The State of Home Safety in America™

Facts About Unintentional Home Injuries

The State of Home Safety in America™ is the only comprehensive study of unintentional injuries in the home. The report was commissioned by the Home Safety Council and conducted by the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention Research Center with the assistance of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, and the University of North Carolina Survey Research Unit. An unprecedented initiative that pulls together national data on the prevalence of both fatal and nonfatal unintentional home injuries in America, the study lays the foundation for Home Safety Council outreach programs and initiatives.

The Home Safety Council will be launching an updated study in June 2004, which will be the first body of research to examine home injury trends over time. The second edition of the State of Home Safety in America will also closely examine causes of unintentional home injury for young children and older adults.

Key findings from the current report include the following:

Unintentional Home Injuries

• In 1998, nearly 20,000 deaths associated with unintentional injury occurred in the home, representing a rate of 7.15 deaths for every 100,000 persons in the United States.
• Nonfatal injuries at home prompted more than 20 million medical visits, including nearly 10 million visits each to emergency departments and private physician’s offices.
• The leading causes of home injury death in 1998 were falls and poisonings, accounting for 6,756 and 5,758 deaths, respectively.
• Older adults, both men and women, experienced the highest rates of unintentional home injury death among all age groups, with persons older than 75 experience injury deaths 3 to 10 times higher than people of younger age groups.

Falls

• Falls, the leading cause of non fatal unintentional injuries occurring at home, accounted for 5.6 million injuries.
• The rates and national estimates of the number of fall deaths were highest among those older than 64.
• 17 percent of all fall deaths were associated with stairs or steps.
• Consumer products most often associated with emergency department visits included stairs and steps and floors.
• More than one-half of patients visiting emergency departments for falls at home were either younger than 15 or age 65 and older.

Poisoning

• Poisonings are the second leading causes of unintentional injury related death.
• The highest rates of poisoning deaths were among males 25-64 years of age.
• Males experienced more fatal and nonfatal unintentional injuries at home than females.

Fires & Burns

• Burns, scalds and injuries from fires are the third leading cause of unintentional home injury death.
• The number of individuals who die from fire related injuries increases with age.

Cost of Unintentional Injury

• Unintentional home injuries cost society up to $379 billion annually. The largest portion of the loss results from lost quality of life, followed by work loss and medical costs.
• Compared to other costs in the year studied (1998); unintentional home injury costs 1. Nearly equal to the $407 billion cost of violence in the United States.
  2. Up to 90 percent of the annual cost of U.S. highway crashes ($432 billion).
  3. At least as much as (and up to 40 percent more than) the total spent by U.S. consumers on all household utilities (electricity, gas, oil and water) in the year studied.

Safe Home Practices

The Home Safety Council conducted a survey of safety issues and preventatives practices in the home. The survey focused on falls, poisoning and fires/burns – three leading causes of unintentional home injuries in the nation. Key finding of the survey included:

Falls

• One-third of all household with stairs do not have banisters or handrails on at least one set of stairs.
• 48 percent of households have windows at a second-floor level or above, yet of those only one-quarter report they have window locks or bars to prevent children from falling out.
• 63 percent of American households use bathtub mats or non-skid strips that help reduce bathtub falls. However only 19 percent of homes have grab bars to supplement their non-skid tub surfaces.

Poisoning

• In those homes where children (younger than six) live or visits at least once a year, 33 percent report keeping medicines in an easily accessible location such as on a table, shelf or countertop. 82 percent report keeping medicines in an unlocked drawer or cabinet.
• More than two-thirds (69 percent) of homes with young children present report that household chemicals such as cleaners, bleach or kerosene are stored in unlocked places.

Fires and Burns

• 97 percent of American households report having at least one smoke alarm. Of those, only 19 percent test them at least quarterly.
• 75 percent of respondents do not know the temperature setting on their hot water heaters, and 91 percent are unaware of the temperature of water at the tap, thus risking scald injuries.

Research methodologies included analyses of existing national data on fatal and nonfatal home injuries; the generation of cost estimates associated with these injuries; and a national random digit dial survey with respondents in 1,003 American households.