How scores of kids hurt themselves at schools
Driving into holes, operating machinery and gobbling down fungi were just a few activities that led to broken bones, amputations and over $35 million in ACC claims for students last year. However, experts say we shouldn’t be too concerned.
Data from ACC revealed 81,903 claims were lodged in 2023 for under 18-year-olds on school grounds after some unusual and painful incidents.
Soft tissue injuries, fractures and cuts accounted for 85% of the claims, but hundreds of kids were also concussed, burnt or discovered a foreign object in an orifice or eye. Twenty unfortunate souls faced amputation, while dentists cashed in on nearly 5000 damaged mouths.
Preparing food injured over 100 students, while eating food injured nearly 300. Operating machinery hurt a dozen and 600 were ‘the other guy’ in school yard scraps. Sporting and recreational activities accounted for one third of the claims, followed by walking and running, playing, and climbing things.
Causes ranged from falls, trips and slips, to fights, driving into holes and obstacles, and ingesting fungi.
ACC recorded more than a few other serious injury causes, including electrocution, boiling liquid, explosions and implosions.
A grave incident occurred at Ashburton Collegein September when a student not wearing a protective apron was hospitalised after catching fire in an automotive workshop.
In an unrelated review of technology rooms, WorkSafe issued Ashburton College five improvement notices related to inadequate machine guarding, health monitoring, fumes and dust, a spokesperson said.
A school spokesperson confirmed work had since been completed to satisfy the recommendations.
Although serious incidents were not good for anyone, Auckland University of Technology population health professor Scott Duncan said less dangerous accidents should be embraced.
“Of course we don’t like serious accidents, we want to avoid those, but little accidents actually can be very, very important learning processes for kids.”
Among other benefits, kids who never experienced risk in their early years may take more dangerous risks later on without appreciating the consequences, Duncan explained. It was important schools and parents adopted a “risk benefit approach, not just a risk avoidance approach” to enable this development.
“Yes sometimes really bad stuff happens – that is all life, just like really bad stuff happens driving cars every day.”
Last year’s ACC claims totalled $35.7m$2.9m more than in 2019 despite counting 14,000 fewer total active claims.
The higher cost could be put down to more expensive injuries or inflation, ACC deputy chief executive for prevention and partnerships Tane Cassidy said.
“Recent years have seen larger uplifts due to an increase in supply costs, and this could partially explain the increase in the average cost per claim.”
The number of new claims hit 96,000 in 2019, dipping into the 70,000s during Covid restriction years before rising to 81,000 last year – roughly 10% of 2023’s student population.
Most of the injuries recorded were “bread and butter work”, Royal NZ College of General Practitioners medical director Dr Luke Bradford said. “You want kids to be active and playing and doing stuff; they are going to fall over and cut knees and elbows.”
Bradford was not frightened by the one in 10 statistic but noted it was still important “quality safety measures” were in place for serious injuries.
Mairehau Primary School principal John Bangma likewise said accidents were to be expected while kids were “learning the limits of their own body”.
“They are maybe not as strong as they think they are or as fast as they think they are ... it’s just part of the parcel of growing really.”
With a roll of about 400, Bangma said they saw an “occasional” broken arm and other classic hurts, but nonetheless encouraged their kids to be active and “take a few risks”.
“We’ve got children out there supporting others, as well as adults out there supporting others, and we just want that to carry on and keep them playing while they can.”