The Home and Leisure Accident Surveillance System collated accident statistics for the UK for some time. There is now a simplified version of this database available online showing information about where accidents took place, some demographic information about the victims and the object or, in some cases, animal involved in the accident. There are, of course, some horrific accidents that occurred in a number of places, but we will focus here on some of the home based accidents.

A significant number of accidents involving animals were caused by pigs. In 2002, pigs were responsible for upwards of 200 reported accidents in the UK. Which is more, not all of these accidents were caused on farmyards. More than 20 of these accidents were caused in the home… Perhaps they were flying in through the window.

Do not think that the problem is only reserved to those evil pigs, that most dangerous of domestic pet, the fish, accounted for 89 injuries in 2000. However, many people will not be surprised to hear that those cunning cats accounted for more than 12,000 accidents in the UK that year.

But don’t assume you’re safe if you have no pets! In 2002, there were 144 INDOOR accidents at home that involved a shrub or bush and a further 1,046 people were injured in an indoor domestic accident involving a potted plant!

But while it’s easy to look with a little humour at some of these, the fact is that there are more than 2 million accidents indoors in homes across the country each year, whether the fault of pets, home accessories or even faulty products. While many of these accidents could be attributed to carelessness or cautions not taken, some are the result of faulty products and circumstances not the fault of the victim of the accident. Accidents at home come at a huge cost to the country’s National Health Service.