Losing balance in home top cause of lost days

Wanganui Photo/File

Wanganui folks who lose their balance around the home were the number one cause of thousands of lost days of productivity in the region/district in the past reported financial year.

A total of 125,139 days of productivity were lost in Wanganui in 2012-13, ACC injury comparison reports show.

The reports provide communities with a comprehensive picture of local injury rates and trends, and are designed to help prioritise and plan local injury prevention initiatives. The Wanganui ACC injury claim rate was slightly below the national average and had trended downwards over the past five years.

The most common injuries in Wanganui occurred at home, and at $7.2 million, they were also the most expensive.

Loss of balance was the most common cause of accidents, while walking, running, sport, and recreation were the most common pre-accident activities.

ACC spokesman Glenn Donovan said about 700,000 injuries nationwide happened in the home each year, and of those about 290,000 resulted from falls.

"Falls don't just happen to very young and older people. Around 45 per cent of home falls happen to working-age people aged 20-64 years. We suspect that one of the reasons we're so prone to injuries, such as falls, in the home is because the home is where we naturally feel safe and secure, and we let down our guard a little."

A fall at home could have a significant impact on a working person's productivity, Mr Donovan said.

About 10,000 people had to take more than a week off work each year because of a home fall, and about 2500 had to take more than three months off.

Nationwide, 8,963,941 days of productivity were lost because of injuries in the 2012-13 financial year.

ACC injury prevention general manager Megan McKenna said the injury comparison reports provided a snapshot hoping it would help inspire solutions.

"We also have community injury prevention consultants based all over New Zealand. Their job is to co-ordinate the delivery of our injury prevention initiatives to help address local issues and concerns."

ACC recently updated its approach to injury prevention, identifying seven priority areas falls, road injuries, workplace injuries, treatment injuries, sport and recreational injuries, lifting, carrying and strain injuries, and intentional harm.