Soup splatters, slippers slip: ACC insights into winter woes

17 June 2013

When soup splatters and slippers slip – ACC insights into winter’s woes

There’s nothing more comforting than a hearty bowl of soup on a cold winter day – unless, of course, the soup ends up injuring you!

Soup, slippers, snow and ice, umbrellas, heaters and firewood are all things we associate with winter – and all were cited as the cause of accidents in ACC claims lodged last winter (June, July and August 2012).

The soup-related injuries included burned mouths from sipping hot soup, cut fingers from chopping up the soup ingredients, strains from lifting heavy soup pots and injured feet from dropped cans of soup.

There were also falls on spilled soup, and a phenomenon unheard of in grandma’s and granddad’s era – skin burns caused by blender splash-back.

Pulling on the slippers on a cold morning resulted in back sprains for a number of Kiwis, while others were injured when they fell putting their slippers on.

More than a few claimants attributed accidents to wearing slippers that were too big, and others tripped over slippers that had been left lying around.

Unsurprisingly, slippery ice brought a number of Kiwis to their knees between June and August last year, while others sustained sprains shovelling show.

Umbrella-related injuries were relatively few and far between, with a small number of people ‘spiked’ while opening or closing their brolley, and others injured running into or tripping over umbrella stands.

Heaters and firewood were associated with a much greater number of injuries. Kiwis burned almost every conceivable body part on heaters, with injuries occurring when people lifted, tripped over, ‘backed into’, sat on and fell asleep or dried themselves in front of heaters.

Firewood played a role in injuries such as burns sustained while putting wood into the fire, cuts and grazes while chopping wood and sprains resulting from gathering and lifting firewood.

ACC’s General Manager of Insurance and Prevention Services, John Beaglehole, says during the cold winter months we typically spend more time at home, and that’s where the most injuries happen in New Zealand.

“More than a third of the roughly 1.7 million claims that ACC receives each year are for injuries that happen in or around the home. When we’re at home, we probably let our guard down a bit, and we don’t think about safety as much as we might if we were at work or on the road.”

Mr Beaglehole offers the following tips to help Kiwis stay safe at home this winter:
• If you’ve come inside with wet gear, mop up drips – and other spills – immediately, to prevent slipping
• Clear up toys and clutter, especially from walkways, to prevent tripping hazards
• Try not to have power cords from heaters and other appliances ‘snaking’ across the floor – run them along the wall if possible
• Make sure areas inside the home with high foot-traffic have easy access to light switches, so they can be well lit when it gets dark
• Replace broken light bulbs promptly
• Install outdoor lighting for paths and access ways – you’ll spend more time coming and going in the dark during winter
• Clear moss, which is more prevalent in winter, from paths and walkways.

Statistics from winter (June, July and August) 2012

Claims for injuries involving:
Soup: 128
Slippers: 81
Snow and ice (non-sporting): 60
Umbrellas: 27
Heaters: 248
Firewood: 214

Note: These statistics were obtained by searching for claims where the above words were recorded in the accident description. There may have been injuries involving these factors which aren’t captured, because the specific word wasn’t mentioned in the accident description. The factors mentioned may not have had a direct causal link with the injury in all cases.

ENDS

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