Collapsing bleachers: Most often, children are the victims

Enjoying hot dogs or cotton candy in the bleacher seats at your local high school or recreational park is on everyone's agenda. It's a good way to get the family together for an afternoon of fun.

Unfortunately, it also may be a way for somebody to get hurt.

Unsafe bleacher seating across America can be the culprit and more often than not, our children are the victims.

In January 1999, a rash of Minnesota bleacher accidents propelled the issue on to the national consciousness. In one case, a 2-year-old suffered a broken arm. In another, a child suffered a head injury.

And in one bleacher accident, 6-year-old Toby Lee was killed when he fell through a 13-inch gap in the floorboard and hit his head on the concrete floor.

These incidents are part of a nationwide problem, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) says. The agency says it is aware of 10 bleacher-related deaths in the last 20 years, and 19,100 people are treated annually in emergency rooms for injuries sustained on bleachers.

And children under 15 years of age are the largest group at risk, comprising 82 percent of those injured, according to the National Association of Counties' Web site.

One reason for the incidents is that many of the bleachers in our cities and towns are old. Some bleachers are either dilapidated or were built before the era of mandatory bleacher safety requirements.

The Institute for Environmental Assessment categorizes safety problems with bleachers into three basic classes.