ACC are warning Christmas gift wrappers, tree decorators, and ham carvers to take it easy this holiday season.
By Logan Church
Figures released to 1 NEWS revealed about 4000 people injured themselves last Christmas day, and claims over the entire Christmas holiday period cost more than $100 million - more than 100,000 claims.
That included 113 claims from injuries that related to Christmas trees or decorations, 47 claims from cutting, burning, or lifting a Christmas ham or turkey, and 20 claims from injuries relating to gift wrapping.
“You tend to think Christmas wrap is pretty harmless, but something is going on ... I don’t know if it is the scissors or the really sharp cutting blade on the sellotape,” said ACC’s Injury Prevention Leader Kirsten Malpas.
Last festive season more than $100 million was spent on injury compensation claims. (Source: Other)
Cooking the Christmas lunch or dinner could also prove dangerous.
“We had 155 barbeque related claims for the Christmas holiday period last year, and 16 hāngi ones,” said Malpas.
“We are just asking people to take it easy, pace themselves, be a little bit gentle with themselves.”
Meanwhile, St John are gearing up for a busy holiday season – last year it responded to 1000 callouts across the country on Christmas Day.
“If dad is going is going to try the new skateboard – don't, especially after a couple of beers,” said St John’s Andy Everiss.
“It is never a good idea and will end badly.”
Alcohol use is also was expected to spike and could make working on Christmas Day dangerous for ambulance staff.
“Unfortunately, we see an increasing number of alcohol related incidents over this festive period, and that causes a whole bunch of problems for us,” said Everiss.
“We see our staff assaults go up over this time.”
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