James Whittaker: ACC injury prevention spokesperson on the increase in people making fall-related claims involving Crocs

A popular - and divisive - shoe is making a significant showing in more ACC claims.

ACC has received 128 claims for fall-related injuries from Croc wearers so far this year, costing nearly $64,000.

There were 109 claims last year.

But injury prevention spokesperson, James Whittaker, says although Crocs and jandals feature in some trips, slips and falls - the problem is much bigger than that.

"Around 700,000 people have fall-related claims supported by ACC in any given year - and it costs around $2 billion to support those people."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
They are simultaneously the most loved and maybe most detested
shoes of all time. Crocs are causing trouble and ACC
is being left to foot the bill. So we've just
reached October and already have had more CROC related injuries
this year than last year. Nearly two million dollars has
been paid out to people with full related claims involving jandles,

(00:21):
high heels and crocs, and ACC Injury Prevention spokesperson James
Whittaker joins us now Kyoder. James, Hey Jack, how do
you hurt yourself in a croc?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, most people are like bolling their ankles or slipping,
but also they might not wear them at the right time.
So crocs might be if you're just being around a
barbecue or standing there at the beach, but maybe people
are doing other things on them too, like running or
you know, anything else.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
And people are running and crocs is that kind of.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
I have seen it. I have seen it. It's really important.
Thing is people should wear whatever shoes they want to get,
but at the right occasion. Right, So we're s as
you could call it. But the other important thing that
listeners should know is that this is a tiny problem,
and it's a small problem, can bet a much bigger
problem with falls falls back.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Oh, hang on, James, we're losing you there. We'll see
if we can get nice and clear. So I think
James was saying that the falls were a problem. So
if you break down those full related claims from those
three different sorts of shoe, that the sort of shoe
that has evolved with the highest number of claims for
acc is jendles, then it's high heels. I'm getting a
little bit surprised by that. You'd almost be high heels
to be better. Crops comes in through what were you saying, James.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
What I'm saying is crops and jandles are a small
part of a much bigger problem, which are trip slips
and falls in general. Because around seven hundred thousand people
have a fall related claim supported by a SEC in
any given year, and it costs two billion dollars to
support those people. And each one of those people would

(02:04):
have their own story too, So they might have what
others deem to be a minor injury, you know, like
rolling thenkle or something, but they might be into dancing
or that it might have been about to have a
really important football game or something like that, and then
there's lots of slow and effects for their team, perhaps
their workmates and everything else too. And the cool thing
is it's all preventabul. If you wear the right shows

(02:26):
for the right occasion, you probably won't get injured. Or
you know, if you clever part in front of you
and make sure there's nothing to trip over, you probably
won't have that trip or that slip. The other thing
is some of your listeners might be over fifty five
years of age, and that can greatly reduce their times
of having it full by doing strength and balanced classes

(02:47):
or by using this called the nimble app and that's
nimble with or y so n by NBL.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Very good. Okay, Hey, thanks for your time, James. We appreciate it.
Just numbers ten of those climbs. This is funny. I
shouldn't I should laugh. Ten people were quote struck by
a person or animal while we'rearing crocs. I feel like
there's a story behind each one of those. Right twenty
one plus five on News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
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