How dangerous are Sports & Recreation Equipment products?

Products in the Sports & Recreation Equipment category have an average danger score of 37 out of 100, with approximately 1.8M estimated ER visits per year according to CPSC NEISS data.

How many products are tracked in Sports & Recreation Equipment?

PlainSafety tracks 54 individual products in the Sports & Recreation Equipment category, each with danger scores, injury trends, and ER visit estimates from CPSC NEISS data spanning 2005-2024.

Where does the Sports & Recreation Equipment safety data come from?

All data comes from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) NEISS database, which projects national injury estimates from a probability sample of approximately 100 hospital emergency departments.

Product category

Sports & Recreation Equipment

This category tracks 54 consumer products in the CPSC NEISS injury database, together accounting for roughly 1.8M emergency-room visits a year - the 3rd-highest of 26 tracked categories by ER volume.

54
products tracked: 1.8M
ER visits / year: 37
avg danger score: 5.2%
avg hospitalization rate

What the CPSC data shows

Golf (activity, Apparel Or Equipment) is the most dangerous product in Sports & Recreation Equipment, scoring 49/100 with about 36,909 ER visits a year.

0
high-risk products (score 60+): 14
moderate-risk (40–59): 450,967/yr
Basketball, Activity And Related Equipment (most ER visits): 5↑ / 31↓
worsening / improving (5-yr)

All figures come from the CPSC NEISS dataset (2005–2024); products are sorted by danger score so the highest-risk items surface first.

Where injuries concentrate in Sports & Recreation Equipment

Estimated average annual ER visits for the highest-volume products in this category.

Top products in Sports & Recreation Equipment by annual ER visits

The Sports & Recreation Equipment safety profile

Average danger score across the 46 scored products, and how they split across the danger tiers.

Average danger score

High risk (60+): 0 Moderate (40–59): 14 Low (<40): 32

Every product in Sports & Recreation Equipment, by danger score

Score	Product	Injuries/yr	Trend	Hosp. %
49	Golf (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	36,909	+4%	14.6%
48	Golf Carts, Motorized Vehicle	18,148	+38%	12.8%
48	Scuba Diving (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	1,418	-36%	16.5%
46	Horseback Riding (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	57,232	-8%	14.2%
46	Swimming Pools, Not Specified	68,347	-10%	6.6%
45	Snowmobiles (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	7,895	-5%	12.9%
43	Basketball, Activity And Related Equipment	450,967	-35%	1.3%
43	Football (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	369,776	-31%	2.2%
43	Trampolines	108,631	-6%	4.1%
42	Soccer (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	202,262	-17%	2.0%
41	Monkey Bars Or Other Playground Climbing Apparatus	73,044	-33%	6.8%
40	Slides Or Sliding Boards	44,837	-20%	3.9%
40	Mountain Climbing (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	4,791	-7%	11.5%
40	Wrestling (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	38,569	-4%	1.9%
39	Sports And Recreational Activity, N.e.c.	69,513	-34%	2.7%
39	Boxing (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	17,632	+10%	1.1%
39	Sleds	18,386	-11%	5.0%
39	Volleyball (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	53,639	-16%	1.1%
38	Surfing (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	13,142	-22%	4.4%
38	Gymnastics And Associated Equipment	30,501	-25%	3.0%
38	Diving Or Diving Boards	8,469	-31%	7.7%
38	Ice Hockey (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	18,936	-6%	2.5%
38	Unicycles, Unpowered Or Unspecified	361	+91%	5.8%
37	Bowling (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	16,935	-39%	4.0%
37	Gas, Air Or Spring-operated Guns	14,504	-36%	6.8%
37	Table Tennis (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	1,898	+18%	6.0%
37	Amusement Attractions (including Rides)	23,743	-29%	2.9%
37	Snow Tubing (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	1,922	+19%	7.8%
36	Lacrosse (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	15,451	-25%	2.2%
36	Water Skiing (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	6,071	-18%	5.7%
36	Bleachers	17,661	-33%	2.6%
35	Archery (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	4,387	-9%	2.9%
35	Aquariums Or Accessories	6,083	-18%	3.7%
35	Billiards Or Pool (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	3,647	-30%	5.5%
34	Treehouses Or Playhouses	3,549	-34%	5.5%
33	See-saws Or Teeter Boards	3,801	-27%	3.8%
33	Field Hockey (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	3,966	-17%	0.7%
32	Swimming Pool Slides	1,360	-17%	4.3%
31	Wading Pools	1,290	-	7.7%
30	Handball (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	2,381	-58%	3.2%
29	Horseshoes (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	1,330	-56%	3.9%
27	Tetherball (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	1,631	-64%	0.6%
26	Croquet (activity, Apparel Or Equipment)	260	-43%	3.0%
26	Batons	454	-52%	1.6%
26	Toboggans	255	-37%	4.0%
20	Snow Disks	93	-100%	7.7%

What this means in Sports & Recreation Equipment

Use the danger score to triage, then open a product page for the full age, body-part, and severity breakdown.

Pay closest attention to Golf (activity, Apparel Or Equipment) - the highest-scoring product in this category. See the data
Compare this category against the full danger rankings to see where it sits nationally. All rankings
Cross-check specific models against open CPSC recalls before you buy or keep one. CPSC recalls

NEISS injury estimates are nationally weighted projections from a sample of ER visits, they show relative risk between products, not exact counts.

Source: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), 2005–2024.

Source: CPSC SaferProducts.gov consumer incident reports and CPSC recall announcements.

Disclaimer: This information is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute professional, medical, or safety advice. Data is sourced from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC); PlainSafety is an independent project and is not affiliated with the CPSC. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, scored, and verified.

Compiled by PlainSafety Editorial, Consumer Product Safety Editorial Team · May 15, 2026