Beware Dangerous Winter Icicles

In much of the country, wintertime brings freezing cold temperatures, snow, and ice - even icicles that hang from the edges of your house or other structures. However, have you thought about the danger from one of those icicles falling on you, a loved one, or even a stranger walking by your residence or place of business? Injuries may include cuts, bruises, broken bones, brain damage, and even death.

The heat emanating from homes, cause snow or ice to melt and then refreeze into icicles hanging from gutters, the edges of roofs, windows, or any place water is able to drip. Continued cold temperatures with period of slight warming trends also create icicles that "grow" and become larger, longer, and exponentially more dangerous to those who pass below them.

Icicles may become several feet long, with an extensively large diameter at the top, and if they fall from as little as one floor height, can cause property damage, injury and possibly even death. On our house alone, one icicle is at least 12 foot long and I am sure longer ones exist in this area of western Pennsylvania.

In one episode of the popular show known as "Mythbusters" shown (on the Discovery Channel), proved that falling ice could kill. Causing ice to fall several feet provided compelling evidence when penetration of a piece of meat was sufficiently deep to have caused serious injuries if not worse.

In fact, hundreds of people are injured or killed each year, in not only the United States but also any country that has similar weather, from spear-like icicles or large chunks of ice falling from several stories in height. Donald Booth of Wisconsin died instantly in 2000 when a microwave sized piece of ice fell, crushing his skull and vertebras in his neck and back. A 7-year-old boy from Springfield, Vermont, Anthony Thibodeau, suffered traumatic brain injuries when an icicle fell and hit him while he was playing. The young boy suffered two skull fractures and brain damage and has to learn how to walk again.

Due to new technology, many skyscrapers and other buildings have installed glycol systems, warming devices, or hot water pipes on their buildings to melt any accumulated snow and ice. Professionals, including people who customarily climb mountains, clean older buildings, often rappel to problem areas that are difficult to access from the ground, while in places like Moscow, over 25000 people are regularly employed to clean icicles from buildings, many that are slant roofed and often over 100 years old. Smaller homes and businesses are normally cleaned of icicles by the use of poles or brooms.

It is a good idea to clean hanging icicles from your home or business, for both safety reasons and with regard to personal injury insurance claims. Attorneys state that lawsuits regarding falling ice are commonplace. Nevertheless, if you decide to clean icicles from your home, it is a good idea to wear a helmet, eye protection, and - perhaps - even a Kevlar^® vest.

Sources:

Dodging ice from above is part of city life, by Charles Bennett, AP
Boy Injured By Falling Ice, Suffers Brain Damage, WPTZ.com, February 25, 2009
The unlikely winter death trap, by Ryan Klund, January 9, 2007