Another child has died from a falling soccer goal in Arizona, less than 4 months after another child died in Phoenix:

YUMA, Ariz. — A fourth-grader at a San Luis elementary school is dead after a soccer goal fell on him and another student early Thursday, San Luis police said.

An ambulance rushed both students to the hospital, where the boy succumbed to his head injury, police said. The second boy was treated for a non-life threatening head injury and is in stable condition, police said.

San Luis Fire Department personnel who responded to the accident scene said they also treated a teacher for what Fire Chief Hank Green described as shock. The teacher had stabilized one of the boys until firefighters arrived.

I find it interesting that a number of the recent fatalities have happened at schools. You would expect they would have an easier time keeping goals anchored with on site staff. Obviously ensuring goals are anchored is something we all have to take seriously, but I wonder if it’s time to start a national awareness campaign to clue people in how dangerous a soccer goal can be. Only then will we see dedicated efforts to ensure they are anchored.

Keeping soccer goals anchored is a difficult task, given how often they are moved. Recent improvements in design to avoid tipping have been in place since 1999:

In March, 1999, the CPSC and the soccer goal industry helped develop a new safety standard that will reduce the risk of soccer goal tip-over.

The “Provisional Safety Standard and Performance Specification for Soccer Goals” requires that movable soccer goals, except very light-weight goals, not tip over when the goal is weighted in a downward or horizontal direction.

It would be interesting to know if the goals in question in the recent tradgedies were recent models.

Thoughts and prayers go out to the familiy of both students involved in this tragic accident.