A woman was killed this week in Garden City, SC, after a beach umbrella flew into the air and then hit her — a tragic reminder that beach umbrellas can quickly become dangerous projectiles. After becoming airborne, the umbrella struck and pinned 63-year-old Tammy Perreault as she sat on the beach, according to statements from a Horry County spokeswoman and Deputy County Coroner Tamara Willard. Off-duty medical professionals and bystanders helped the woman before she was taken to a hospital, where she later died. According to local reports, the umbrella was blown free by winds of 10 to 15 miles per hour. ‘Horrible accident’: Woman killed by umbrella on windy Virginia beach Her death is just the latest such fatality associated with the umbrella. In 2016, Lottie Michelle Belk, 55, was celebrating her anniversary and birthday in Virginia Beach when a flying beach umbrella struck her in the torso, causing fatal injuries. In that case, Virginia Beach police said a “strong gust of wind” tore the umbrella off the ground. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, there were 2,800 beach umbrella injuries treated in emergency rooms nationwide in the nine years between 2010 and 2018. A December 2021 study by the Journal of Safety Research found that at least 5,512 umbrella incidents beaches in the United States were referred to emergency rooms and that the victims were disproportionately women over 40 years of age. According to the 2021 study, wind was involved in more than 50 percent of beach umbrella-related injuries. Tears, bruises and abrasions, and internal organ injuries are the three most common injuries. The study suggested that “policymakers need to educate the public about the potential dangers of beach and patio umbrellas.” The CPSC provides advice to the public on how to properly set up a beach umbrella, advising beachgoers to rock their beach umbrellas back and forth until they are two feet deep in the sand and tilt the umbrella into the wind to keep it from blowing away. The CPSC also recommends using some kind of weight or anchor to hold beach umbrellas down. But some safety advocates say the CPSC’s latest efforts to protect beaches from rogue umbrellas aren’t enough. Bill Schermerhorn, president of beachBUB USA, a company that sells a beach umbrella embraced by safety advocates, said the latest guidance from the CPSC is insufficient. Beach trips can be costly to the environment. Here’s how you can reduce your impact. Schermerhorn worries that the CPSC’s advice to tilt the umbrella to the wind isn’t enough. The wind on the beach can shift quickly and unexpectedly, meaning a properly positioned umbrella one hour could become a hazard the next, especially when it doesn’t take much wind to untie a poorly anchored umbrella. “If you’ve ever been to the beach and tried to put an umbrella eight inches into the sand, much less two feet, you realize that’s an impossible task,” Schermerhorn said. Schermerhorn, who is working with ASTM International to help design safety standards for beach umbrellas, said he wants the CPSC to produce a stronger public service announcement about beach umbrella safety. Karla Crosswhite-Chigbue, a spokeswoman for the CPSC, wrote in an email that the agency is investigating this week’s incident. “CPSC staff is also currently working with a standards development organization in hopes of developing a standard that could help establish requirements for reliable and safe beach umbrellas and anchor systems,” he said. Bad weather in Bethany Beach, Del. on August 5 he threw beach umbrellas into the ocean. (Video: The Washington Post) Last week, a viral video from Bethany Beach, Del., showed dozens of beach umbrellas blown into the air and thrown into the ocean after a powerful storm with winds up to 40 mph tore them apart. “This is one of the many videos out there where umbrellas go dancing on the beach … because they’re not weighed, they’re just shoved into the sand,” Schermerhorn said. What parents should know before letting their kids play in a bounce house
