Garden tumbles double over Labour Weekend

Beware of your back yard this weekend - nearly a third of all Labour Weekend injury claims last year were from people who fell over in the garden or on their garden path.

ACC today revealed the percentage of people injured while gardening last Labour Weekend was double that of the rest of the year.

More than 100 people tripped on steps, 36 fell off a ladder and 15 people injured themselves while mowing the lawn.

Green-fingered women aged 40-44 and 50-54 were most likely to take a tumble.

ACC's insurance and prevention services manager Keith McLea said many people wanted to see the All Blacks play France in the Rugby World Cup Final this weekend - but there were no big screen televisions in hospital emergency departments.

"So make sure you get to see it by taking extra care if you're carrying out jobs around the home or garden,'' he said.

But it's not just the garden that is a potential hazard - a total of 1100 working age people were injured in various types of falls at home last Labour Weekend.

More than 60 were hurt so seriously they had to take time off work, half of those for more than a month, leading to the loss of 420 working weeks.

Falls in the home cost ACC $272 million a year.

 

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