Dangerous rides while shopping

TAYLORSVILLE — For Janet Brooks, it was just an ordinary shopping trip to Costco — until she witnessed what she calls a horrific fall as a toddler tumbled headfirst out of a shopping cart and onto the concrete floor.

Brooks, the child advocacy manager at Primary Children's Medical Center, saw the young boy standing inside the basket of a cart while his parents were preoccupied looking at jewelry and electronics. Just as she decided to say something to the parents about shopping cart safety, the boy toppled over the edge of the cart.

"I can still see and hear the deafening crack of the child's head against the cement floor," Brooks said. "The parents didn't even see it happen. … The little guy was screaming his lungs out, and everyone in that area of the store wondered what in the world had happened. That image has not left my mind, and every time I see a child standing in a cart, my heart stops."

It seems some parents are more worried about their eggs than their children. Many parents allow their child to dangerously perch in a shopping cart, even though more than 24,000 children are treated for shopping cart-related injuries in U.S. hospital emergency rooms every year, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Cashiers often don't feel comfortable reaching out and helping someone else's kids, and in some cases, store policies prevent them from getting involved. Some store employees have resorted to bribery to remedy the situation, offering a sticker or a balloon to a child who will sit down and buckle up. Others simply ignore the problem, while some intercede and help the child — despite possible ramifications.

In a 2006 study, the American Academy of Pediatrics concluded that shopping cart-related injuries are common and can result in severe injury or even death, mostly in children under age 5. Head and neck injuries account for three-fourths of the cases.

"I don't know what we can do to make it safer other than to just educate parents to have their kids down in the carts (and) make sure they wear the safety belts," said Lois Douglass, who has worked for Harmons for 28 years.

Kyle Holdaway, director of risk management for Harmons, said all store associates are trained in shopping cart safety during the "Working Safe at Harmons" training course. Holdaway said trainers explain how to politely approach and ask a parent to have their child sit down.

"Unfortunately, we have had two incidents out of approximately 357,000 customers since February 2010," Holdaway said. "This, of course, is two too many. We feel the key is in education — educating our associates as well as the customer."