New Zealand has an injury prevention strategy that is focused on the six causes of serious injury accidents that account for 80% of injury deaths and serious injuries in New Zealand
A serious injury is one where you either die or are admitted to hospital with a 6.9% or more chance of dying.
The six causes are:
- Assault
- Work related injury
- Falls
- Motor vehicle crashes
- Drowning and near drowning
- Suicide and intentional self-harm
Surprisingly falls are the leading cause of injury hospitalisation and one of the top three causes of injury related deaths. Nearly 40% of injury related hospital admissions are due to falls and even more staggering is the fact that ACC pays over $400,000,000 per year in costs related to falls. This is more than costs attributed to road accidents and the total cost of all the sports and recreation injuries.
Last month ACC ran its annual safety week to make people aware of the dangers from falls around stairs, dog leads, electric wires and floor rugs. The home where you would expect to be safe is surprisingly full of unintended hazards. Their aim is to achieve an attitude change in people’s awareness of the risk from falls and the long term effects of injuries
