Fingers in the door: crush risks at home

Why crush injuries happen so often

Fingers caught in a door is one of the most common accidents involving young children at home, and it is also one that was nearly always preventable. The cause is an unfortunate combination: a child of around a year old has exactly enough strength to move a door, holds on to the edge to stay upright, and has no idea that a door can swing shut. On top of that, adults close doors on autopilot, without looking where hands are. The damage ranges from a bruised nail to a broken finger bone or a severed fingertip, and that last one happens mostly on the hinge side. The good news is that a handful of simple, cheap measures rule out the great majority of these accidents. This article works through the places where it goes wrong and what you do about each of them.

The hinge side is more dangerous than the handle

Everyone thinks of the handle side when it comes to trapped fingers, but the hinge side is where the serious injuries happen. As the door closes, the opening on the hinge side becomes very small while the force is at its highest, and a fingertip caught there has no space left. Children put their hands exactly there, because it is the spot they hold on to when standing behind a door. A door stop on the handle side is therefore no help, because it leaves the hinge side completely open. For that side use a hinge guard: a profile or soft element that covers the gap over its height, including while the door moves. For the nursery and the bathroom, look in any case at a solution that stops the door closing fully, such as a high hook or a strap at the top.

What to fit where

• •Internal doors: a hinge guard on the hinge side
• •Doors that can blow shut: a soft pinch stopper on the handle side
• •Drawers with cutlery or tools: a drawer lock or magnetic lock
• •Heavy drawers: an anti-tip bracket to the wall, low units included
• •Cupboards with a falling flap: a damped hinge or gas strut
• •Balcony and garden doors: a high bolt out of your child's reach

Drawers and cupboard doors

After doors, drawers are the second place fingers get trapped, and they add two properties that make it worse. A drawer often closes with a spring or a soft-close that still applies force, and the contents are regularly exactly what you do not want: knives, scissors, cleaning products or tools. Fit a drawer lock or magnetic lock on the drawers your child has no need of, and deliberately leave one bottom drawer free with safe items, so there is something to discover. Watch out for heavy drawers in dressers and sideboards, because a child that pulls a drawer right out and then hangs on it can bring the whole unit down; an anti-tip bracket is the only real answer to that. Cupboard doors with a falling flap, such as the hatch above the fridge, need a damper or a braked hinge. Look at the hinge side of cupboard doors at crawling height too, because it pinches just as hard as an internal door.

Draught: the invisible cause

Many trapping accidents happen not because someone closes a door, but because the door slams shut in a draught. An open window in one room and an open door in another are enough to make a door swing with considerable force, and that happens precisely when nobody is standing there. So use fixed door stops or hooks on the doors that normally stand open, rather than relying on them being ajar. Soft pinch stoppers that slide over the top edge of the door are cheap and work immediately, though they only suit doors that do not need to close. Watch for windows on the latch combined with an open room door, because that is the classic setup. And replace loose objects used as a door stop, such as a book or a shoe, with something that does not slide away when your child pushes against it.

Folding furniture, prams and travel cots

Anything that hinges and folds is a crush risk, and this is the category parents overlook most often. A pram you fold while your child stands beside you, a folding chair, an ironing board, a table with a drop leaf or a travel cot you set up all have hinges that close with force. Make it a habit to fold and unfold at a moment when your child is not within arm's reach, rather than while it watches and helps. Never lean a folded pram, ladder or ironing board loose against a wall, because it can topple the moment your child pulls at it. With a travel cot, check that all top rails are fully locked before you put your child in, because a half-locked rail can collapse. Store folding furniture behind a door your child does not open, and not in the corner of the room where it plays.

Beyond the living room: patio doors, garage and lift

Crush risks do not stop at internal doors, and the heaviest doors are usually outside the living room. A sliding patio door has a closing edge that works like a pair of scissors and is heavy enough not to stop by itself; fit a high bolt there and teach your child not to operate it. An electric garage door should have a feature that stops and reverses on resistance, and you can test it yourself by letting the door close onto an obstacle. Keep the remote out of reach and never let a child walk under a closing door. In a communal entrance or apartment block, lift doors and heavy entrance doors with a closer are a risk; go through last yourself and hold the door. Watch the car door and tailgate too, because they close heavily and a tailgate starts to sag once the gas struts age.

What to do if it happens anyway

If it does happen, stay calm and first look at what exactly is there, because most trapping accidents look worse than they are. Cool the finger under lukewarm running water, keep the hand raised and give your child time to settle. Go to your GP or the out-of-hours GP service for a wound that goes through the skin, for a crooked finger or one that cannot be moved, for severe persistent pain, or if the nail is coming off or blood under the nail is causing pressure. For a severed or partly detached fingertip, call the out-of-hours GP service or 112 straight away and bring the detached part in a clean sealed bag, placed inside a second bag with cold water, so never directly on ice. Keep an eye over the following days for increasing swelling, redness or warmth, because that can point to infection. Call your GP, the out-of-hours GP service or 112 if in doubt.

Growing with your child

Crush risks change shape as your child grows, and the measures have to move with them. Around the age when your child pulls up on furniture it is mainly about internal doors and low cupboard doors, and that is the moment for hinge guards and pinch stoppers. Once your child walks and pushes doors open itself, the focus shifts to heavy doors, drawers at hip height and the garden door. Around two, helping out arrives: your child wants to close the drawer itself and fold the pram itself, and then explanation matters as much as the guard. Teach simple rules you repeat consistently, such as hands away from the edge and waiting until an adult works the door. Keep the physical measures in place meanwhile, because understanding arrives years later than dexterity.

Small, cheap and effective

Of all the babyproofing measures in the house, pinch guards may well give the most result per euro. A set of hinge guards, a handful of pinch stoppers and a few drawer locks cost little together and remove an entire category of accidents. Start with the doors your child uses most, so the living room, the kitchen and the bathroom, and expand to the rest of the house after that. Go around all the guards once every six months, because soft pinch stoppers disappear and hinge guards work loose. Ask at the grandparents' house and at the babysitter's whether the doors and drawers there have been checked, because your child is at crawling height there just as much. Use the room checklists in this app to tick off what is still open per room, so you do not have to rely on memory.