Thursday 19 February 2004 - News - Health and safety
Try not to become a fashion 'accident' victim
Accident trends are affected
as much by fashion as anything else, according to new figures.
For example, accidents involving micro-scooters rose massively during a craze which swept Britain two years ago, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) highlighted today. Some 19,700 people were injured in scooter accidents in 2002 compared with 2,200 in 1998.
RoSPA said the figures, taken from a recent Department of Trade and Industry report, were evidence that modern fashion crazes were prompting more mishaps.
The growing popularity of skateboarding was also matched with a rise in accidents, from 14,000 to 39,000, the society found. Another 12,300 people were hurt in falls on wood floors, which are becoming increasingly popular among home enthusiasts. In 1998 there were just 2,900 such accidents, although falls on carpets also rose in the same period.
RoSPA spokesman Roger Vincent said manufacturers should be paying more attention to safety when designing new products. However, they were only partly to blame. He added: "Some of it may be down to misuse. Some people don't listen to the warnings and they think it won't happen to them."
Mr Vincent welcomed a slight fall in the overall number of accidents in the UK but said more work needed to be done to cut the figure further. An estimated 2,701,000 people attended hospital after domestic mishaps in 2002, and 2,876,000 following accidents away from the home.
Among the more unusual categories in the report were trouser-related mishaps (up from 5,000 in 1998 to 9,400 in 2002), zip-fly accidents (down slightly to 700) and injuries from high-heeled and platform shoes (down from 15,000 to 8,500)!
Max Herd
For example, accidents involving micro-scooters rose massively during a craze which swept Britain two years ago, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) highlighted today. Some 19,700 people were injured in scooter accidents in 2002 compared with 2,200 in 1998.
RoSPA said the figures, taken from a recent Department of Trade and Industry report, were evidence that modern fashion crazes were prompting more mishaps.
The growing popularity of skateboarding was also matched with a rise in accidents, from 14,000 to 39,000, the society found. Another 12,300 people were hurt in falls on wood floors, which are becoming increasingly popular among home enthusiasts. In 1998 there were just 2,900 such accidents, although falls on carpets also rose in the same period.
RoSPA spokesman Roger Vincent said manufacturers should be paying more attention to safety when designing new products. However, they were only partly to blame. He added: "Some of it may be down to misuse. Some people don't listen to the warnings and they think it won't happen to them."
Mr Vincent welcomed a slight fall in the overall number of accidents in the UK but said more work needed to be done to cut the figure further. An estimated 2,701,000 people attended hospital after domestic mishaps in 2002, and 2,876,000 following accidents away from the home.
Among the more unusual categories in the report were trouser-related mishaps (up from 5,000 in 1998 to 9,400 in 2002), zip-fly accidents (down slightly to 700) and injuries from high-heeled and platform shoes (down from 15,000 to 8,500)!
Max Herd
