(PR.co.nz) A new charitable initiative is set to help address the rapidly increasing number of injuries caused by accidents across West Auckland households each year.
The number of accident claims in the Auckland region has increased 35% over the past decade, with the cost to treat active claims now approaching $1bn annually.
According to new data from ACC, more than 339,000 claims were received for accidents in Auckland homes last year. Homes are the most likely place to have an accident with almost half (46%) of the more than 740,000 injuries across the region occurring there – significantly ahead of sports & recreation areas, public roads and commercial/industrial workplaces.
Soft tissue injuries such as sprains and contusions are the most commonly reported followed by lacerations and fractures or dislocated joints. There have also been more than 8,700 claims for burns and 282 amputations in the past 12 months.
Injuries to children aged under 15 made up almost a third (29%) of accident claims in the region with an additional 12% among those aged 65+.
More than three quarters (76%) of accident claims originate in Auckland City, with Manukau and North Shore cities on 6%, Rodney District on 5%, Waitakere City on 4%, Franklin at 3% and the remaining 1% in Papakura.
West Auckland households will now benefit from a new charitable initiative which will see 70,000 first aid kits provided at no cost to all homes in the region from February.
The comprehensive kits are designed to help treat some of the most common forms of injury and will be donated to the region by ‘The Trusts’ West Auckland at a cost of more than $680,000.
Trusts CEO Simon Wickham says while there has been an overhaul to the health & safety regulations that cover our place of employment, our home remains the most likely place an accident will occur.
“Auckland’s population is around 1.66m which means in the past year there was a injury claim for every 2.2 people in the region – and this is just a measure of the accidents for which a claim was filed.
“In West Auckland alone last year there were more than 24,000 ACC claims with over 14,000 of these occurring in a residential dwelling.
“Included in these injuries were upwards of 17,000 soft tissue injuries such as sprains and 4,800 lacerations.
“It is our hope that the offer of a quality first aid kit at no cost will mean thousands of people in the West Auckland region will now be better equipped to deal with an accident if it occurs in their home,” he says.
Wickham says The Trusts have also supplied free smoke alarms to households in their catchment area and have donated millions of dollars to local charities.
He says the cost to treat active injury claims in Auckland has risen 43% to $988m in the past decade with an increase of $88.4m in the past year alone.
West Auckland households will receive a voucher in the mailbox from February 4 with instructions on where they can be redeemed from for a first aid kit.