The ideal Kiwi summer will involve frolicking at the beach, a can of grog in hand, and reading one of the many unread books on your bookshelf while you lounge under the sun. Ideally, you’ll be slipped, slopped, wrapped, and slapped - my choice beingan obnoxiously big floppy hat suited for fancy ladies of leisure, or divorcées.
But, according to ACC, January tends to see the most water-related injuries annually, with an average of 3700 per year over the last three years. With holiday period cheer comes risk, it seems.
Although I’m extremely partial to a five-inch wooden clog, four sport-induced knee operations mean I truly know the value of a sensible shoe. In other words, all shoes aren’t made equal. ACC received more than 2500 new claims for injuries involving high heels between 2017 and mid-2022.
The humble ‘Croc’ may be comfortable and loved by Generation Z, but the shoes gave rise to 140 new claims in the last five years. ACC warned in March that “Injuries involving Crocs are on the rise... Cocs might be sweet at the beach or BBQ, but they’re not designed for walking the dog through the bush or slippery terrain.”
Equally as fashionably regressive are jandals, which caused 4200 injuries between 2018 and 2022.
Slips, trips, and falls make up about 40 per cent of ACC’s claims, which comes to more than 770,000 falls a year.
Sizzle sausages carefully
Moving on to “shrimp on the barbie”. In 2022, ACC accepted 1022 barbeque-related injuries, costing the taxpayer $2 million.
Males were almost twice as likely to suffer injuries than women and 36 per cent of all grill-adjacent injuries were suffered by people aged 40-59. Children aged four and under also got hurt, with a total of 59 claims in 2022.
A total of 207 claims involved injuries to the lower back, perhaps due to mistaking the grill for a seat while shirtless or sporting togs, I imagine. Hands/wrists otherwise took the brunt of the heat (120), followed by fingers (90). Interestingly, mouth and tongue burns weren’t a feature.
In a statement, ACC injury prevention leader James Whitaker said predictable and preventable injuries often resulted from the country’s “she’ll be right” attitude.
“No one wants to have their friends or whānau around for a meal and then have to head to A and E,” Whitaker said.
Photo / 123rf
Slip, slop, slap and wrap
Speaking of burns, ACC figures suggest there have been 300 claims relating to sunburns in the last five years. It accepted 90 claims in 2021 and 80 in 2022. Again, men were more likely to claim for a sunburn injury than women.
People aged 10-19 accounted for 30 per cent of the claims, with the majority from people in Auckland (30 per cent), followed by Waikato, Wellington and Canterbury (all 10 per cent).
New Zealand’s fierce sun is no joke, with an estimated 500 people dying from skin cancer each year. Nearly 3000 people are diagnosed with invasive melanoma annually, and there are more than 90,000 new cases of non-melanoma skin cancer.
Water accidents
Equally as tragic is the number of deaths resulting from New Zealand’s harsh waters. According to Water Safety New Zealand figures, there were 90 drowning fatalities in 2023, with 80 per cent of those being men. A year earlier, there were 94 deaths - the highest number in a decade. The majority of drownings occurred among men aged 55-plus and involved power-boating accidents.
More broadly, ACC accepted 19,500 water-related injury claims in 2022, equating to 50 accidents per day. The majority of injuries occurred while surfing (6250), followed by swimming at a beach (5600), swimming at a pool (1300), and boating (860). The majority of injuries occurred in Auckland (5800), ahead of Waikato (2600), Bay of Plenty (2100) and Canterbury (1850).
The cost of freshly cut grass
Staying on land isn’t necessarily the safest way to prevent accidents, with almost 7000 ACC claims resulting from lawnmowing in 2022. ACC accepted 423 claims in August 2022, which increased substantially during the spring months - September (550), October (690), and November (839).
Again, men were almost twice as likely to suffer a lawnmowing injury than women. There were 5300 soft tissue injuries, 915 lacerations and stings, and 150 fractures or dislocations. The majority affected the back or spine (2200), followed by shoulder (970), and finger injuries (476). Tragically, 21 people suffered an amputation following a lawnmowing injury in 2022.
For my fellow long-time hay-fever sufferers who are equally brought to their knees while they stay indoors for much of Spring and Summer - stay calm and carry on.
Covered shoes, shirts, and sunscreen are a must for the rest, and best to handle powered machines and water with care.
Stay safe.
Sasha Borissenko is a freelance journalist who has reported extensively on the legal industry.
