School Equipment
Twenty years of CPSC NEISS emergency-room records for this consumer product category, combined with demographic breakdowns, multi-year injury trends, and matching recall notices.
Footwear · CPSC Code 2300
Down 29% over 5 years
The verdict
School Equipment carry a danger score of 29/100 (low risk), driven by roughly 1,166 ER-treated injuries a year that are declining by about 29% over the last five years.
- 29/100
- danger score (low risk)
- 1,166
- ER visits per year (avg)
- 1.5%
- end in hospital admission
- 5-14
- most-injured age group
Every figure is rendered from the CPSC NEISS record for product code 2300 - last data year 2024.
PlainSafety danger score
How this 29/100 score is built
The score is computed from four CPSC-derived factors for school equipment - no opinion, no editorializing:
- Injury volume1,166 ER visits/yr
- Severity (hospitalization rate)1.5%
- Fatality rate0.00%
- 5-year trend-29%
See the full methodology for the exact weighting of each factor.
What the CPSC Data Shows
School Equipment (CPSC product code 2300, in the Footwear category) generate an estimated 1,166 emergency-room visits every year in the United States, adding up to roughly 23,311 ER-treated injuries across the 20-year span from 2005 to 2024. PlainSafety derives a danger score of 29/100 for this category (low risk), combining raw injury volume, demographic reach, severity of outcome, and multi-year trend. The five-year trajectory shows that injury counts are declining by about 29% over the last five years, with the busiest year on record being 2014 (1,723 estimated ER visits) and the quietest 2021 (589 estimated visits).
The single most common ER diagnosis for school equipment is laceration to the face, accounting for approximately 2,465 visits across the 20-year NEISS window, followed by internal injury to the head (2,353 cases). The 5-14 age group absorbs the largest share of injuries, about 13,938 cases over the NEISS window, and males appear slightly more often than the opposite sex in that cohort. Severity outcomes from the NEISS disposition field show that 1.5% of ER visits involving this product end in hospital admission or transfer.
Beyond the hospital-sampled NEISS projections, this page also aggregates 1 consumer incident report filed directly on SaferProducts.gov, plus 20 anonymized ER narratives - together forming a layered picture of how school equipment fail in real households. Every figure on this page comes from CPSC-published data: NEISS projects national estimates from a probability sample of about 100 U.S. hospital emergency departments, while SaferProducts.gov collects voluntary reports from consumers, manufacturers, and clinicians. The danger score, trend indicators, and demographic breakdowns update automatically when CPSC releases a new yearly NEISS file, which is why this page is dated 2024-12-31. For regulatory context, consult CPSC recall notices and the SaferProducts.gov public database linked below.
Annual Injury Estimates (2005–2024)
Source: CPSC NEISS national estimates CPSC NEISS national estimates Injuries represent ER-treated cases only
Who Gets Injured?
| Age Group | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-4 | 1,415 | 1,085 | |
| 5-14 | 8,427 | 5,511 | |
| 15-24 | 2,171 | 2,447 | |
| 25-34 | 316 | 305 | |
| 35-44 | 145 | 447 | |
| 45-54 | 177 | 261 | |
| 55-64 | 87 | 95 | |
| 65-74 | 0 | 169 | |
| 75+ | 0 | 256 |
Most Common Injuries
| Body Part | Diagnosis | Est. Injuries |
|---|---|---|
| Face | Laceration | |
| Head | Internal Injury | |
| Finger | Laceration | |
| Head | Laceration | |
| Hand | Laceration | |
| Head | Concussion | |
| Toe | Laceration | |
| Lower Arm | Laceration | |
| Head | Contusions, Abr. | |
| Hand | Contusions, Abr. | |
| Hand | Fracture | |
| Face | Contusions, Abr. | |
| Mouth | Laceration | |
| Foot | Contusions, Abr. | |
| Upper Leg | Laceration |
Severity Breakdown
ER Visit Narratives
Real anonymized emergency room reports from the CPSC NEISS database.
83YOF PRESENTS TO THE ER AFTER A FALL COMPLAINING OF FACIAL AND RIGHT HAND PAIN. SHE WAS LEAVING THE LAB AND FELL HITTING HER HEAD ON A WHITEBOARD. ON ANTICOAGULATION AND HER INR IS 2.2. EXAM SHOWS AN ABRASION BY THE RIGHT EYE RIGHT FINGER. HER SPOUSE STATES SHE HAS CONFUSION. CT SHOWED A SUBARACHNOID HEMMOHAGE.. DX: SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE WITHOUT LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS; INJURY HEAD INTIAL
8YOM PRESENTS AFTER RUNNING INTO WHITE BOARD IN CLASS, C/O HEADACHE, DX:HEADACHE, FEVER
6YOM RUNNING IN SCHOOL AND FELL, HIT HEAD ON CHALBOARD. DX: SCALP LACERATION
13YOM HIT HEAD ON A WHITE BOARD AT SCHOOL. DX: FOREHEAD LACERATION
16 YOM WAS ATTEMPTING TO STRIKE SOMETHING WITH HIS CLOSED FIST 4 DAYS AGO WHEN HE MISSED HIS TARGET, STRIKING FIST ON A WHITE BOARD. DX: RIGHT ARM PAIN.
13 YOM PUNCHED A DRY ERASE BOARD AT SCHOOL TODAY, C/O PAIN LEFT HAND, DX; HAND FRACTURE
6YOM ACCIDENTALLY CUT HIS LEFT HAND ON A METAL FRAME OF A WHITE DRY ERASE BOARD DX: LACERATION OF LEFT HAND
7YOF C/O EXTREMITY LACERATION S/P PT STATES SHE SUSTAINED A LACERATION OF HER FOURTH FINGER FROM A METAL EDGE OF A DRY ERASE BOARD. DX: LACERATION OF LEFT RING FINGER
10 MOF HOLDING CHALKBOARD AND FELL HITTING EYE DX SUBCONJUNCTIRAL HEMORRHAGE EYE
13YOM PT HAS LT FOREARM LACERATION FROM FALLING ONTO THE METAL PART OF A DRY ERASE BOARD TODAY DX: LACERATION OF LT FOREARM
79YOF PRESENTED TO ED C/O HEAD INJURY, PT STATED SHE WAS SITTING AT HER DESK AND CHALKBOARD FELL ONTO HER HEAD. SEVERE PAIN. DX; SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE
11YOM ACCIDENTALLY RAN INTO EDGE OF WHITE BOARD AT SCHOOL. DX: CONTUSION OF RIB ON RIGHT SIDE
Consumer Incident Reports
Reports filed by consumers on SaferProducts.gov.
I'm a facilities manager who happened to be tasked with remounting an emergency eyewash station back to the wall to which it had been affixed. Upon inspection, I came to find that the screws which I once used to mount the unit (and which BY DESIGN are immersed within the eyewash solution itself, seemingly AT ALL TIMES) had rusted out and left a bit of rusty particulates at the bottom of the reservoir. In addition to that, the unsealed nature of the reservoir itself allowed for a multitude of fungus gnats to live/breed/die right next to the rust sediment. It was horrifying to know that some of my employees actually have utilized this product in recent history, though no issues have been reported yet. They will be listed further in the report.
Product Recalls
Search for active and past recalls related to school equipment on the CPSC website.
Frequently Asked Questions
How dangerous are school equipment?
Based on 20 years of CPSC data, school equipment have a danger score of 29/100 (low risk). An estimated 1,166 ER-treated injuries occur annually in the U.S. related to this product category.
What are the most common injuries from school equipment?
The most common injury is laceration to the face, accounting for approximately 2,465 injuries over 20 years.
Are injuries from school equipment increasing or decreasing?
Down 29% over 5 years.
Who is most at risk for school equipment injuries?
The 5-14 age group accounts for the most injuries, with approximately 13,938 cases recorded over 20 years. Males are more frequently injured in this age group.
What happens when someone is injured by school equipment?
Of all ER visits involving school equipment, approximately 1.5% result in hospital admission. The majority of patients (98.5%) are treated and released from the emergency department.
How can I report a safety problem with school equipment?
You can file a consumer incident report at SaferProducts.gov, the official CPSC reporting portal. Reports help the CPSC identify emerging hazards and trigger investigations or recalls. You can also call the CPSC hotline at 1-800-638-2772.
Safety Guides
What this means for you
Treat the 29/100 score as relative risk between products, not your personal odds of injury.
- See where this category ranks against every other tracked product. Full rankings
- Injuries cluster in the 5-14 age group, take extra care if that describes your household.
- Check for active recalls on this product before you assume it is safe. CPSC recalls
NEISS estimates ER-treated injuries from a national probability sample of hospitals; they do not capture injuries treated elsewhere or not treated at all.
Data: CPSC National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) 2005–2024 and SaferProducts.gov consumer incident reports. Injury estimates are based on a nationally representative probability sample of U.S. hospital emergency departments. This page is for informational purposes only and is not affiliated with the CPSC.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, scored, and verified.
