Well knock me down with a feather...while we, laymen, are investigating the
possibility of hollow planets, New Scientists are focusing their time,
energy and resources on this:
Feedback, New Scientist magazine (UK), June 09, 2001
http://www.newscientist.co.uk/feedback/feedback.jsp?id=ns229415
EACH YEAR around this time Feedback's favourite government report
appears--the Home and Leisure Accident Surveillance System report from
Britain's Department of Trade and Industry. It gives figures for
accidents
reported by people admitted to a sample group of British hospitals and
then gives extrapolated estimates for the country as a whole.
First the bad news in this year's report, which is based on 1999 data:
the
toll of accidents caused by tea cosies is up again, with a national
estimate of 37 tea cosy injuries, compared with 20 the previous year.
Equally alarming, the number of accidents caused by place mats--a menace
we have paid too little attention to in the past--is up from 157 to 165
across the country as a whole.
These worrying figures are somewhat balanced by a welcome decline in
another area of concern--sponge and loofah accidents. The shocking
previous total of 996 nationwide is now down to 787.
But the major causes of concern are still with us. The number of people
hospitalised after a trouser accident (up from 5137 to 5945) is
worryingly
high, while the drop in injuries inflicted by armchairs (down from 18,690
to 16,662) leaves little room for complacency. Hospitalisations caused by
socks and tights have also risen (10,773 compared to 9843 previously),
while injuries inflicted by vegetables remain unacceptably high at 13,132
compared with the previous year's 12,362.
The number of accidents involving tree trunks has also risen from 1777 to
1810, while leaf accidents have soared from 664 to 1171, with a similar
increase in bird-bath accidents from 117 to 311.
Many people will also be shocked by the number of accidents caused by
beanbags, which has risen from 957 to 1317. The seriousness of this
menace
becomes clear when measured against the 329 injuries caused by meat
cleavers or the 439 caused by rat or mouse poison.
In fact, the report makes it clearer than ever that our homes are full of
unacknowledged dangers. It identifies 3421 people nationwide as having
been injured by clothes baskets, while other threats include dust pans
(146 injuries), bread bins (91), talcum powder (73), toilet-roll holders
(329), clogs (622), false teeth (933) and wellington boots (5615).
As in the past, printed magazines like New Scientist caused far more
injuries than chainsaws--4371 compared with 1207.
So remember--you can't be too careful.
================
The UK's Department of Trade & Industry has not placed the latest report
on its web site yet, but presumably it will be available, when uploaded,
from somewhere near
http://www.dti.gov.uk/homesafetynetwork/gh_stats.htm --Richard E