It's estimated that 90 per cent of all injuries are preventable.

ACC accepts two million injury claims every year, which equates to more than 5,000 injury claims every day in Aotearoa.

These claims cost more than $4 billion annually.

These injuries have a substantial impact on the wellbeing of the people of Aotearoa.

In the Bay of Plenty in 2020 ACC spent more than $307 million helping people recover from injuries. In all, there were 144,442 new claims for injury accepted in the Bay of Plenty last year.

ACC has launched an Injury Prevention campaign called Preventable which lays down a wero (challenge) to all New Zealanders to stop and take a moment to assess the risks at home, work and play.

By taking a moment to prevent injury, they can keep doing the things they love and keep from harming others around them.

Isaac Carlson, the Head of Injury Prevention at ACC, says Preventable aims to improve the wellbeing of New Zealanders by decreasing the number of injuries and reducing the severity of injuries.

'We are challenging all New Zealanders to have a Hmmm,” he says.

'It's important to take a moment to think about what they are about to do and think about what could go wrong to prevent injury.”

Carlson says the research shows it is estimated that 90 per cent of injuries aren't random, unconnected or unpredictable – they are predictable and therefore preventable.

He says taking a pause for a few seconds can save days, weeks, months or a lifetime of harm and hurt – for the person and others.

'Injury harm continues to be unacceptably high which impacts the wellbeing of the entire country. We can all collectively do more to look out for ourselves and each other.

We want people to be out there and doing the things that they love, and living life to the full, but we also want to collectively change our mindset on preventing injury.”

The Preventable campaign was informed by significant qualitative and quantitative research which identified four key attitudes to risk – Opportunity, Nurturer, Excitement and Attentive.

'We've learnt a lot about how the people of Aotearoa think about risk and injury, and what might get them to think and act differently,” says Carlson.

The campaign, which will appear on TV, radio and online, will take a long-term and sustained approach to preventing injury.

It will be launched with two videos – one where a man is considering jumping from a waterfall and another where a woman is looking to kill a mosquito with her jandal while balancing on her dresser. They show the individual thinking about if they get hurt, others they care about are also harmed.

Every year ACC invests around $80 million into Injury Prevention to support the wellbeing of New Zealanders by reducing the number and severity of injuries.

The likes of RugbySmart, NetballSmart, TouchFit360, Ride Forever, Live Stronger for Longer, Water Safety NZ and many others have delivered great results in injury prevention.

Preventable will work alongside these injury prevention initiatives and take a long term and sustained approach to changing the culture of preventing injury.

Preventable – BY THE NUMBERS

• ACC accepts over two million injury claims per year, that is over 5000 a day
• These claims come at annual cost of $4 billion
• It is estimated that 90 per cent of all injury claims are preventable
• ACC will invest $7.6 million in the Preventable campaign over the next two years, as part of its overall $80 million per annum investment into Injury Prevention.

Four attitudes to risk of Preventable

Our priority attitudes to risk - Collectively represent 62 per cent of the population, 68 per cent of ACC claims and 74 per cent of ACC claim costs.

1. Opportunity

• ‘Bring it on' attitude. They embrace risk-taking and challenge because of the rewards it brings.
• Consider themselves to be mastering things – mistakes / injuries are part of the learning experience. Often over-estimate their ability, hence the volume and expense of their claims.

2. Nurturer

• Focus on getting the job done for others, not potential risks to themselves. They often unwittingly put themselves in harm's way in their role of helping others – often rushing, being tired or not concentrating on themselves and their space.
• Likely to influence others as well as react themselves.

Other attitudes to risk

3. Excitement

• Focus on thrill and living in the moment.
• Happy living in the moment

4. Attentive

• Hardwired to stay away from harm. They avoid risk because they are mindful of all the downsides.
• Generally doing the right thing but need to be empowered to speak up when they see others at risk. 25 per cent of population and 19 per cent of claims.

Take the quiz on your Attitude to Risk: https://www.acc.co.nz/newsroom/attitude-to-risk/