Fireworks Injuries

Main Points

The points below summarise the incidence of all injuries caused by fireworks that require treatment in Accident & Emergency Departments and Burns / Plastic Surgery Units in Scotland during the 33-day survey period (11th October to 12th November 2005):

• the total number of people injured in Scotland was 94, an increase of 27 from the 2004 survey.
  
  
• the overall increase can be attributed to the under 16 and the over 20 year-old age groups (16 and 9 additional injuries respectively). The proportion of injuries occurring in these age groups (49% and 37% respectively) is similar to previous years.
  

• the majority (78%) of injuries occur as casual incidents in the street / other public places and at family / private parties (41 and 32 cases respectively).
  
  
• of the 62 injuries where type of firework was recorded, rockets were the most common cause (31 cases).
  
  
• injuries to the hand and eye were most frequently recorded (59 cases) with rockets being responsible for 37% of them.
  
  
• the proportion of head injuries fell from 36% in 2004 to 9% in 2005, partly due to the inclusion of face injuries (16%) as a new category in the 2005 survey.

Tables and Charts

Click on the file of interest to view the contents on-screen or right-click and choose "Save Target As" to download the files.

Table 1 - Trends in Fireworks Injuries, Scotland, 1975-2005 
Table 2 - NHS Board area of treatment 
Table 3 - Type of injury by type of firework 
Table 4 - Type of injury by outcome 

Chart 1 - Scotland, 1975-2005: number of persons injured by age group 
Chart 2 - Great Britain, 1992-2005
Chart 3 - Scotland: by age 
Chart 4 - Scotland: Calendar of injuries sustained 

Previous Publications

Reports from the 1998-2001 surveys, in PDF format, may be viewed on-screen or downloaded. Click on the file of interest to view the contents on-screen or right-click and choose "Save Target As" to download the files.

2001 Fireworks Injuries Survey

2000 Fireworks Injuries Survey

1999 Fireworks Injuries Survey

1998 Fireworks Injuries Survey

Main contact: Richard Hunter

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