More than 1,200 fireworks victims at emergency rooms & urgent care; Many younger than 20

Emergency rooms and urgent care posts in the Netherlands together treated 1,212 people who were injured by fireworks during the recent New Year’s period. That total was 3 percent lower than a year ago, but there were more accidents involving powerful illegal fireworks. The statistics were released on Friday evening by VeiligheidNL, the think tank in the field of injury prevention.

Emergency rooms cared for 365 fireworks victims during the most recent New Year’s period. Those departments treat many of the most serious cases. Another 847 people were treated by general practitioners who manage the urgent care posts often alongside the emergency rooms.

Roughly 75 percent of those who were injured were either boys or men. Like last year, more than half of those hurt were younger than 20 years of age. The share of injured children from 12 to 15 years more than doubled, from 13 percent to no less than 34 percent.

More injuries were treated in emergency rooms due to accidents involving powerful illegal fireworks, including mortar bombs, nitrate explosives, and Cobra firecrackers. Some 29 percent of the cases involved such fireworks, compared to 22 percent a year earlier.

Of all those who ended up in an emergency department due to fireworks, 17 percent had to be admitted to the hospital. That was up from 9 percent last year.

“The serious increase in injuries caused by powerful illegal fireworks is very worrying,” said Martijntje Bakker of VeiligheidNL. “It shows once again the devastating, permanent effect fireworks can have when things go wrong. They are illegal for a reason. What worries us is that it mainly concerns a young group of victims who apparently have or will receive the means to get these fireworks.”

In addition to investigation and enforcement, additional information about the dangers should be provided, she said.

The total number of fireworks victims has been determined on the basis of records from all 81 emergency departments, and 86 of the 103 urgent care clinics in the Netherlands. When collecting data on fireworks accidents during New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, VeiligheidNL collaborated with the Dutch Association of Emergency Physicians, the Dutch Association for Trauma Surgery, and InEen, an association of organizations for primary care, including general practitioner urgent care posts.