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The Story Behind The Invention

Behind every invention is a story and an invention is usually the product of someone solving a problem.

• More than 40,000 children a year visit the Accident and Emergency department in the UK aged between 0-8 years visited Hospital due to injuries to fingers caused by doors.
  
  
• The hinge side of the door causes some 60% of the injuries.
  
  
• The hinge side being more common for the under 5 age group.
  
  
• Monash University Accident research centre, also state that most incidents occur in the home as children play but also happen in nurseries and school.

Did you know?

Benjamin Franklin invented bi-focal glasses, because he hated wearing 2 pairs of glasses.
Marie O Brien after frequently being disturbed in the night by her crying baby, needing to be changed yet again, tore down her shower curtain and armed with her sewing machine made the first waterproof nappy cover that prevented leaks.


William’s Personal Experience

And now we have William who on one summer’s afternoon in 1993 had settled down in his lounge to enjoy a well earned rest after commuting to Birmingham all week by train.
On reflection it was quite an idyllic day in a way, the weather was warm, his four children were playing happily in the back garden with one of the neighbours children and his wife was preparing dinner in the kitchen.
A cool gentle breeze was slowly wafting through the house and William now totally relaxed was being lulled to sleep when suddenly he was jolted back into consciousness by a piercing scream and uncontrollable crying from a child clearly in pain.

He leaps to his feet and heads towards the front door where his neighbours 5 year old daughter was screaming and crying for her mummy. The other children had gathered round anxiously to see what the problem was. William knelt down by the little girl who was clutching her fingers on her left hand. Through her sobs she said that the door had hurt her fingers, when she was trying to go home.
William gathered up the little girl and with all of the other children in tow, he took her home to her mother, who was a nurse.

The little girl’s mother coaxed her daughter into letting her look at her fingers and eventually she allowed her to examine them. She had deep indents on the fingers of her left hand and they were already bruising.
It appeared that the little girl had held onto the door jamb to steady herself as she stepped out of the front door onto the path below. 
All houses built in the last 20 years plus, to comply with building regulations have an 8 inch step from the front and back doorsteps down to ground level to accommodate the Damp Proof Course level, making the door jamb very appealing for children to hold onto to negotiate the step down.


The motivation behind the invention

William walked back down to his house very concerned that the little girl had suffered such trauma. He remembered that his young niece approximately a year previous had sustained an injury to her fingers.
Whilst William and Amanda were out his young niece was going through the back door steadying herself again using the door jamb, somebody opened the front door causing a cross breeze resulting in the back door slamming shut pinching her fingers in the hinge side of the door. William’s niece received 95% severing to one of her fingers and severe bruising to the other 3 fingers.

The Doctor initially thought that amputation was the only course of action for the severed finger because of the extent of the damage, but decided upon the mother’s insistence to leave if for 10 days to see how it progressed. She received the necessary medical treatment and against all odds her finger healed and surgery was not needed. To this day she only has a slight dent in the nail as a reminder of her traumatic day.

William pondered ideas in his head of how to prevent this from happening again. He went back to his house and he examined the door closely, looking at it from a child’s perspective .He noted a number of hazards. (1) The 2-3inch trip hazard created by the door frame which a child has to step over before they can step down out of the door way onto the ground below. (2)The actual stepping down from the house to the path below, a step of between 8-10 inches in all, a huge step for a child to negotiate without using any  assistance to prevent falling forward out of the house. A child will naturally gravitate towards holding onto the door jamb to help with this process.


Action mixed with motivation

William went into his workshop and over a few days emerged with a telescopic version of the Child’s Safety Hand Rail, which when the door was opened the Telescopic Childs Safety Hand Rail protruded forward to cover the door jamb. He fitted it to his front door and was advised to apply for a patent. The application procedure required William to provide a number of technical drawings showing all working parts in detail. The telescopic Child’s Safety Hand Rail had reached the preliminary stages of obtaining its patent.
He also at this point began to make enquiries concerning the cost of manufacturing the Telescopic Child’s Safety Hand Rail and discovered that the manufacturing costs were too expensive.

It now also became apparent that all children’s products had to carry the British Kite Mark, which meant that they complied with the British Safety Standard. Unfortunately, a safety standard for a Child’s Hand Rail did not exist because there was nothing comparable to it on the market. This was a great start for William, in that it was a totally new idea but, nobody would sell it without a Kite Mark. The closest product to it was a ships handrail, which was not quite the same thing! He could apply for a Kite Mark and due to the fact that one did not exist, it would need to be created which proved to be a very costly process.

William connected with R.O.S.P.A. (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) and numerous Children’s product outlets and although they agreed it was an excellent idea he was met with the same difficulty concerning the Kite Mark.

William also did statistical research looking at injuries which occurred to fingers concerning front, back and interior doors. There was limited data available but through the department of Trade and Industry we discovered that 30,839.children aged between 0-8 years visited Hospital due to injuries to fingers caused by doors in 1993. The statistics were obtained through the HASS(Home Accident Surveillance System) and LASS( Leisure Accident Surveillance System) database which was funded by the Department of Trade and Industry.


Data has been supplied by R.O.S.P.A.

 William also at this time discussed on the open business market a door strip covering the jamb on internal doors. However, someone else took the idea and manufactured it and this can be seen at various outlets where children frequent.

Earlier last year William again looked at the dangers posed to children as they enter and leave their homes and the unnecessary trauma caused to them and their families if their fingers are injured in doors.  After much thought William has come up with The Child’s Safety Support Rail and has applied for a patent and applied for a design protection which has been granted.

www.childsafetyzone.co.uk William is now ready to launch the Child’s Safety Support Rail.


Is there a need for The Childs Safety Support Rail?

Yes! As already highlighted, statistics provided through R.O.S.P.A show that around 40,000 children suffer injuries to fingers aged between 0-8 years which require hospital treatment.

The Hazard (edition14) Victorian Injury Surveillance system, Monash University Accident research centre stated that “more than 40,000 children a year visit the Accident and Emergency department in the U.K The hinge side of the door to have caused some 60% of the injuries, the hinge side being more common for the under 5 age group”.

They also state that most incidents occur in the home as children play but also happen in nurseries and school. Injuries incurred in schools and nurseries however, are often more severe than at home because of the automatic door closures which children are unable to push open once trapped.It is essential that children’s fingers be protected from being crushed or otherwise injured in the hinge space of a swinging door. The Child’s Safety Support Rail is an essential Safety product for the home and any establishment where children’s hands and fingers are at risk. Do not let your child become one of the statistics.

Childs Safety Hand Rail

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