Kerre Woodham: Home catching us all off-guard

Who would have thought your home, your castle could be such a dangerous place?

If anybody had asked me how many people I thought had died as a result of an accident in their home in New Zealand last year, I would have said 80.

Maybe, at a push, 100. But 573? More than the road toll and workplace deaths combined. And that's not even counting the walking wounded.

Who would ever have guessed? But really. What can the Government do other than warn people to take more care?

Just about everybody I've spoken to who's had an accident says it's been caused through their own stupidity.

Taking shortcuts rather than climbing down the ladder and shifting it. Stretching out while at the same time thinking what a risky thing that is to do.

Running across a slippery deck for the phone. I've come a cropper off our deck because we hadn't slip proofed it. I was taking out the rubbish, and the next thing I found myself on the concrete below, covered in chicken bones that the dog was delicately picking off my bruised body while pretending to look concerned.

Some Lassie he turned out to be. It was an accident that was entirely my own fault because we'd been meaning to get the deck done for months.

And I know accidents in the home are costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year in payouts but looking at how many there are, it seems we'll all be a part of the pay out within a couple of years.

Given the individual who makes a really bad mistake is the one who pays the ultimate price and very few other people are harmed in the execution of the careless error, do we really need a multi-million-dollar campaign warning people not to be doofuses?

* www.kerrewoodham.com