face and Neck Burn Injuries

According to the CBS 8 San Diego report, the recent claim against Encinitas Union School District centers around a 13-year-old student, Priest Rivera, who “suffered burns to his face, neck, and chest after a school experiment allegedly went wrong.” The family alleges that the Encinitas Union School District is responsible for the injuries according to legal theories of negligence, and negligent supervision and training. As a result of the injuries, the student required four surgeries and spent one week in the burn unit at UCSD. The student’s complaint alleges that he ultimately suffered “severe and permanent injuries.” How did the burn injuries happen?

The 13-year-old student was in a Capri Elementary sixth-grade classroom shortly before school let out for the summer last June. The student and his other classmates were participating in a science experiment that is commonly known as “black snake” or “carbon snake.” The experiment involves igniting a mixture of baking soda and sugar, which results in the melted sugar pushing out and “forming a snake-like ash.” According to the student, the experiment was not working as it was intended, and he indicated that “the science teacher kept pouring more rubbing alcohol to make the flame build up more.” The student’s head and neck caught on fire, and students around him reportedly said, “he’s on fire.”

Burn Injuries can Occur in Any Science Classroom When Precautions are Not Taken

While this Encinitas case highlights a serious accident that happened right in Encinitas, it is certainly not the first of its kind. Shortly after Priest Rivera suffered burn injuries in Encinitas last June, a former high school student in New York won a $60 million verdict for a burn injury claim arising out of a chemistry classroom experiment. According to an article in The New York Times, in July 2019, a Manhattan jury found the New York City Department of Education and the student’s teacher “liable for an accident that left much of his body scarred from third-degree burns.

In a Beacon High School chemistry classroom, “a large fireball exploded when an experienced science teacher, Anna Poole, conducted an experiment intended to show how salts change color when exposed to methanol.” The experiment is commonly known as “the Rainbow,” and it is known to have caused at least two other accidents in science classrooms across the U.S. in recent years. The accident caused a large fire, and the student who won the lawsuit was “caught in the flames.” The third-degree burns were so severe that the student “is no longer able to sweat through some parts of his body.” He required “Extensive skin graft surgeries” and spent a total of five months in the hospital.

Contact a Burn Injury Lawyer in Encinitas

Burn injuries can have a variety of causes. If you suffered burn injuries caused by another party’s negligence, you should speak with a burn injury lawyer about your case. Contact the Walton Law Firm to learn more about filing a claim.

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Whether you are a San Diego County resident with kids who enjoy zip lining, or if you live in another part of the country and are planning a trip with your family to an area of Southern California where zip lining is popular, it is important to understand that zip lining can come with injury risk. Indeed, zip line accidents happen more often than you might think, and these accidents frequently happen because of another party’s negligence. As an article in HealthyChildren.org explains, zip lines are a “common attraction at camps, amusement parks, and in backyards . . . across the U.S.,” yet not all zip lines are created equal in terms of their safety ratings.

Whether your kids are planning to zip line, whether it is close to home or on a zip lining adventure on vacation or at camp, you should learn more about the activity and ways to avoid zip line injuries.

Zip Line Injuries are Becoming an “Epidemic”

Zip lining is a popular activity in many parts of Southern California, and some people even set up zip lines in their own backyards. As zip lines become more popular with kids and families, the injury rate associated with zip line accidents has risen. According to Dr. Gary A. Smith, a former chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention, the number of zip line accidents that emergency room physicians and pediatricians are treating rises to the level of “an epidemic by any definition.”

As Dr. Smith emphasized, “many zip lines are not regulated, and there are no uniform safety standards.” Accordingly, there is a wide range of safety (and, on the flip side, risk) when it comes to zip lines.

Need for Better Zip Line Safety Training

Not only do parents need to be aware of who has created the zip line and who is running it, but they also need to be certain that their kids have the proper training to avoid a serious accident. Between 1997 and 2012, emergency departments treated almost 17,000 zip line injuries. That figure comes from a 2015 study conducted by Dr. Smith, who also determined that approximately 50% of all those injuries involved children under the age of 10. Then, about 33% of those injuries involved kids between the ages of 10 and 19. To put that information another way, more than 80% of all zip line injuries requiring emergency department visits affected kids.

According to Dr. Smith, “if kids are using [zip lines], you really need to make sure they’re using them in places where people are trained, they know what they’re doing, and the zip lines have been constructed in a way that they’re not going to fail.”

Tips for Parents for Zip Line Safety

What can parents do to make zip lining safer? The HealthyChildren.org article offers the following tips:

• Ensure that kids wear a helmet, a harness, and gloves;
• Require operators to be trained in safety protocols;
• Ask how often the zip line equipment is inspected and maintained (this should happen regularly);
• Only use zip lines that have safety rules and that require participants to follow those rules.

Contact a Valley Center Zip Line Accident Lawyer

If your child was injured in a zip line accident, a Valley Center zip line accident attorney may be able to help. Contact the Walton Law Firm for more information.

See Related Blog Posts: What Do Parents in Carlsbad Need to Know About Zipline Injuries? Amusement Park Accidents and Fatalities

(image courtesy of Perry Grone)

Children in Escondido can suffer concussions and other types of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) just as adults can. There are many common causes of TBIs in both kids and adults, including, for example, car crashes and sports-related accidents. According to a recent report in U.S. News & World Report, some sports and recreational activities are much more hazardous than others when it comes to brain injury risks for kids. More specifically, a majority of children who sustain traumatic brain injuries in sports- or recreation-related activities sustain those injuries while playing football or soccer.

CDC Study Discusses Dangers of Contact Sports for Kids

This information about the serious risks of both football and soccer for kids was published in a new study conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That study emphasized that contact sports are the most dangerous in terms of TBI risks, resulting in approximately 45% of all brain injuries that send kids to emergency departments every year. In general, football was the cause of the highest number of TBIs in male children, while soccer was the leading cause of brain injuries in female children. According to the report, “contact sports resulted in nearly twice as many TBI [emergency department] visits as did non-contact sports and four times those associated with recreation-related activities.”

In order to prevent a high number of TBIs in kids, the report recommended “limiting player-to-player contact” in addition to promoting “rule changes that reduce risk for collisions.” Yet other recreational activities can also pose serious risks of head trauma. For example, in addition to football and soccer, children also frequently suffer brain injuries from playground activities and bicycling.

Learning More About Recreation-Related Concussions in Children

The study analyzed data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System’s All Injury Program, which included information on hundreds of thousands of children. That data showed that, on average, “283,000 children under the age of 18 sought care in emergency departments each year for sports- and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries.” The highest number of reported injuries affected male children between the ages of 10 and 17.

The majority of all TBI reports among children were for concussions. In some cases, however, the head injuries were severe, resulting in cognitive damage and long-term effects. To reduce the risk of a head injury, in addition to paying attention to preventative measures for contact sports, parents should take steps to avoid fall-related injuries. Playgrounds in particular can result in falls from heights, which frequently lead to head trauma and internal injuries.

When a child does suffer a fall or sustain a blow to the head, parents should be aware of the following signs of a child concussion reported by KidsHealth:

• Dizziness;
• Memory loss, or any trouble remembering recent events;
• Nausea;
• Vomiting;
• Headache;
• Blurry vision;
• Light sensitivity;
• Balance problems;
• Concentration or thinking problems;
• Anxiety; and
• Irritability.

Contact an Escondido Brain Injury Attorney

Brain injuries can affect children and adults alike when another party is negligent. If you or someone you love suffered a TBI, you should discuss your options with an Escondido brain injury attorney. A personal injury lawyer at our firm can speak with you today. Contact the Walton Law Firm for more information.

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For working parents in San Clemente, it is important to be able to rely on a day care facility to take care of your kids during business hours. We all want the best for our children, and San Diego County parents do significant research into daycare facilities to ensure that their kids will be able to learn and play in a safe environment during the workday. Yet daycare accidents can happen at almost any facility. In some situations, accidents and injuries at preschool may be unavoidable. However, daycare and preschool facilities can take preventive measures to ensure that kids do not suffer serious personal injuries. What are some of the most common daycare injuries, and what can facilities do to avoid them?

An article from DC Insurance Services cites the following injuries that often occur at daycare and preschool facilities, as well as ways to prevent them.

Accidents on the Playground

According to the article, playground accidents are the most common cause of injuries at daycares and preschools. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 200,000 children under the age of 15 visit emergency departments every year due to playground injuries. The types of injuries sustained on the playground can vary from more minor cuts and bruises to severe and debilitating injuries like broken bones or traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). While it is important for young children to learn the value of outdoor activity, it is also important to take steps to prevent injuries.

What can daycares and preschools do to prevent playground accidents? First, and most importantly, children should be properly monitored at all times. Additionally, all playgrounds should be inspected to ensure that they meet safety codes and to ensure that there are no damaged parts that could cause injuries.

Being Struck by Objects

We often think of “struck-by” injuries as those most often affecting construction workers. However, young kids at daycares and preschools can also suffer serious injuries after being struck by objects. Essentially, any pieces of furniture that can tip over, or any heavy objects placed up on shelves or tables that can fall and strike a small child have potential to cause injuries. For example, bookcases and other shelves regularly tip over, causing serious injury to kids.

Daycares should ensure that all furniture that can tip over is safely attached to the wall (to prevent tipping) and that heavy objects are not placed on furniture where they might easily fall and strike a child.

Burn Injuries from Heating Devices

Whether a daycare or preschool uses bottle warmers to heat up infant formula or crock pots for other food heating, it is important to recognize that these devices can cause serious injuries to young children. It can be difficult to prevent kids from touching hot objects, and they can suffer severe and even life-threatening burn injuries.

What is the solution? In most cases, child safety advocates urge daycares and preschools to avoid using electric heating devices altogether, particularly if they need to be used in a room where children are present. Instead, infant formula should be heated with hot running water from a sink.

Seek Advice from a San Clemente Daycare Injury Attorney

Was your child recently injured at daycare or preschool? The facility may be liable. A daycare injury lawyer in San Clemente can speak with you about your case. Contact the Walton Law Firm to learn more about filing a claim for compensation.

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(image courtesy of Markus Spiske)

Typically, when we think about overuse injuries, we imagine office workers who suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome or construction workers who sustain overuse injuries to the back or shoulder that result from lifting heavy objects. Yet it is not only adults who are at risk of overuse injuries. Children can sustain overuse injuries, particularly as a result of playing sports. According to a fact sheet from HealthyChildren.org, kids may in fact be at greater risk of sustaining overuse injuries than adults.

What should you know about preventing overuse injuries among children? What responsibilities do youth coaches have to help kids avoid these injuries?

Learning More About Overuse Injuries

A fact sheet from the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine explains that, in general, there are two different forms of injury: acute and overuse. An acute injury results from “a single, traumatic event,” and often includes injuries in kids such as fractures sprains, strains, and dislocation. Overuse injuries, differently, happen over time and thus tend to be more difficult to diagnose, particularly among children.

As the fact sheet explains, overuse injuries are those in which a person sustain “damage to a bone, muscle, ligament, or tendon due to repetitive stress without allowing time for the body to heal.” As we mentioned, most Californians tend to associate overuse injuries with repetitive actions at work. Yet as HealthyChildren.org emphasizes, younger children and teenagers are actually “at increased risk for overuse injuries because growing bones are less resilient to stress.” In other words, adults’ bones may be able to compensate for some forms of overuse in ways that younger people’s bones simply cannot.

Given that overuse injuries occur over a longer period, there are typically different stages to an overuse injury. The injury normally begins with pain in a specific area immediately after a physical activity. Among children and teens, the physical activity is usually a sport, from swimming, to running, to gymnastics. At this point, the pain does not restrict the athlete’s ability to perform. At the next stage, pain still occurs only after physical activity, but it does restrict a teenager’s ability to engage in physical activity. Finally, kids will begin to experience pain that is chronic and persistent, even when they have not been involved in any kind of physical activity.

Recognizing and Preventing Overuse Injuries

While adults can recognize signs and symptoms of overuse injuries and seek proper medical attention for them, kids cannot necessarily do the same. Young athletes might not even realize that they are experiencing pain that is indicative of an overuse injury. For this reason, children and teens are less likely to receive medical attention and to take the proper steps to prevent further harm.

What can parents and coaches do to prevent (and ultimately treat) overuse injuries? The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine recommends some of the following:

• Reduce the intensity, frequency, and/or duration of a child’s sports activity;
• Teach proper training skills to youth athletes;
• Ensure that youth athletes warm up properly before engaging in exercise; and
• Provide ice for pains following physical activity.

In some cases, another party’s negligence might have resulted in your child’s overuse injury. If you have questions, an experienced San Diego personal injury lawyer can help. Contact the Walton Law Firm today to discuss your case.

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(image courtesy of axelvonsturm)