Dangerous Rooms

Accidents can happen anywhere, even at home, and they can range from the trivial to the life-threatening.

According to ROSPA, around 6,000 people a year die as a result of home accidents, with the cost to UK society of these accidents valued at over £45 billion annually.

From kitchen fires and gas leaks to simple things such as tripping on kinks in the carpet or slipping in the bathroom, there are all kinds of potential dangers in the home, but which rooms are most likely to cause an accident?

To find out, we've carried out a survey, to see which rooms in the house see the most accidents and which injuries occur.

In total, just under a quarter (23%) of people said that they had experienced an accident at home in the last year, with women slightly more likely to have had an accident than men (25% compared to 22%), but which rooms pose the biggest danger?

The most dangerous rooms for accidents

1. Kitchen - 25%

The most dangerous room in the house is the kitchen, with a quarter of respondents saying that that's where the majority of their accidents take place and given that it's where we work with sharp instruments and prepare food at extreme heats, perhaps this shouldn't be a surprise.

Amongst the most common accidents to occur in the kitchen are knife cuts and lacerations, which can be severe and in some cases need stitches, or you could even lose a finger if you're really unlucky!

While it may sound counterintuitive, one of the best things you can do is keep your knives sharp, as dull knives are much more likely to slip.

Other dangers to be aware of in the kitchen include burns and scalding from boiling water, which can cause third-degree burns from as little as a second of contact with your skin, and burns from the cooking stove, especially if it uses a naked flame.

2. Garden - 11.1%

Just over one in ten people said that the garden was where the most accidents occurred in their homes and a large number of these occur to children (just over a third according to ROSPA).

Aside from overzealous children picking up scrapes and bruises when playing outside on a sunny day, a lot of the injuries that happen in the garden take place when gardening or partaking in a bit of DIY.

Looking after the garden might not seem like a particularly extreme activity, but using tools such as lawnmowers and other power tools carry an obvious danger so it's best to make sure that they're properly looked after and try to avoid using them around children.

But even aside from these more obvious dangers, many find themselves picking up simple injuries from things such as falls, being struck by things and even just aches and sprains, especially amongst older gardeners.

3. Bathroom - 6%

6% of people said that they had suffered more dangers in the bathroom than anywhere else, with the most obvious danger being slips and falls, due to the water used in the bathroom, shower and sink and the best way to combat these is through buying non-slip rugs and shower mats.

Making sure to keep the bathroom clean is also a good idea, not just for hygiene reasons (preventing the buildup of bacteria), but also to keep the floor dry and reduce the risk of slips.

The bathroom holds other dangers too though, including sharp objects such as razors and scissors, as well as medicines and prescription drugs kept in bathrooms. All of these items should be kept well out of reach of children.

The UK's most accident-prone regions

So, the home can be a dangerous place, but which parts of the UK are the most likely to find themselves getting hurt within their own four walls?

Respondents from Northern Ireland were the most likely to have injured themselves at home, with 46.2% of people saying that they had had at least one accident, which is more than twice as many as in Wales (22.2%).

This was closely followed by homeowners in the East Midlands (44.1%), with a third of people in London having had an accident at home.

The East Midlands was also the region that reported having the highest number of accidents at home in a year, with 8.8% saying they had had five or more.

On the other hand, over three-quarters of people in Wales said that they hadn't had any accidents at home in the last year.

Survey of 2,000 UK adults carried out via Google Surveys in November 2021