In Britain, 1,207 people had to visit hospitals after accidents with chainsaws in 1999. However, in the same year, 16,662 people, more than twelve times as many, were injured by their sofa.
Danger: Bird Bath!
by Andy Baxter
We all know that chainsaws are very dangerous. In Britain, 1207 people had to visit hospitals after accidents with chainsaws in 1999. However, in the same year, 16,662 people, more than twelve times as many, were injured by their sofa!
In June 2001, the New Scientist reported that “its favourite government report” had been published by Britain's Department of Trade and Industry . This was the annual Home and Leisure Accident Surveillance System report for 1999. The report looks at what people said had made them go to accident departments in certain British hospitals. It then uses these figures to estimate causes of accidents over the whole country.
Some of the most harmless things prove to be extremely dangerous:
Clothes: the Times (07 June 2001) reported that there were 5945 trouser accidents (compared with only 5,137 the previous year). Socks and tights caused 10,773 accidents. Most of these accidents were people falling over because they were getting dressed too fast, and many other people fell over clothes left on the floor (you see, your mother was right when she told you to tidy up your bedroom!)
Meanwhile, the garden also took its revenge. Tree trunks caused 1,810 accidents, and bird baths went on the rampage, attacking 311 people - up from 117 victims in 1998. But the biggest danger was your wellington boots: 5,615 accidents.
In films, people always hide from danger in the bathroom, but that’s a dangerous option in real life. Toilet-roll holders alone accounted for 329 victims, while 787 people had to confront their sponge or loofah, and there were 73 talcum powder victims. But beware the clothes basket, which claimed 3,421 victims nationwide.
But it was in the kitchen that most people got injured. Tea cosies – woollen covers for tea pots to keep the tea hot – caused 37 injuries, compared with 20 the previous year; while placemat accidents were up from 157 to 165. Vegetables caused 13,132 incidents, while 91 accidents were caused by bread bins.
The deadly nature of these common household objects becomes clearer when you compare it with items people normally think are dangerous. Only 329 injuries were caused by meat cleavers, and only 439 caused by rat or mouse poison.
How can we explain all these horrors hiding in our homes? Perhaps the figures are explained by the fact that most of the injured people were children under five. And we all know that young children on wobbly legs will go to places and insert their fingers in places that even Lara Croft would have thought twice about risking…
Submitted by Aye Aye Mar on 23 November, 2012 - 09:24. Burma
Dear all,
I've never thought that our house is too dangerous like so many accident happened. Thanks for this post and we should be aware of that kind of things.
Submitted by Hanh_nguyen on 19 September, 2012 - 08:35. Vietnam
Hi, I have a question . Sometimes I translate from English to Vietnamese when I read magazines,books, stories... I want to give up this habit but I haven't done it yet. Please, help me!! Thank you very much.
Submitted by raedwitwit on 21 August, 2012 - 20:38. Iraq
hello every body
thank you for this well prepared site , but i think we need to add a translation of the text as an option for the readers to understand some vocabularies in their mother tongue language .
with my best wishes
Submitted by Issara on 26 May, 2012 - 22:57. Mexico
hello, something that helped me a lot was to write down new vocabulary on cards, in the back of the card I would make a picture and/or write a meaningful sentence (a sentence that was real for me), Good luck! I've learned lots of new words with this method.
Submitted by Stephen Jones on 3 June, 2012 - 15:33. United Kingdom (Great Britain)
Hello Issara,
That sounds like a good way to help you remember new words. Making vocabulary memorable for yourself is a powerful tool.
How do you organise your cards? By subject (animals, objects, etc), parts of speech (adjectives, nouns, verbs, etc), or alphabetically (a, b, c...)? Let us know!
Comments
morning every one
hi! everyone.
Dear all,
I've never thought that our house is too dangerous like so many accident happened. Thanks for this post and we should be aware of that kind of things.
Hi, I have a question . Sometimes I translate from English to Vietnamese when I read magazines,books, stories... I want to give up this habit but I haven't done it yet. Please, help me!! Thank you very much.
you should learn more words of English else ,have no any possible replace it
hello every body
thank you for this well prepared site , but i think we need to add a translation of the text as an option for the readers to understand some vocabularies in their mother tongue language .
with my best wishes
It's so good!
hi all my friend how are you pleas help me my English language is very bad
hello, something that helped me a lot was to write down new vocabulary on cards, in the back of the card I would make a picture and/or write a meaningful sentence (a sentence that was real for me), Good luck! I've learned lots of new words with this method.
team
Hello Issara,
That sounds like a good way to help you remember new words. Making vocabulary memorable for yourself is a powerful tool.
How do you organise your cards? By subject (animals, objects, etc), parts of speech (adjectives, nouns, verbs, etc), or alphabetically (a, b, c...)? Let us know!
Regards,
Stephen Jones
The LearnEnglish Team