2016

There and back An exploration of outdoor recreation incidents in New Zealand

Produced by the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council

Est.Est. 1965 1965

the New Zealand mountain Safety Council The New Zealand Mountain Safety Council (MSC) is a national organisation with a mandate to encourage safe participation in land-based outdoor activities. It does this through the development and promotion of safety messaging, by identifying and responding to insights provided by the ongoing collection and analysis of data, and by building partnerships with relevant organisations.

Safer places, safer activities, safer people. m IN g

INS

g

Igh

SA

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eS oRgANISAtIoNAl eXCelleNCe

PARtNeRINg

From the Chief executive welcome to the next phase of the mountain Safety council’s journey into understanding what’s going on in the New zealand outdoors. This document has been developed with the intention to present a clear picture of participation, and more importantly exactly what’s been going wrong. The data presented will likely challenge pre-concieved ideas or assumptions. our sector has the ability to use this knowledge to ensure we’re making decisions that are based on evidence. our intention is to use this data - and the insights that are developed from it - to implement targeted, evidence-based safety initiatives and safety messaging. i’d like to thank the various organisations that partnered with us to create this document - you’ll see their logos on the outside cover. Their support and patience has been invaluable. Thank you for helping to promote safety in the outdoors.

Mike daisley ceo New zealand mountain Safety council

2

Published by the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council, July 2016.

photo: Yap zhi Yuen

Contents Questions Methodology - synopsis a view from the top

4 5 6-7

what?

8-9

when?

10-15

where?

16-17

who?

18-23

Key insights

24-25

activities

26-119

Tramping

28-45

hunting

46-63

mountaineering

64-81

mountain Biking Trail running

82-99 100-117

summary - activities

118-119

hot spots

120-121

Auckland

122-131

central North island

132-141

mackenzie

142-151

Queenstown-Lakes

152-161

Southland

162-171

summary - hotspots

172-173

Methodolody - complete

176-178

Wrap up

179

Let’s get started. insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

3

neW Zealand Insights as is recoGnised a key part of as one of the what we do WoRlD’S leADINg outdoor adventure PlaYGrounds

• understand where people go and what activities they do. • know who is most likely to get into problems.

• identify the most hazardous places and activities. • Target our safety messages to the people who need it most. • Share our insights with our partners and others.

Stages of this story National view

Overview of all data from the selected activities across New Zealand.

Activities

A breakdown of the data separated into each of the 5 activities.

hotspots

Exploration of 5 key areas of New Zealand.

Questions we explored • what causes things to go wrong? • when do incidents occur? • where are the top locations for incidents to occur? • who are the people involved? • what key trends and insights come from this knowledge? • what has been going wrong?

4

photo: Yap zhi Yuen

methodology Activities

Data sources

outdoor recreation is a broad category with many different types of recreation activities available ‘out of doors’. however, only a selection of these are relevant to the New zealand mountain Safety council (mSc). in order to narrow in on the outdoor recreation activities relevant to the mSc’s prevention-focused mandate we chose 5 activities which have a high number of participants and/or have a high proportional number of safety incidents. There are other activities relevant to the mSc, and these will be explored in the future.

The data used to create the infographics within this publication can be grouped into 4 main categories:

5

aCtiVities We eXplored:

tramping

Any walk where the intention is to be more than an hour away from the nearest road. includes day walks, overnight tramping and great walks.

mountaineering

Technical climbing in alpine areas. usually will require technical equipment that would not be needed when tramping. includes summer and winter mountaineering.

hunting

All recreational hunting of any game. Does not include fishing and trapping.

mountain Biking

• injuries • Search and rescues • Fatalities • participation.

The table below represents the specific date ranges for each incident type. As each data source covers a different length of time it is important to keep this in mind when viewing the information presented in this publication.

data range start

data range end

dataset time-frame

injury

2/01/2004

30/12/2014

11 years

search

1/07/2010

27/06/2015

5 years

Fatality

1/07/2007

31/12/2014

7.5 years

each data set has been supplied to the mSc by a partner organisation. The data supplied to the mSc has been handled in accordance with strict confidentiality and privacy standards. No identifiable personal information is contained within this publication. on page 176 you will find further information including a breakdown of the datasets, how they’ve been acquired and the business rules we have created to ensure a consistent, repeatable methodology.

To help prevent incidents, we need to understand what’s been going on.

mountain biking in remote locations on tracks which are also used for tramping, or may be specifically built for remote mountain biking such as rides included in Nga haerenga, The New zealand cycle Trail.

trail Running

running on tracks which are also used for tramping or day walks.

Let’s begin with the big picture. insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

5

a view from the top We began by looking at all 5 activities combined to see what trends appeared in the data. As each data set was sourced from a different timespan, we calculated this into comparative averages such as daily, monthly and annual averages.

1,146,978 people partiCipatinG in the seleCted outdoor aCtiVities eVerY Year:

632,548 New Zealanders

514,430 International visitors

annual partiCipation per aCtiVitY

321,997 New Zealanders 447,366 International 166,675 New Zealanders 28,423 International 37,665 38,641 79,660 26,551 6

New Zealanders International

New Zealanders

total recorded incidents Injuries: 64,988

People involved in Search & Rescues: 2,697 (5 years) Fatalities: 100

New Zealanders

(11 years)

For data sources and range, please refer to the methodology section at the start of this document.

(7.5 years)

5,908 Injuries

540

People involved in Search & Rescues

13

Fatalities

each year there were on average

photo: Yap zhi Yuen

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

7

51%

what?

Falling

Identifying the cause of the incident shapes our understanding of contributing hazards.

14%

Firearms incident

4%

What caused the fatalities?

Falling object

2%

Fatalities are often caused by multiple contributing factors. Here we have identiďŹ ed the immediate cause of each fatality. 51% of all fatalities were caused by falling.

Fire

14%

River crossing

4% %

Avalanche

7%

hypothermia

*Body not recovered

4%* Unknown

how many were involved in a typical Search & Rescue? Most Search and Rescues were for a single person or to rescue a single person lost or injured from a multi-person trip.

72% one person

20% 5% two people

8

three people

2%

Four people

1%

Five or more people

whAT?

7% head

5% Shoulder

3%

4%

torso

Arm

9%

lower back/ spine

7%

hand, wrist and ďŹ ngers

7%

hip, upper leg, thigh

22% Knee

8.5%

18%

lower leg

7%

Ankle

What were the injuries?

Foot and toes

With such a large number of injuries we can clearly identify what injuries occur most frequently. By far the most common were soft tissue injuries such as strains, sprains and bruises. Injuries generally occurred on the lower half of the body, with 65% of all injuries being somewhere on the leg.

12%

laceration, puncture wound, sting

6% 1% 3% 78%

Fracture/dislocation

Unknown

other

Diagnosis

Soft tissue injury

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

9

when?

Studying incidents over time can help us discover the long term trends, particularly in relation to participation.

Annual incident trends There was a rise in injuries sustained in the outdoors that was greater than the rise in participation - either domestically or internationally. people involved in Search and rescues had declined slightly in the range of data analysed.

Participation trends when analysing when things go wrong, it’s important to look at participation in relation to incidents as there is often a correlation. Sport Nz’s two ‘Active Nz’ surveys (2007/8 & 2013/14) and the ministry of Business innovation and employment (mBie) ‘international Visitor Survey’ both show an increase in participation. however, injuries are growing at a higher rate than this participation growth. The cause of this difference in percentage increase is not clear. There may be contributing factors in a combination of riskier behaviour, better reporting of the injuries, and potential seasonal variations.

5,908 Injuries

NAtIoNAl ANNUAl AveRAge

540

People involved in Search & Rescues NAtIoNAl ANNUAl AveRAge

ANNUAl PARtICIPAtIoN tReNDS 2008

2014

2015

sportnZ

556,159

632,873

-

MBie

-

507,697

514,430

rePorted inJuries 207% (2004-11) nZ PoPulation 11% (2004-11) international visitors 22% (2004-11)

10

13

Fatalities NAtIoNAl ANNUAl AveRAge

wheN? 8106 7846 7369 6702

6686

2010

2011

6543

5890 3608

4313

5283

2642

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2012

2013

2014

584

582 545

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

496

490

2013-14

2014-15

20 15 14

13 11

10

12

5

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

(half year)

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

1111

Average incidents per month The number of incidents varies depending on the month of the year. December represents the most common month for fatalities with 23% occurring in a single month, while August and November only represent 4% each.

30% of all incidents occurred over the 3 months of summer

Seasonal trends Summer and early autumn are peak times, whereas winter and spring had far fewer incidents.

12

National monthly Average

492

Injuries

45

People involved in Search & Rescues

1.1

Fatalities

Search & Rescue

Fatality

JAN

12%

14%

10%

FeB

10%

10%

6%

mAR

11%

10%

7%

APR

12%

13%

9%

mAy

8%

5%

11%

JUN

6%

7%

6%

JUl

6%

7%

6%

AUg

5%

4%

4%

SeP

6%

5%

6%

oCt

8%

7%

8%

Nov

8%

7%

4%

DeC

8%

11%

23% insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

wheN?

Injury

1313

Average incidents in a week There were generally twice as many incidents per day on a weekend than there were on a weekday. A proportionally large number of fatalities occurred on a Monday.

incidents siGnificantlY increased on most PuBlic holidaYs

NAtIoNAl WeeKly AveRAge

114 10.4

Injuries

People involved in Search & Rescues

0.25

Fatalities

heading out on a holiday? public holidays represent an opportunity for people to get outdoors and we were interested to see what happened over these extended breaks. we looked at the whole holiday period which included the days surrounding the public holiday (e.g. easter was 4 days and waitangi weekend includes the weekend period either before or after the public holiday). we normalised this by dividing the total number by the number of days so we could compare with other holiday periods.

DAIly AveRAge non-PuBlic holidaY

15.2 1.4 Injuries

People involved in Search & Rescues (SAR)

easter weekend had the largest number of incidents with around 3 times more than a regular day. in contract the Christmas period did not have a significant difference in the number of injuries when compared to a regular day. Note: With so few fatalities on a public holiday it was not possible to accurately represent the data.

puBliC holidaY dailY aVeraGe oF people inJured or inVolVed in a searCh and resCue:

14

32 injuries 2.3 sar Waitangi weekend

tUe

WeD

thUR

FRI

11%

10%

11%

10%

10%

13%

12%

11%

12%

11%

21%

21%

21%

7%

10%

10%

12%

23%

17%

21 injuries 2.4 sar

SAt

SUN

26%

wheN?

moN

21%

27 injuries 3.0 sar

anZaC weekend

Queen’s Birthday weekend

16 injuries 2.4 sar Christmas - new Year period

41 injuries 4.5 sar easter weekend

32 injuries 3.0 sar labour weekend

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

15

where?

Knowing where things are going wrong helps understand if local conditions affect participants.

auckland 7607

Central north island* 3299

942

Queenstownlakes 3641

tasman

southland 2801

2504

Westland 1600

injuries

NAtIoNAl DIStRICt AveRAge

(11 years)

Mackenzie 612

39

people involved in search and rescues

NAtIoNAl DIStRICt AveRAge

Central north island* 410

tasman 166

auckland

Westland 145

68

Mackenzie 108

Queenstownlakes

southland 168

148

(5 years)

1.4

Mackenzie Central north island*

Fatalities

NAtIoNAl DIStRICt AveRAge

5

(7.5 years)

auckland 16

1

tasman 9

Westland 10

12

Queenstownlakes 15

southland 12

where?

Compared to NZ average

8.1x 1.7x 0.7x

Looking at all incidents across New zealand’s 67 districts some clearly stood out above the others

auckland

Auckland was the district with the highest incidence of injury with more than 8 times the national average. The central North island (Taupo and ruapehu Districts) had the highest number of people involved in Search and rescues with more than 10 times the national average. Queenstown-Lakes was the district with the highest number of fatalities with more than 10 times the national average.

3.5x 10.5x 3.5x

Central north island*

distriCts and hoW theY CoMpare to nZ aVeraGe:

2.7x 4.3x 6.2x tasman

1.7x 3.7x 6.9x

Westland

NAtIoNAl DIStRICt AveRAge

3.9x 3.8x 10.4xx

Injury

Queenstown-lakes

SAR

Fatality

0.6 0.6x 2.8x 8.3x

Mackenzie

3.0x 4.3x 8.3x

southland

71% of all fatalities Were in the south island * Central North Island is a combination of Ruapehu and Taupo districts. insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

1717

who?

gender Males were far more likely to die in the outdoors, females were more likely to be injured.

Understanding if gender has an impact can help us develop targeted interventions.

84% of all fatalities Were male

For eVerY 100,000 Male partiCipants in a Year:

male

482 54 1.6 Injured

Involved in a Search & Rescue

Fatality

For eVerY 100,000 FeMale partiCipants in a Year:

Female

571 36 0.5 Injured

Involved in a Search & Rescue

Fatality

18

on averaGe, Women Were inJured more than men

who?

Annual incidents Looking at the numbers side by side shows us how participation is split by gender, and also the total number of people who were injured, involved in Search and Rescues or killed each year.

male

11

Fatalities

370

People involved in Search & Rescues

3,314 Injuries

687,059

total participants

274,632

International visitors

412,427

New Zealanders

2

Female

Fatalities

166

People involved in Search & Rescues

2,594 Injuries

454,349 total participants

239,798

International visitors

214,552

New Zealanders N.B:. 0.5% of participants surveyed did not disclose their gender.

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

19 19

ethnicity and nationality We were keen to explore the ethnicity and nationality of outdoor participants. This may help to break down preconceived ideas that some may hold around who was getting hurt, lost or killed in the outdoors. Unfortunately, each data source represented ethnicity categorisation differently. Despite this, we can still show that injuries and people involved in Search and Rescues overwhelmingly involve those of European (or Caucasian) descent. Add to this, 73% of fatalities were to New Zealanders, a much higher number than the percentage of those who venture into the outdoors each year.

New Zealand’s ethnicity breakdown* census 2013

7%

70%

Pacific Island Nations

1%

middle eastern/ latin American/ African

14% maori

european

11% Asian

**Not elsewhere included: Don’t know, refused to answer, response unidentifiable, response outside scope, and not stated. *multiple answers possible so will total more than 100.

20

5%

Not elsewhere included**

2% other

73% of fatalities Were neW Zealanders

who?

ethnicity of all injuries

83%

1%

5.5%

5% other

PaciďŹ c Island Nations

maori

3.5%

european

2%

Unknown

Asian

ethnicity of all people involved in a Search & Rescue

0.5%

4%

3% other

PaciďŹ c Island Nations

maori

79% european

5%

8.5%

Asian

Unknown

Nationality of all fatalities

1%

5%

5%

Israeli

german

european other

73% New Zealander

11% Australian

5% Asian

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

21

Participation

Age

75+

-

Age groups A closer look at the age of each person gives further insight into who’s getting into trouble. when compared against the participation levels of certain age groups this shows which age groups are over or under represented.

35-49 Year olds Were less liKelY to Be involved in a search & rescue 16-24 Year olds Were less liKelY to Be inJured

65-74

50-64

21%

35-49

32%

25-34

21%

16-24

21%

≤15

22

5%

-

who?

NAtIoNAl totAl INCIDeNtS

64,988 Injuries

2,696

People involved in Search & Rescues

1%

2%

6%

6%

23%

20%

100

Fatalities

2%

3%

27% JUN

30%

20%

28%

18%

23%

22%

15%

23%

18%

6%

7%

0%

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

23 23

key insights

Analysing this data has allowed us to uncover some key trends and insights. 47% of all incidents occurred on the WeeKend

51% of fatalities Were caused BY the Person fallinG

71% of all fatalities Were in the south island

onlY 28% of search and rescues Were for tWo or more PeoPle

62% of all inJuries Were sustained someWhere on the leG

2424

on averaGe Women Were inJured more freQuentlY than men

keY iNSighTS For every 194 participants, 1 was injured. For every 2,124 participants, 1 was involved in a Search and rescue event. For every 86,023 participants, 1 never made it home.

inJuries aPPear to Be increasinG faster than GroWth in ParticiPation

photo: Yap zhi Yuen

the central north island had 10 times the averaGe numBer of PeoPle involved in search and rescues

30% of all incidents occurred over the 3 summer months

84% of all fatalities Were male

the numBer of inJuries and PeoPle involved in search and rescues siGnificantlY increased on PuBlic holidaYs

comPared to other aGes, 35 to 49 Year olds Were less liKelY to Be involved in a search and rescue

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

25

activities In ‘A view from the top’ we combined the 5 activities to get a picture of what is going on the outdoors. Now we start to dive into each of the 5 activities and explore what, when, where and whom.

1,146,978 people partiCipatinG in the seleCted outdoor aCtiVities eVerY Year

tramPinG maKes uP 67% of ParticiPation in the 5 activities selected

2626

pArTicipATioN

26,551 New Zealanders

76,306 37,665

New Zealanders

38,641

International

79,660 New Zealanders

195,098 166,675

New Zealanders

28,423

International

769,363 321,997

New Zealanders

447,366

International

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

27

tramping Tramping has by far the largest number of participants in the 5 activities we’re focused on in this publication. Trampers make up 67% of participation across the 5 activities we explored. Tramping also attracts many international visitors with close to half a million tourists exploring the tracks and mountains of New Zealand.

While there are more international people who tramp in New Zealand per annum, compared to New Zealanders, the frequency of how often they go and how long they spend tramping is very different. We estimate New Zealanders spend more time tramping and go on many more tramping trips per year.

769,363 traMpers partiCipate per Year

321,997 New Zealanders

447,366 International visitors

total recorded incidents Injuries: 34,611

2828

(11 years)

oF all 5 aCtiVities, traMpinG represents:

53%

People involved in Search & Rescues: 1,688 (5 years)

63%

Fatalities: 45

45%

(7.5 years)

TrAmpiNg

We estimate neW Zealanders Go on uP to 6 tImeS more triPs Per Year than international visitors

3,146

Injuries

338

People involved in Search & Rescues

6

Fatalities

each year there were on average

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

29

what? What caused the fatalities?

Falls were the main cause of tramping fatalities, with river crossings second on the list. * Body not recovered

53% Falling

18%

River crossing

9% 9%* 7% 4%

hypothermia

Unknown

Falling object

Fire

how many were involved in a typical Search & Rescue? Most Search and Rescues were for a solo tramper or to rescue a single person lost or injured from a multi-person trip.

72% one person

19% 5% two people

3030

three people

2%

Four people

1% %

Five or more people

TrAmpiNg

6% head

4% 3% Shoulder

2% 9%

torso

6%

Arm

hand, wrist and ďŹ ngers

Back/spine

6%

hip, upper leg and thigh

25% Knee

6%

21%

lower leg

8%

Ankle

What were the injuries?

Foot and toes

46% of all tramping injuries were to the knees and ankles. Injuries to feet, toes and along the back/spine were also prevalent.

11%

laceration, puncture wound, sting

6% 1% 3%

Fracture/dislocation

Unknown

other

Diagnosis

78%

Soft tissue injury

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

31

51% of tramPinG inJuries Were durinG the first 4 months of the Year

when?

Seasonal inuences are a potential factor impacting when incidents are occurring in New zealand. There has been a steady rise in injuries, while people involved in Search and rescues, and fatalities have been on a gradual decline. international and domestic participation numbers are also increasing, but not at the same rate as injuries. December and January are the months with the most incidents occurring. December is particularly poor as 31% of tramping fatalities occurred during the month.

4131 3894 3691

3,146

3502

3415

3546

3287

Injuries

tRAmPINg ANNUAl AveRAge

2143

2517

2908

1577

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

338

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

367

363 347

People involved in Search & Rescues tRAmPINg ANNUAl AveRAge

323

288

2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 10

6

9

7

Fatalities tRAmPINg ANNUAl AveRAge

6 5 4 2

2

2007 32

(half year)

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

262

28

0.5

Injuries

People involved in Search & Rescues

Fatalities

JAN

14%

16%

16%

FeB

12%

11%

11%

mAR

13%

12%

4%

APR

12%

10%

0%

mAy

6%

5%

12% 11%

JUN

5%

5%

2%

JUl

4%

6%

AUg

4%

4%

SeP

5%

5%

oCt

8%

6%

7%

Nov

8%

7%

4%

DeC

9%

13%

FeB

TrAmpiNg

tRAmPINg moNthly AveRAge

9%

JUN

2%

2%

31% insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

33

tRAmPINg WeeKly AveRAge

61 6.5 0.12

Weekly tramping incidents

Injuries

With participation likely being higher during weekends, it’s not surprising to see higher levels of injuries and people involved in Search and Rescues over that time.

People involved in Search & Rescues

Fatalities

moN

3434

tUe

WeD

thUR

FRI

SAt

SUN

23%

21%

11%

10%

12%

11%

11%

12%

13%

11%

12%

12%

19%

20%

18%

11%

11%

11%

13%

24%

11%

TrAmpiNg

Public holidays For many trampers Labour weekend signals the start of tramping season. Easter weekend is traditionally a final chance to get out before winter truly sets in. Note: There were so few fatalities on a public holiday it’s not possible to accurately represent the data.

26 21

19

tRAmPINg DAIly AveRAge non-PuBlic holidaY

12

12

11

7.8 Injuries

2.0 1.9 1.4

1.3

anZaC weekend

Queen’s Birthday weekend

1.8

1.4

0.9 Christmas new Year period

labour weekend

easter weekend

Waitangi weekend

People involved in Search & Rescues

incidents occur more freQuentlY toWards the end of summer/ autumn Period insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

35

where?

tramping districts

Tramping is an activity that occurs throughout the country, but has several locations of traditionally higher participation. The highest rates of injury were in Auckland, the highest numbers of people involved in Search and Rescues were in the Central North Island and the highest numbers of fatalities were shared between the districts of Tasman and Queenstown-Lakes.

auckland

502

4100

Central north island* 2076

Queenstownlakes 2458

tasman 1372

injuries

southland 1846

Westland 1057

tRAmPINg DIStRICt AveRAge

(11 years)

Mackenzie 342

24

people involved in search and rescues

Central north island* 257

tasman 125

auckland

Westland 90

49

Mackenzie 55

Queenstownlakes

southland 112

107

tRAmPINg DIStRICt AveRAge

(5 years)

0.67

8

tRAmPINg DIStRICt AveRAge

36

Westland 6

Fatalities

(7.5 years)

Queenstownlakes

tasman

8

Mackenzie 2

auckland Central north 0 island* 0

southland 6

TrAmpiNg

these hotspots show which districts have a higher/lower than average representation:

8.2xx 2.0xx 0.0xx

To get an idea of how a particular regions compared to each other, we calculated the national average and we represented this average as 1.0. As an example, you can see that Auckland has double the national average (2.0x) of people involved in Search and Rescues.

auckland

4.1x 10.5x 0.0x

Central north island*

2.7x 5.1x 12.3x tasman

2.1x 3.7x 9.2x

4.9x 4.4x 12.3x

Westland

tRAmPINg DIStRICt AveRAge Injury

Queenstown-lakes

SAR

Fatality

0.7 0.7x 2.2x 3.1x

Mackenzie

3.7 3.7x 4.6x 4.6 9.2x

southland

* Central North Island is a combination of Ruapehu and Taupo districts.

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

37 37

who?

tramping gender gender can often play a role in how participants are represented in statistical data. in relation to tramping, males were more likely to be involved in a Search and rescue or fatally injured. Females were more likely to be injured.

For eVerY 100,000 Male traMpers in a Year:

male

333 48 1.1 Injured

Involved in Search & Rescues

Fatality

For eVerY 100,000 FeMale traMpers in a Year:

Female

496 38 0.4 Injured

Involved in Search & Rescues

Fatality

38

men Were more often involved in a search and rescue oPeration or Killed

TrAmpiNg

Annual incidents Participation in tramping is reasonably balanced across genders both domestically and internationally.

male

4.3

1.6 Female

199

138

Fatalities

People involved in Search & Rescues

1,368 Injuries

411,026

total participants

232,630

International visitors

178,396

New Zealanders

Fatalities

People involved in Search & Rescues

1,779 Injuries

358,337 total participants

214,736

International visitors

143,601

New Zealanders N.B:. 0.5% of participants surveyed did not disclose their gender.

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

39 39

ethnicity and nationality By exploring the ethnicity and nationality of outdoor participants, we are able to challenge common assumptions regarding who is getting hurt, lost or killed in the outdoors. Each data source represented ethnicity categorisation slightly differently, and we’ve remained true to their deďŹ nitions of demographic categorisation.

ethnicity of New Zealand trampers

6% maori

75% NZ european

15% other

5% Asian

more neW Zealanders Were Killed tramPinG than international visitors 40

TrAmpiNg

ethnicity of tramping injuries

6%

1%

3%

european

other

PaciďŹ c Island Nations

maori

84%

3%

3%

Asian

Unknown

ethnicity of trampers involved in Search & Rescues

2%

0.5%

4%

maori

PaciďŹ c Island Nations

other

78% european

7%

9%

Asian

Unknown

Nationality of tramping fatalities

4.4%

7%

european other

german

2.2% other

67% New Zealander

11% Australian

6.7% Asian

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

41

Age groups

Participation

we also looked at the demographic breakdown of ages of people who got into trouble and compared this with participation. 50-64 year olds were the most likely to be involved in a fatal incident, while 16-24 year olds were more likely to be involved in a Search and rescue.

75+

25-34 Year olds Were siGnificantlY underrePresented in inJuries 50-64 Year olds Were overrePresented in fatalities 16-24 Year olds Were most liKelY to Be searched for

42

-

65-74

8%

50-64

23%

35-49

25.5%

25-34

24%

16-24

19.5%

≤15

-

34,611 Injuries

1,688

People involved in Search & Rescues

45

TrAmpiNg

tRAmPINg totAl INCIDeNtS

Fatalities

2%

2%

2%

9%

7%

4%

28%

20%

31% JUN

23%

17%

27%

15%

22%

16%

15%

25%

20%

7%

7%

0%

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

43

key insights

44

49% of tramPers involved in search & rescues occurred in the first 4 months of the Year

on averaGe, Women Were inJured more freQuentlY than men

inJuries and fatalities Were more liKelY to occur to older tramPers, esPeciallY those aGed 50-64

australians rePresented the Greatest numBer of foreiGn fatalities, But Were also the larGest GrouP of international visitors to nZ

When comPared to total ParticiPation, YounGer tramPers Were more liKelY to Be involved in search and rescues

80% of tramPinG fatalities occurred in the south island

tramping

For every 1 tramping fatality

57

trampers were involved in Search and Rescues

531

were injured.

Insights developed by the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council - 2016

45

hunting

Hunting is a common and popular activity in New Zealand with a growing rate of participation. Over 85% of hunters are New Zealanders. Hunting had fewer fatalities per year than tramping, however hunting had a quarter of the total number of participants in the 5 activities we looked at.

195,098 hunters partiCipate per Year

166,675 New Zealanders

28,423

International visitors

total recorded incidents Injuries: 11,149

4646

(11 years)

oF all 5 aCtiVities, huntinG represents:

17%

People involved in Search & Rescues: 586 (5 years)

22%

Fatalities: 31

31%

(7.5 years)

huNTiNg

hunters had the second hiGhest fatalitY rate across the 5 activities, Behind mountaineerinG

1,104 Injuries

117

People involved in Search & Rescues

4

Fatalities

each year there were on average

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

47

54% of fatalities did not involve a firearm

what? What caused the fatalities? A high number of hunting fatalities were from falling. Firearms collectively were attributable to 45% of fatalities, with ‘misidentified target’ being the leading firearms-related cause. River crossings caused 19% of hunting fatalities. Non firearms-related causes were responsible for over 54% of all hunting fatalities.

32% Falling

23%

Shot (misidentified target)

19%

River crossing

16% Shot (self)

6%

Shot (non-intentional accident)

3%

Avalanche

how many were involved in a typical Search & Rescue? Most Search and Rescues were for a solo hunter, or to rescue a single person lost or injured person from a multi-person trip.

67% one person

22% two people

4848

7% %

three people

3%

Four people

1% %

Five or more people

huNTiNg

14% head

7% Shoulder

4%

10%

torso

Arm

13%

11%

hand, wrist and ďŹ ngers

Back/spine

3%

16%

hip, upper leg and thigh

Knee

6%

lower leg

9%

3%

Ankle

What were the injuries?

Foot and toes

85% of all ear injuries across the 5 activities were to hunters. Hand, ďŹ nger and thumb injuries were also double the average compared to the other activities.

25%

laceration, puncture wound, sting

7% Diagnosis

Fracture/dislocation

1% 9% 58% Unknown

other

Soft tissue injury insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

49

when?

hunting injury claims are climbing steadily. international and domestic participation numbers are also climbing, but not at the same rate compared with other activities. with an average of 4 fatalities every year, hunting is prone to ‘bad years’ and very ‘good’ years. The number of people involved in a Search and rescue event has remained relatively stable in the data range we analysed.

68% of fatalities Were durinG one of the PeaK huntinG seasons 1311

1308

1234 1215 1182

1,014

1115

Injuries

hUNtINg ANNUAl AveRAge

669

736

2005

2006

837

982

560

2004

2007

2008

2009

117

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

126

126 122

People involved in Search & Rescues hUNtINg ANNUAl AveRAge

115

97

2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15

7

4

5

5

Fatalities hUNtINg ANNUAl AveRAge

4

4

4

1

2007 50

(half year)

1

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Fatalities

JAN

6%

7%

10%

FeB

6%

6%

3%

mAR

8%

6%

10%

APR

15%

23% FeB

23%

mAy

12%

7%

19%

JUN

10%

10%

16%

JUl

8%

9%

6%

AUg

7%

4%

0%

SeP

6%

6%

3%

oCt

8%

8%

6%

Nov

7%

7%

0%

DeC

6%

7%

12%

the roar

Injuries

hUNtINg moNthly AveRAge

huNTiNg

0.3

duCK shootinG

10

People involved in Search & Rescues

Mountain huntinG (tahr, ChaMois)

85

3%

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

51

hUNtINg WeeKly AveRAge

20 2.3 0.08

Weekly hunting incidents

Injuries

Hunting traditionally has a high proportion of weekend participation. There appears to be a strong correlation between weekend participation and the number of injuries, people involved in Search and Rescues and fatalities during the weekend.

People involved in Search & Rescues

Fatalities

moN

52 52

tUe

WeD

thUR

FRI

SAt

SUN

9%

7%

8%

8%

11%

33%

24%

17%

9%

8%

7%

11%

27%

21%

16%

3%

7%

7%

13%

26%

29%

huNTiNg

Public holidays Similar to weekly hunting incidents, we see a corresponding rise in incidents over key holiday periods. Note: There were so few fatalities on a public holiday it’s not possible to accurately represent the data.

8.3 7.7

hUNtINg DAIly AveRAge non-PuBlic holidaY

5.1 4.3

3.5

2.7 Injuries

1.5

1.7 1.1 0.7

0.3

0.7 0.4

0.3

Christmas new Year period

labour weekend

Queen’s Birthday weekend

anZaC weekend

easter weekend

Waitangi weekend

People involved in Search & Rescues

easter and Queen’s BirthdaY WeeKends resulted in siGnificant increases in huntinG incidents insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

53

where?

hunting districts

The central North island had the highest concentration of all types of incidents, and was by far the leading area for hunting fatalities – nearly 9 times the national average. Southland is the stand-out region in the South island with 4 times the number of people involved in Search and rescues, and over 6 times the national average of fatalities.

162

auckland 383

Central north island* 693

tasman 312

injuries

Queenstownlakes

Westland 204

hUNtINg DIStRICt AveRAge

southland 523

233

(11 years)

Mackenzie 103

8.5

people involved in search and rescues hUNtINg DIStRICt AveRAge

Central north island* 67

tasman 27

auckland

Westland 25

southland 34

Mackenzie 16

12

Queenstownlakes

(5 years)

8

0.45

Central north island*

(7.5 years)

auckland 1

Queenstownlakes

3

4

Fatalities

hUNtINg DIStRICt AveRAge

Westland

2

tasman 1

Mackenzie 0

54

southland 3

huNTiNg

these hotspots show which districts have a higher/lower than average representation:

2.4x 1.4x 2.2x

To get an idea of how a particular regions compared to each other, we calculated the national average and we represented this average as 1.0. As an example, you can see that Southland has 4 times the national average (4.0x) of people involved in Search and Rescues.

auckland

4.3x 7.9x 8.9x

Central north island*

1.9x 3.2x 2.2x tasman

1.3x 2.9x 6.7x

1.4x 0.9x 4.5x

hUNtINg DIStRICt AveRAge

Westland

Injury

SAR

Fatality

Queenstown-lakes

0.6 0.6x 1.9x 0.0x

Mackenzie

3.2 3.2x 4.0x 4.0 6.7x 6.7

southland * Central North Island is a combination of Ruapehu and Taupo districts.

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

55 55

who? who?

hunting gender

Although there is a rising percentage of female hunters, it’s clear that the predominant gender of hunters is male. it is important to note that the data set for hunting incidents includes the demographic information of those who fell victim to a misidentified target incident and were not necessarily hunting themselves at the time of the incident. This will be explored in greater detail in a future huntingspecific publication.

For eVerY 100,000 Male hunters in a Year:

male

562 65 2.3 Injured

Involved in Search & Rescues

Fatality

For eVerY 100,000 FeMale hunters in a Year:

Female

286 27 0.7 Injured

Involved in Search & Rescues

Fatality

56

female hunters Were half as liKelY to Get inJured

huNTiNg

Annual incidents There is a clear correlation between high participation of males, and their incident numbers.

male

4

0.1 Female

Fatalities

Fatalities

111

5

959

55

People involved in Search & Rescues

People involved in Search & Rescues

Injuries

Injuries

19,188

170,571

total participants

20,749

International visitors

149,822

New Zealanders

total participants

7,674

International visitors

11,514

New Zealanders N.B:. 0.5% of participants surveyed did not disclose their gender.

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

57 57

ethnicity and nationality By exploring the ethnicity and nationality of outdoor participants we are able to challenge common assumptions regarding who is getting injured, involved in a Search and Rescue or killed in the outdoors. Each data source represented ethnicity categorisation slightly differently and we’ve remained true to this deďŹ nition.

ethnicity of New Zealand hunters

86% NZ european

14% maori

the maJoritY of huntinG incidents involved neW Zealand hunters 58

huNTiNg

ethnicity of hunting injuries

1%

3%

PaciďŹ c Island Nations

80% european

other

2%

14%

Unknown

maori

ethnicity of hunters involved in a Search & Rescue

1%

1%

PaciďŹ c Island Nations

other

79% european

13% maori

6%

Unknown

Nationality of hunting fatalities

3% european

97% New Zealander

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

59

Age groups

Participation

we also looked at the demographic breakdown of ages of people who got into trouble and compared this with participation.

75+

50-64 Year olds Were overrePresented in fatalities

65-74

50-64

35-49 Year olds Were siGnificantlY underrePresented in search & rescues and fatalities

5%

23%

35-49

33%

25-34

19%

16-24

20%

≤15

60

-

-

11,149 Injuries

1%

586

31

People involved in Search & Rescues

Fatalities

2%

3%

huNTiNg

hUNtINg totAl INCIDeNtS

3% 4%

4%

21%

22%

32% JUN

32%

4% 24%

19%

20%

23%

23%

18%

22%

19%

4%

7%

0%

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

61

key insights firearms Were not the most common cause of huntinG fatalities

the central north island had nearlY 9 times more fatalities comPared to the national district averaGe

23% of huntinG fatalities Were the result of another hunter misidentifYinG their tarGet

62

search and rescues decreased as hunters move from the BacKcountrY to the maimai for ducK shootinG

comPared to ParticiPation, 3549 and 50-64 Year old hunters shoW a siGnificant difference in incident rates

hunters Were tWice as liKelY to need treatment for a laceration than anY of the other 5 activities

hunting

For every 1 hunting fatality

29 248

hunters were involved in Search and Rescues

were injured.

Insights developed by the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council - 2016

63

mountaineering Compared with participation and our other activities, mountaineering has a high ratio of incidents. Just a little over 1 in every 700 are involved in a Search and Rescue. Mountaineering is responsible for almost a quarter of all outdoor-related fatalities.

26,551 neW Zealand Mountaineers partiCipate per Year

total recorded incidents Injuries: 702

(11 years)

People involved in Search & Rescues: 187 (5 years) Fatalities: 24

64

(7.5 years)

oF all 5 aCtiVities, MountaineerinG represents:

1% 7% 24%

mouNTAiNeeriNg

64

Injuries

37

People involved in Search & Rescues

3.2

Fatalities

each year there were on average

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

65

what? What caused the fatalities?

Given that mountaineering typically involves climbing and heights, it’s unsurprising that falling is the leading cause of fatalities.

71% Falling

12.5% 12.5% 4% hypothermia

Avalanche

Falling object

how many were involved in a typical Search & Rescue? Most Search and Rescues were for a solo mountaineer or to rescue a single person lost or injured from a multi-person trip.

61% one person

27% 11% 2% two people

6666

three people

Four people

Neck/head

7%

mouNTAiNeeriNg

11% Shoulder

4%

6%

torso

Arm

12%

6%

hand, wrist and ďŹ ngers

Back/spine

4%

hip, upper leg and thigh

16% Knee

7%

lower leg

12%

7%

Ankle

Foot and toes

What were the injuries? Mountaineers had the highest proportion of injuries on the ďŹ nger and thumb compared to the other activities. Knee injuries were also a high proportion at 16%, although as a comparison were not as high as tramping at 25%. Back/ spine injuries were far less prevalent than other activities.

14%

laceration, puncture wound, sting

11%

Fracture/dislocation

1% Unknown

Diagnosis

9% other

65%

Soft tissue injury

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

67

a third of mountaineerinG fatalities occurred in decemBer

when?

winter months are traditionally ‘off season’ for mountaineering. incidents are likely to correlate to higher participation in summer and autumn. With comparatively low numbers of participation, it is difficult to show a clear trend in Search and rescues or injuries. mountaineering is subject to ‘good’ years, as well as ‘bad years’, and a single fatality can have a big effect on the final numbers - fatalities per annum have ranged from 0 to 6 for example.

64

71

78

73

73 66

moUNtAINeeRINg ANNUAl AveRAge

47

2004

2005

2006

2007

65

63

Injuries

52

53

2008

2009

61

2010

37

2011

2012

moUNtAINeeRINg ANNUAl AveRAge

2014

43

41

People involved in Search & Rescues

2013

42

34

27

2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 6

3

5

5 4

Fatalities moUNtAINeeRINg ANNUAl AveRAge

2

1

2007 68

(half year)

2008

2009

2010

1

0

2011

2012

2013

2014

3

0.3

moUNtAINeeRINg moNthly AveRAge

Injuries

People involved in Search & Rescues

JAN

13%

11%

0%

FeB

9%

12%

0%

mAR

12%

9%

8%

APR

9%

9%

8%

mAy

5%

0%

0%

JUN

5%

6%

0%

JUl

8%

13%

0%

AUg

8%

12%

13%

SeP

7%

3%

17%

oCt

8%

10%

13%

Nov

8%

7%

8%

DeC

8%

9%

33%

FeB

Fatalities

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

mouNTAiNeeriNg

5

69

moUNtAINeeRINg WeeKly AveRAge

1 0.7 0.06

Weekly mountaineering incidents

Injuries

Although fatalities were more common on Monday, there is a possibility that some of those incidents began on the weekend and the closest likely date of fatality was recorded as a Monday.

People involved in Search & Rescues

Fatalities

7070

moN

tUe

WeD

thUR

FRI

SAt

11%

12%

12%

11%

10%

22%

21%

23%

6%

11%

18%

18%

8%

17%

33%

4%

13%

13%

8%

17%

SUN

13%

mouNTAiNeeriNg

Public holidays There was a rise in incidents over popular holidays. waitangi and easter weekends were both twice the average for injuries. Note: There were so few fatalities on a public holiday it’s not possible to accurately represent the data.

moUNtAINeeRINg DAIly AveRAge non-PuBlic holidaY

0.4

0.4 0.3

0.2

0.2

0.2

Injuries

0.1

0.3

0.1

0.1

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.1

Christmas new Year period

labour weekend

Queen’s Birthday weekend

anZaC weekend

easter weekend

Waitangi weekend

People involved in Search & Rescues

search & rescues Were nearlY as common on a WednesdaY and thursdaY as a WeeKend insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

71

where?

mountaineering districts

The Mackenzie region has been the location for a great number of fatalities in New Zealand’s mountains. Mackenzie district had the highest number of people involved in Search and Rescues and fatalities, while the highest number of mountaineering injuries occurred in Westland.

taranaki

Westland

92

10

154

Central north island*

Queenstownlakes

86

75

Mackenzie 49

injuries

moUNtAINeeRINg DIStRICt AveRAge

tasman

(11 years)

13

southland 14

selwyn 10

8.5

Mackenzie

Central north taranaki 19 island*

Westland

33

24

24

Queenstownsouthland lakes 18

16

people involved in search and rescues moUNtAINeeRINg DIStRICt AveRAge

selwyn

(5 years)

9

tasman

0.35 Fatalities

moUNtAINeeRINg DIStRICt AveRAge

(7.5 years)

72

3

Mackenzie Central north island*

taranaki

selwyn

2

2

10

Westland 1

1

tasman 0

Queenstownlakes southland 5

3

mouNTAiNeeriNg

these hotspots show which districts have a higher/lower than average representation: To get an idea of how a particular regions compared to each other, we calculated the national average and we represented this average as 1.0. As an example, you can see that Taranaki has 9 times the national average (9.0x) of injuries.

8.5 8.5x 8.9x 8.9 2.9x

1.3x 1.1x 0.0x

15.1x 8.9x 1.4x

9.0x 7.0x 5.8x

Central north island*

taranaki

tasman

Westland

1.0x 3.3x 2.8x

7.4x 7.4x 6.6 6.6x 14.4 14.4x

selwyn

moUNtAINeeRINg DIStRICt AveRAge

Queenstown-lakes Injury

1.4x 5.9x 8.6x

southland

4.8xx 12.2xx 28.8x

Mackenzie

SAR

Fatality

* Central North Island is a combination of Ruapehu and Taupo districts.

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

73 73

who?

mountaineering gender

compared with other activities, there is a far higher chance of being involved in an incident when mountaineering.

For eVerY 100,000 Male nZ Mountaineers in a Year:

male

215 146 14.5 Injured

Involved in Search & Rescues

Fatality

For eVerY 100,000 FeMale nZ Mountaineers in a Year:

Female

308 118 5.5 Injured

Involved in Search & Rescues

Fatality

74

mouNTAiNeeriNg

Annual incidents As we’ve seen with other activities, males are more likely to be involved in a Search and Rescue or killed.

male

2.8

0.4

28

9

41

22

Fatalities

People involved in Search & Rescues

Injuries

19,270 New Zealanders

Fatalities

Female

People involved in Search & Rescues

Injuries

7,281

New Zealanders

N.B:. 0.5% of participants surveyed insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016 did not disclose their gender.

75 75

ethnicity and nationality Mountaineering is predominantly a European pastime. Although we do not have ďŹ rm numbers of international participation, when looking at fatalities we clearly see that almost half of all fatalities involved a non-New Zealander. Each data source represented ethnicity categorisation slightly differently, and we’ve remained true to their deďŹ nitions of demographic categorisation.

a Quarter of mountaineerinG fatalities involved australians 76

79%

mouNTAiNeeriNg

ethnicity of mountaineering injuries

european

4%

12%

Asian

other

4%

1%

Unknown

maori

ethnicity of mountaineers involved in a Search & Rescue

3%

2%

maori

83%

Asian

european

3%

10%

other

Unknown

Nationality of mountaineering fatalities

4%

Swedish

4%

54%

12%

Canadian

european - other

New Zealander

25%

Australian

4%

Japanese

8.3% german

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

77

Age groups As opposed to other activities, older climbers do not have a higher rate of incident. it is those aged 2534 that are more likely to be injured or involved in a Search and rescue. 35-49 year olds make up the highest number of fatalities with 42% all mountaineering fatalities being in this age bracket.

almost half of all fatalities involved 35-49 Year olds 50-64 Year olds Were underrePresented across all incident tYPes

Participation

75+

3% 65-74

50-64

21%

35-49

32%

25-34

23%

16-24

23%

≤15

78

-

-

702 Injuries

0%

4%

18%

187

24

People involved in Search & Rescues

Fatalities

0%

0%

2%

0%

14%

13%

mouNTAiNeeriNg

moUNtAINeeRINg totAl INCIDeNtS

JUN

26%

31%

42%

29%

31%

33%

21%

17%

13%

5%

0%

2%

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

79

key insights

80

a third of all mountaineerinG fatalities occurred in decemBer

onlY 12.5% of mountaineerinG fatalities involved avalanches

Westland district had 15 times the national averaGe for inJuries, nearlY douBle the neXt hiGhest district.

there Were more mountaineers involved in a search and rescue on a WeeKdaY than a WeeKend

unliKe tramPinG, 50-64 Year old mountaineers Were under-rePresented across all incident tYPes

a third of all mountaineerinG fatalities Were on a mondaY

Mountaineering

For every 1 mountaineering fatality

12 20

mountaineers were involved in Search and Rescues

were injured.

Insights developed by the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council - 2016

81

mountain biking With mountain biking and cycle trail riding growing in popularity throughout New Zealand, we decided to include this activity as a starting point for reviewing over time. It has a high rate of injury but a low rate of Search and Rescues in comparison to traditional activities such as tramping, hunting and mountaineering. There were no mountain biking fatalities during the 7.5 years we examined.

76,306 Mountain BiKers partiCipate per Year

37,665 New Zealanders

38,641

International visitors

total recorded incidents Injuries: 4,182

(11 years)

People involved in Search (5 years) & Rescues: 171

8282

oF all 5 aCtiVities, Mountain BiKinG represents:

6% 6%

photo: Jay French

mouNTAiN BikiNg

380

Injuries

34

People involved in Search & Rescues

each year there were on average

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

83

what?

how many mountain bikers in a typical Search & Rescue? A considerably high number of Search and Rescues (28%) were to recover someone with a severe injury requiring hospitalisation. Most Search and Rescues were for a solo biker or to rescue a single person from a multi-person group.

84% one person

12% two people

8484

2%

three people

1%

Four people

1% %

Five or more people

15%

head

Shoulder

10%

8%

10%

10%

Upper back/spine

mouNTAiN BikiNg

17%

torso

Arm

hand, wrist and ďŹ ngers

5%

11%

hip, upper leg, thigh

Knee

4%

4%

Ankle

lower leg

1%

Foot and toes

What were the injuries? 71% of all injuries sustained by mountain bikers were to the upper body. This includes the highest percentage (17%) of injuries to the head.

15%

laceration, puncture wound, sting

13%

Fracture/dislocation

Diagnosis

0.6% 2% 64% Unknown

other

Soft tissue injury

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

85

when?

mountain biking injuries are trending upwards at a steady rate. in 2006, mountain biking injuries made up just over 3% of all outdoor recreation injury claims across the 5 activities. in 2014, this was more than 9%. Anecdotally, we are also aware of an increase in participation and development of cycle trails, with significant local and central government investment. The number of people involved in Search and rescues remains steady. Summer was the season for injury (1 in 3 occurred then). January alone had 22% of all people involved in Search and rescues.

728 702

600 449

380

409 388

388

2009

2010

Injuries

moUNtAIN BIKINg ANNUAl AveRAge

374 138

1

5

2004

2005

34

2006

2007

2008

2011

36

2012

2013

2014

35

35

People involved in Search & Rescues moUNtAIN BIKINg ANNUAl AveRAge

33

32

2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15

86

moUNtAIN BIKINg moNthly AveRAge

Injuries

3

People involved in Search & Rescues

JAN

13%

22%

FeB

10%

12%

mAR

13%

9%

APR

11%

13% FeB

mAy

6%

7%

JUN

5%

7%

JUl

4%

AUg

4%

SeP

6%

oCt

8%

5%

Nov

9%

6%

DeC

10%

10%

mouNTAiN BikiNg

32

3%

3%

2%

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

87

moUNtAIN BIKINg WeeKly AveRAge

7 0.7

Weekly mountain biking incidents

Injuries

Over half of the reported mountain biking injuries occurred during the weekend. There was also a high occurrence of people involved in a Search and Rescue during the weekend.

8888

People involved in Search & Rescues

moN

tUe

WeD

thUR

FRI

SAt

9%

9%

10%

9%

9%

30%

13%

14%

5%

16%

9%

25%

SUN

24%

18%

mouNTAiN BikiNg

Public holidays Injuries on public holidays reflect about the same increase as for weekends. people involved in Search and rescues increase close to 4 times on easter and Queens Birthday weekends.

moUNtAIN BIKINg DAIly AveRAge non-PuBlic holidaY

2.3

2.4 2.0

1.7 1.4

1.4

0.9 Injuries

0.4

0.4

0.2

0.2

0.1

0.1

0.1

Christmas new Year period

labour weekend

Queen’s Birthday weekend

anZaC weekend

easter weekend

Waitangi weekend

People involved in Search & Rescues

search & rescue events Were 4 tImeS hiGher on easter and Queen’s BirthdaY WeeKends insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

89

where?

mountain biking districts

Tasman district stands out as having the highest number of injuries, followed by Hurunui. The Central North Island had the highest number of people involved in Search and Rescues.

tasman 656

63

hurunui

Central north island*

214

Westland

188

injuries

southland

318

109

moUNtAIN BIKINg DIStRICt AveRAge

Mackenzie 89

(11 years)

auckland rotorua

Queenstownlakes

38

80

0

Central north island*

2.5

rotorua 9

Queenstownlakes

10

8

moUNtAIN BIKINg DIStRICt AveRAge

9

Westland Mackenzie 4

auckland 2

9090

tasman hurunui

people involved in search and rescues

(5 years)

47

4

southland 4

mouNTAiN BikiNg

0.0x 0.8x

auckland

these hotspots show which districts have a higher/lower than average representation: To get an idea of how a particular regions compared to each other, we calculated the national average and we represented this average as 1.0. As an example, you can see that Tasman has 4 times the national average (4.0x) of people involved in Search and Rescues.

0.0 0.0x 3.6x

3.1x 19.0x

rotorua

Central north island*

10.8x 4.0x tasman

1.8x 1.6x

Westland

5.2x 3.2x

0.0x 3.6x

hurunui

Queenstown-lakes

1.5x 1.5 1.6x

moUNtAIN BIKINg DIStRICt AveRAge

Mackenzie Injury

SAR

3.5x 3.5 1.6x

southland * Central North Island is a combination of Ruapehu and Taupo districts.

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

91 91

who? who?

mountain biking gender

The data begins to challenge an assumption that males and females participate in mountain biking in a similar way. with respect to gender, males are far more likely to be involved in an injury and a Search and rescue event when mountain biking.

For eVerY 100,000 Male Mountain BiKers in a Year:

male

595 53 Injured

Involved in Search & Rescues

For eVerY 100,000 FeMale Mountain BiKers in a Year:

Female

353 30 Injured

Involved in Search & Rescues

92

mouNTAiN BikiNg

Annual incidents There were a much greater number of males involved in Search and Rescue and injury numbers than females.

male

Female

24

9

People involved in Search & Rescues

People involved in Search & Rescues

108

272

Injuries

Injuries

30,580

45,769

total participants

21,253

International visitors

24,516

New Zealanders

total participants

17,388

International visitors

13,192

New Zealanders N.B:. 0.5% of participants surveyed did not disclose their gender.

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

93 93

ethnicity and nationality Mountain biking is predominantly participated in by those of European ethnicity. This is reflected equally in injury and Search and Rescue statistics. Each data source represented ethnicity categorisation slightly differently, and we’ve remained true to their definitions of demographic categorisation.

ethnicity of New Zealand mountain bikers

8% maori

76%

10% other

NZ european

4% Asian

1%

Pacific Island Nations

94

mouNTAiN BikiNg

ethnicity of mountain biking injuries

85% european

1%

4%

4%

PaciďŹ c Island Nations

maori

4%

other

1%

Unknown

Asian

ethnicity of mountain bikers involved in a Search & Rescue

1%

1%

2%

PaciďŹ c Island Nations

maori

10% Unknown

other

3%

84% european

Asian

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

95

Age groups

Participation

participation is very high in the 35-49 year old bracket (40%). Although not surveyed for participation, there is clearly people under the age of 16 that participate, and this is shown in injuries and Search and rescues.

25-34 Year olds Were overrePresented in search and rescues

75+

65-74

1%

50-64

27%

35-49

40%

25-34

18%

16-24

14%

≤15

96

-

photo: Jay French

-

4,182 Injuries

171

People involved in Search & Rescues

0%

0%

2%

1%

21%

26%

37%

4% 22%

16%

26%

13%

11%

10%

14%

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

mouNTAiN BikiNg

moUNtAIN BIKINg totAl INCIDeNtS

97

key insights

98

27% of all mountain BiKers involved in a search & rescue Were in the central north island

35-49 Year olds Were the most active aGe GrouP, But Were under rePresented in inJuries and search and rescues

search and rescues Were 4 times hiGher on easter and Queens BirthdaY WeeKends

71% of inJuries Were to the uPPer BodY

mouNTAiN BikiNg

mountain BiKinG inJuries increased 354% BetWeen 2006 and 2014

tasman district had more than 10 times the numBer of mountain BiKinG inJuries than the nZ averaGe

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

99

trail running With trail running growing in popularity, we decided to include this activity as a starting point for reviewing over time. It has an extremely high rate of injury but a very low rate of Search and Rescues in comparison to the traditional activities of tramping, hunting and mountaineering. There were no trail running fatalities during the 7.5 years we examined.

79,660 neW Zealand trail runners partiCipate per Year

total recorded incidents Injuries: 14,344

(11 years)

People involved in Search (5 years) & Rescues: 65

100 100

oF all 5 aCtiVities, trailinG runninG represents:

22% 2%

TrAiL ruNNiNg

1,304 Injuries

13

People involved in Search & Rescues

each year there were on average

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

101

what?

how many trail runners in a typical Search & Rescue? During the 5 years of Search and Rescue data we explored, there were 65 people involved in a total of 50 Search and Rescue events. 68% of those found were not injured while another 17% only required ďŹ rst aid. Most Search and Rescues were for a solo trail runner or to rescue a single person lost or injured from a multi-person trip.

8%

two people

88% one person

2%

three people

2%

Four or more people

31% of PeoPle involved in a search & rescue Were inJured 102 102

TrAiL ruNNiNg

2%

head

1%

1%

Shoulder

torso

7%

Back/spine

13%

hip, upper leg, thigh

25%

23%

Ankle

Knee

18% lower leg

7%

Foot and toes

What were the injuries? ConďŹ rming our assumption, 87% of injuries were sustained on the legs. 95% of injuries were soft tissue injuries.

2%

laceration, puncture wound, sting

1.5%

Fracture/dislocation

Diagnosis

0.5% other

95%

Soft tissue injury

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

103

when?

Trail running injuries are increasing considerably and at a faster rate than the traditional outdoor activities of tramping, hunting and mountaineering. over the 11 years of data we have seen an increase of 329%. Search and rescue numbers however are remaining steady. January 2012 had a higher number due to one event which resulted in a large group rescue. injury rates drop off slightly during the colder months, however this drop-off was not as large as seen with the other 5 activities.

1874

1866

1783 1606

1,304

1485

1446

Injuries

tRAIl RUNNINg ANNUAl AveRAge

718

875

1098

1161

433

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

21

13

People involved in Search & Rescues tRAIl RUNNINg ANNUAl AveRAge

13 11

10

10

2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15

104

109 Injuries

1.1

People involved in Search & Rescues

JAN

10%

29%

FeB

10%

14%

mAR

9%

4%

APR

8%

14% FeB

mAy

8%

2%

JUN

6%

4%

JUl

7%

6%

AUg

7%

0%

SeP

8%

0%

oCt

10%

6%

Nov

9%

10%

DeC

7%

12% insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

TrAiL ruNNiNg

tRAIl RUNNINg moNthly AveRAge

105

tRAIl RUNNINg WeeKly AveRAge

25 0.3

Weekly trail running incidents

Injuries

Trail runners were more commonly involved in incidents during the weekend, with approximately double the injuries and people involved in Search and Rescues occurring on Saturdays and Sundays.

People involved in Search & Rescues

106 106

moN

tUe

WeD

thUR

FRI

SAt

SUN

13%

12%

12%

11%

9%

24%

20%

5%

5%

8%

15%

11%

29%

28%

TrAiL ruNNiNg

Public holidays There does not appear to be a high number of injuries occurring on public holidays compared to other weekends. however, the amount of people involved in Search and Rescue increased significantly on Easter weekend and over the christmas-New Year period.

4.9

tRAIl RUNNINg DAIly AveRAge non-PuBlic holidaY

4.9 4.3 3.9

3.5 Injuries

3.2

2.2

0.3

0.2

0.0

0.0

Queen’s Birthday weekend

0.0

0.0

anZaC weekend

0.1

Christmas new Year period

labour weekend

easter weekend

Waitangi weekend

People involved in Search & Rescues

WeeKend incidents Were more Prevalent than PuBlic holidaYs insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

107

where?

trail running districts

Although there were very few people involved in Search and Rescues for trail runners, Central North Island district had more than 15 times the national district average.

auckland

Queenstownlakes

3115

208

875

rotorua 449

injuries

Central north island*

tRAIl RUNNINg DIStRICt AveRAge

(11 years)

southland

256

tasman 151

Westland 76

204

Mackenzie 29

0.9

people involved in search and rescues tRAIl RUNNINg DIStRICt AveRAge

(5 years)

Central north island* 15

Queenstownlakes

rotorua 5

6

auckland

southland

Westland

3

tasman 1

2

2

Mackenzie 0

108 108

TrAiL ruNNiNg

15.0x 3.2x auckland

these hotspots show which districts have a higher/lower than average representation: To get an idea of how a particular regions compared to each other, we calculated the national average and we represented this average as 1.0. As an example, you can see that Auckland has 15 times the national average (15.0x) of injuries.

1.2x 15.9x

Central north island*

2.2x 5.3x

rotorua

0.7x 1.1x tasman

0.4x 2.1x

4.2x 6.4x

Westland

tRAIl RUNNINg DIStRICt AveRAge

Queenstown-lakes

Injury

SAR

0.1x 0.0x

Mackenzie

1.0x 1.0 2.1x 2.1

southland

* Central North Island is a combination of Ruapehu and Taupo districts.

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

109 109

who?

trail running gender

There was a fairly even spread across genders in regard to participation. males were slightly more likely than females to be injured and involved in a Search and rescue.

For eVerY 100,000 nZ Male trail runners in a Year:

male

1,668 19 Injured

Involved in Search & Rescues

For eVerY 100,000 nZ FeMale trail runners in a Year:

Female

1,617 13 Injured

Involved in Search & Rescues

110

TrAiL ruNNiNg

Annual incidents 1 in 61 trail runners were injured each year. This is a much higher rate of injury than the other 4 activities included in this publication.

male

Female

8

People involved in Search & Rescues

674

Injuries

40,423

total participants

5

People involved in Search & Rescues

630 Injuries

38,963 total participants

N.B:. 0.5% of participants surveyed did not disclose their gender.

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

111111

ethnicity and nationality Although participation in trail running is predominately from NZ European, there is an over-representation of this nationality in the injury and Search and Rescue percentages. Each data source represented ethnicity categorisation slightly differently, and we’ve remained true to their definitions of demographic categorisation.

ethnicity of New Zealand trail runners

66%

15%

6%

other

Pacific Island Nations

9%

9%

NZ european

Asian

112

maori

TrAiL ruNNiNg

ethnicity of trail running injuries

2%

5%

84%

PaciďŹ c Island Nations

maori

european

4%

Unknown

1%

4%

Asian

other

ethnicity of trail runners involved in a Search & Rescue

17%

2%

72%

other

Unknown

2%

PaciďŹ c Island Nations

8%

european

Asian

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

113

Age groups

Participation

86% of participants were aged under 50 years old. A significant proportion of the injuries and people involved in Search and rescues were aged between 35-49.

75+

43% of inJuries Were 35-49 Year olds

65-74

2%

50-64

13%

35-49

34%

25-34

24%

16-24

≤15

114

-

28%

-

TrAiL ruNNiNg

tRAIl RUNNINg totAl INCIDeNtS

14,344 Injuries

65

People involved in Search & Rescues

0%

0%

1%

0%

14%

13%

4% 43%

38%

22%

18%

15%

30%

5%

2%

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

115

key insights

116

86% of trail runninG inJuries Were someWhere on the leG

onlY 14% of trail runners involved in search and rescues Were inJured

there Was a reasonaBlY even Gender sPlit of ParticiPation and incidents in trail runninG

central north island had nearlY 16 times the averaGe PeoPle involved in search and rescues

TrAiL ruNNiNg

55% of PeoPle involved in search and rescues occurred durinG summer

35-49 Year olds Were far more liKelY to Be inJured While trail runninG

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

117

activities summary For every 244 trampers, 1 was injured. For every 2,276 trampers, 1 was involved in a Search and rescue event. For every 128,227 trampers, 1 never made it home.

For every 192 hunters, 1 was injured. For every 1,668 hunters, 1 was involved in a Search and rescue event. For every 47,201 hunters, 1 never made it home.

For every 415 New zealand mountaineers, 1 was injured. For every 706 New zealand mountaineers, 1 was involved in a Search and rescue event. For every 8,355 New zealand mountaineers, 1 never made it home.

For every 192 mountain bikers, 1 was injured. For every 2,220 mountain bikers 1 was involved in a Search and rescue event. For every 61 New zealand trail runners, 1 was injured. For every 6,128 New zealand trail runners, 1 was involved in a Search and rescue event.

118

AcTiViTieS

Percentage of incidents per activity

Tramping

Trail Running

63% 53%

45% 22% 2% 17% 6%

22%

6%

1%

24%

7%

31% Hunting

Mountain Biking

Injuries People involved in Search and Rescues Fatalities Mountaineering

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

119

hotspots The 5 hotspots we’ve focused on represent areas of the country that either have high levels of participation or a higher number of things that went wrong. The hotspot areas are based on either the district or the nearest postcode to where the incident occurred. In locations where there is a district boundary which crosses a common recreation area, we have combined this into one location. there are 67 distriCts aCross neW Zealand

86

Injuries

7.8

People involved in Search & Rescues

0.2

Fatalities

District average each year

120 120

47% of fatalities in the selected activities Were in these 5 hotsPots

hoTSpoTS auckland region**

Central north island*

Queenstown-lakes district

Mackenzie district

southland district

* Central North Island is a combination of Ruapehu and Taupo districts. ** Auckland includes the districts of Rodney, Waitakere City, North Shore City, Auckland City, Manukau City, Papakura and Franklin.

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

121 121

Auckland

A large proportion of our national population reside in this area and explore the outdoors. more than 32% of New zealand’s population live in the Auckland region. There are plenty of recreation opportunities for both residents and tourists, as the region has numerous parks that are suitable for walking, tramping, mountain biking, trail running, and hunting. There are 34 regional parks around Auckland, which feature a huge range of land types: wetlands, farms, beaches, rainforests, and bush-clad mountain ranges. Auckland city itself is built around a series of 48 volcanic cones, which are currently dormant and provide striking scenery around the city. in the hauraki gulf near Auckland there are several popular recreation spots, including great Barrier island, waiheke island, and rangitoto island. These islands can be reached by regular ferries from Auckland, as well as by small planes to great Barrier island. Auckland Airport is the busiest in New zealand, and is the hub for most international ights arriving and departing New zealand. Because Auckland has more than 7 million visitors each year, there is a good range of accommodation available. There are also 7 different information centres and one Doc visitor centre in the region. The Auckland region covers a total of 4,938km2 and includes recreational areas such as the waitakere regional park, which has 250km of walking and tramping tracks. As well as the hunua ranges, the largest area of native forest in the region with many mountain biking, walking and tramping tracks.

total recorded incidents Injuries: 11,944

(11 years)

People involved in Search & Rescues: 68 (5 years) Fatalities: 1 122

(7.5 years)

each year there were on average

1,086 injuries

14

people involved in search and rescues

0.1

Fatalities

oF all the inCidents aCross the 5 aCtiVities, this hotspot represents:

12.8% 2.5% 1%

AuckLAND

auckland region percentage of incidents per activity

Tramping

Trail Running

72%

35%

27% 4% 4% 3% 3%

18%

34% Hunting

Mountain Biking

100%

Mountaineering

Injuries People involved in Search and Rescues Fatalities

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

123

aucKland had the hiGhest numBer of inJuries of all hotsPots

what?

What caused the fatalities?

There was only one relevant fatality in the Auckland region. This was caused by a hunter accidentally discharging their firearm and hitting their companion.

1

Shot (other)

People involved in a typical Search & Rescue Like the national and activity specific sections, most Search and Rescues in Auckland were to locate a single person or to rescue a single person lost or injured from a multi-person trip. In this section we’ve also explored the Search and Rescue-related extent of injury. The majority of people involved in a Search and Rescue were uninjured.

77% one person

17% two people

72% Uninjured

10% 4% 10% 1% % Slightly (first aid)

124 124

6%

three people

moderate (doctor)

Severe (hospitalised)

Deceased

AuckLAND

when? years

As seen in the national section, injuries have shown a steady increase over time and this appears to be increasing at a rate faster than the growth in population and international visitors. The number of people involved in Search and rescues varied each year with no clear trend over the 5 years of data available.

1740 1574 1403

1398

1222 1197

1,086

1126

Injuries

AUCKlAND ANNUAl AveRAge

1046 414

584

240

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

14

2011

2012

2013

2014

15

15

14

People involved in Search & Rescues AUCKlAND ANNUAl AveRAge

13

11

2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15

0.1

1

Fatalities

AUCKlAND ANNUAl AveRAge

0

0

0

0

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

0

0

0

2012

2013

2014

(half year)

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

125

months In the Auckland region there was a reasonably consistent spread of injuries by month, indicating that many people continued to venture outdoors during winter. The number of people involved in Search and Rescues spiked in April, otherwise the monthly spread was relatively consistent.

inJuries tYPicallY occurred on WeeKends

AUCKlAND moNthly AveRAge

90

Injuries

126

1.2

People involved in Search & Rescues

JAN

10%

12%

FeB

10%

10%

mAR

10%

9%

APR

10%

16%

mAy

8%

7%

JUN

6%

9%

JUl

6%

7%

AUg

7%

6%

SeP

7%

10%

oCt

9%

Nov

9%

6%

DeC

8%

4%

3%

0.01 Fatalities

1

AuckLAND

Weekly The national section showed an increase in injuries and people involved in Search and rescues over the weekend, Auckland largely mirrors this pattern. with only one fatality it was impossible to draw significant insights on fatalities.

moN

tUe

WeD

thUR

FRI

SAt

SUN

10%

9%

11%

9%

8%

26%

27%

12%

10%

13%

10%

26%

24%

4%

1

Injuries

People involved in Search & Rescues

Fatalities

Public holidays public holidays do not appear to contribute to an increase in injuries with the average being similar to any given weekend.

AUCKlAND DAIly AveRAge non-PuBlic holidaY

4.2

5.6

5.2

6.2 4.0

4.9

2.8 Injuries

0.25

0.2

0.14 0.07

0.04 labour weekend

Queen’s Birthday weekend

anZaC weekend

easter weekend

Waitangi weekend

auckland anniversary

People involved in Search & Rescues

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

127

who?

AUCKlAND ANNUAl INCIDeNtS

male

gender

Looking at the numbers side-by-side gives us insight into who got into trouble. The gender split of incidents in Auckland is reflective of the national section which shows that more males were injured and involved in Search and rescues than females.

maori

6% other

0

Fatalities

362

161

655

431

People involved in Search & Rescues

Injuries

6% maori

Injuries

Nationality of fatalities

4%

ethnicity of people involved in a Search & Rescue

ethnicity of injuries

each data source represented ethnicity categorisation differently. Despite this, we can still see that injuries and Search and rescues overwhelmingly involved those of european (or caucasian) descent. māori and Asian ethnicities are represented as a higher percentage of Search and rescues than injuries.

3%

0.1

Fatalities

People involved in Search & Rescues

ethnicity

Pacific Island Nations

Female

9% Asian

1

6% Asian

New Zealander

21%

Not reported

81% 128

european

65% european

Age A closer look at the age of each person gives further insight into who got into trouble. in Auckland, 35-49 year olds were more commonly injured, however those younger than 35 made up the majority of those involved in Search and rescue.

AuckLAND

96% of PeoPle inJured While recreatinG in aucKland also resided in aucKland

AUCKlAND totAl INCIDeNtS

11,944 Age 75+

Injuries

1%

68

People involved in Search & Rescues

1

Fatalities

1%

7%

65-74

3%

50-64

19%

18%

35-49

35%

21%

25-34

19%

22%

16-24

14%

22%

≤15

9%

9%

1

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

129

home location of injuries All injured people provide a home address when submitting their Acc claim. of all injuries which occurred in Auckland, 96% of those injured resided in Auckland. international visitor numbers are difficult to determine as we believe visitors often supply their New zealand accommodation address when submitting an Acc claim. This address often appears to be geographically close to where the injury occurred.

96%

Auckland Region

1% % hamilton

130

aPProXimatelY 1 in everY 8 inJuries in neW Zealand occurred in aucKland

in contrast With other hotsPots, incidents did not siGnificantlY increase on PuBlic holidaYs

72% of PeoPle involved in search and rescues Were uninJured, the hiGhest across the 5 hotsPots

96% of PeoPle inJured While recreatinG in aucKland also resided in aucKland

AuckLAND

For every 1 fatality in Auckland

103

people were involved in Search and Rescues

8,240

were injured.

Insights developed by the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council - 2016

131

Central North Island

With the oldest national park in New Zealand, this is a popular area to explore. The central North island, which consists of ruapehu and Taupo Districts, has a wide range of terrain and with more than 1 million visitors per year, the area is particularly popular for outdoor activities. it’s an active volcanic zone, featuring volcanoes, hot springs, native bush, wetlands, and plateaus. The area also has strong farming and forestry industries. The central North island boasts New zealand’s oldest national park, Tongariro National park (including the world-renowned Tongariro Alpine crossing), and the country’s largest lake, Lake Taupo. Tongariro National park is centred around 3 active volcanoes, Tongariro, Ngauruhoe, and ruapehu, and has a large network of facilities for tramping, camping, mountain biking, hunting, climbing, and skiing. other popular tourist spots in the central North island include huka Falls, the Aratiatia rapids Tracks, the Five mile Bay and Awaroa Tracks, the whakapapa Village walking tracks, and hihitahi Forest Sanctuary. The area is served by Taupo Airport, but is also easily accessible by car, bus, or train from Auckland and wellington. There are visitor information centres and tourist accommodation in Taumarunui, ohakune/ruapehu, Turangi, and Taupo. There is also a Doc Visitor centre in Tongariro National park. The central North island area covers a total of 13,068km2. it includes 16 Doc huts and features one of New zealand’s great walks, the Tongariro Northern circuit. The only glaciers in the North island are the 8 on mt ruapehu, which is the highest point in the North island.

total recorded incidents Injuries: 4,048

(11 years)

People involved in Search & Rescues: 410 (5 years) Fatalities: 5 132

(7.5 years)

each year there were on average

368 injuries

82

people involved in search and rescues

0.7

Fatalities

oF all the inCidents aCross the 5 aCtiVities, this hotspot represents:

4.3% 15% 5%

ceNTrAL NorTh iSLAND

central north island percentage of incidents per activity

Tramping

Trail Running

63% 51%

6% 6% 17% 4% 23%

16% 2% 20% 11% Hunting

Mountain Biking

80%

Mountaineering

Injuries People involved in Search and Rescues Fatalities

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

133

2

what?

Falling

1

What caused the fatalities?

Shot (misidentified target)

2

There were 5 fatalities in the Central North Island between July 2007 and December 2014. 4 were hunting-related and 1 occurred while mountaineering on Mt Ruapehu.

Shot (self)

People involved in a typical Search & Rescue Like the national and activity specific sections, most Search and Rescues in the Central North Island were to locate a single person or to rescue a single person lost or injured from a multiperson trip. In this section we’ve also explored the Search and Rescue-related extent of injury. The majority of people involved in a Search and Rescue were uninjured.

80%

16% 3% 1% %

one person

56% Uninjured

two people

7% % 9% Slightly (first aid)

134 134

moderate (doctor)

three people

Four people

26%

Severe (hospitalised)

1% %

Five or more people

1% %

Deceased

1% %

Not recorded

when? years

As seen in the national section, injuries have shown a steady increase over time and this appears to be increasing at a rate faster than the growth in population and international visitors. The number of fatalities and people involved in Search and rescue appears to be steady.

ceNTrAL NorTh iSLAND

central north island had the most PeoPle involved in search and rescue 553 521 456

368

440

446

407

397

Injuries

CeNtRAl NoRth ISlAND ANNUAl AveRAge

171

226

314

117

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

82

2012

2013

92

2014

92

90

People involved in Search & Rescues CeNtRAl NoRth ISlAND ANNUAl AveRAge

73

63

2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2

0.7

1

1

1

Fatalities

CeNtRAl NoRth ISlAND ANNUAl AveRAge

0

0

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

0

0

2012

2013

2014

(half year)

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

135

months In the Central North Island, we see a strong seasonal pattern of injuries and Search and Rescues occurring during the warmer months. The number of people injured hit its peak in April, while those involved in Search and Rescues spiked in January. While the number of fatalities was small, most occurred during the peak hunting months of April and May.

26% of PeoPle involved in search and rescues Were severelY inJured

CeNtRAl NoRth ISlAND moNthly AveRAge

31

Injuries

136

7

People involved in Search & Rescues

0.05 Fatalities

JAN

11%

18%

FeB

10%

8%

mAR

12%

16%

APR

15%

11%

2

mAy

8%

7%

1

JUN

5%

4%

JUl

5%

AUg

5%

SeP

6%

oCt

6%

4%

Nov

9%

8%

DeC

9%

12%

3%

5%

1

3%

1

ceNTrAL NorTh iSLAND

Weekly The Central North Island largely reflects what we see in the national section with an increase in injuries and people involved in Search and rescues over the weekend. Fatalities were spread throughout the week, however there were not enough to draw any conclusive insights.

moN

tUe

WeD

thUR

FRI

SAt

SUN

10%

8%

10%

11%

10%

31%

19%

Injuries

13%

10%

11%

12%

11%

27%

15%

People involved in Search & Rescues

1

1

2

1

Fatalities

Public holidays easter weekend had nearly 5 times the average number of people involved in Search and rescues and more than 2.5 times the number of injuries. Auckland Anniversary weekend also had a significant increase in incidents which reflects the number of Aucklanders who travel down to the central North island (see home location on page 140).

CeNtRAl NoRth ISlAND DAIly AveRAge non-PuBlic holidaY

1.7

1.93

2.62

1.94 1.39

0.9

1.21

Injuries

1.0

0.95

0.8

0.7

0.67 0.44

0.2

0.29

0.2

Christmas new Year period

labour weekend

Queen’s Birthday weekend

anZaC weekend

easter weekend

Waitangi weekend

auckland anniversary

People involved in Search & Rescues

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

137

who? gender

Looking at the numbers side-by-side gives us insight into who got into trouble. The gender split of incidents in the Central North Island is reflective of the national section which shows that more males were injured and involved in Search and rescues than females.

Asian

8% other

Female

0.5

0.1

32

21

Fatalities

Fatalities

People involved in Search & Rescues

216

152

Injuries

1%

middle eastern

3% other

Injuries

Nationality of fatalities

3%

ethnicity of people involved in a Search & Rescue

ethnicity of injuries

each data source represented ethnicity categorisation differently. Despite this, we can still see that injuries and Search and rescues overwhelmingly involved those of european (or caucasian) descent. The percentage of Asian people involved in Search and rescues were 3 times higher than injuries. The percentage of māori involved in Search and rescues was half that of injuries.

1%

male

People involved in Search & Rescues

ethnicity

Pacific Island Nations

CeNtRAl NoRth ISlAND ANNUAl INCIDeNtS

4% maori

5

New Zealander

7%

9%

81%

82%

maori

138

european

Asian

european

Age

A closer look at the age of each person gives further insight into who got into trouble. in the central North island, 16-24 year olds were far more likely to be involved in Search and rescues than 35-49 year olds, while 35-49 year olds were more likely to be injured.

ceNTrAL NorTh iSLAND

central north island had more PeoPle in search & rescues than anY other location

CeNtRAl NoRth ISlAND totAl INCIDeNtS

4,048 Age

Injuries

410

People involved in Search & Rescues

1%

3%

65-74

5%

6%

50-64

23%

20%

35-49

29%

16%

25-34

18%

19%

16-24

18%

28%

≤15

6%

8%

75+

5

Fatalities

0%

3

2

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

139

home location of injuries All injured people provide a home address when submitting their Acc claim. of all injuries which occurred in the central North island, the great majority resided outside the district. Notably, 25% came from Auckland. International visitor numbers are difficult to determine as we believe visitors often supply their New zealand accommodation address when submitting an Acc claim. This address often appears to be geographically close to where the injury occurred.

25% Auckland

3% %

5%

tauranga City

hamilton City

4% % Rotorua

28%

Central North Island

7% %

Wellington City

140

desPite a larGe numBer of tramPers in this area, there Were no fatalities in this activitY

80% of fatalities in the central north island Were hunters

central north island had the most PeoPle involved in search and rescues When comPared to the Whole of neW Zealand

26% of PeoPle involved in search and rescues Were severelY inJured, the hiGhest PercentaGe across the 5 hotsPots

Central north island

For every 1 fatality in Central North Island

125

559

people were involved in Search and Rescues

were injured.

Insights developed by the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council - 2016

141

Mackenzie

Situated amongst our highest peaks, this is a key tourist attraction spot for all kinds of recreation. The mackenzie District is known for its stunning scenery, from beautiful mountains, glacier lakes and rivers, to rolling green hills. it is the home of New zealand’s tallest mountain, Aoraki/ mt cook. The surrounding national park has a total of 19 peaks over 3,000m high. other popular tourist spots in the mackenzie district include Lake Tekapo and the Tasman glacier. The region has about 600,000 visitors each year, drawn to the natural scenery and clear starry nights. Large portions of the mackenzie District are devoted to farming and agriculture, but the varied terrain provides lots of opportunities for outdoor recreation, including tramping, cycling, skiing, hunting, and rock and mountain climbing. The mackenzie District is several hours’ drive from the nearest large airports, in christchurch and Queenstown, although sightseeing ights are available from smaller airports nearby. State highway 8 runs through the district. The mackenzie district covers a total of 7,140km2 and there are 15 Doc huts and one Doc Visitor centre in the Aoraki/ mount cook National park. At the 2013 census, the mackenzie District only had 3 towns with a permanent population over 300 people: Twizel, Fairlie, and Tekapo.

total recorded incidents Injuries: 612

(11 years)

People involved in Search & Rescues: 108 (5 years) Fatalities: 12 142

(7.5 years)

each year there were on average

56

injuries

22

people involved in search and rescues

1.6

Fatalities

oF all the inCidents aCross the 5 aCtiVities, this hotspot represents:

0.7% 4% 12%

mAckeNzie

mackenzie district percentage of incidents per activity

Tramping

Trail Running

56% 51%

17%

5%

17% 4%

15%

15% 8%

31% Mountain Biking

Hunting

83%

Mountaineering

Injuries People involved in Search and Rescues Fatalities

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

143

what?

7

3

Falling

Avalanche

1

What caused the fatalities?

1*

hypothermia

Unknown

There were 12 fatalities in Mackenzie between July 2007 and December 2014. 10 involved mountaineers in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park and 2 were trampers. *Body not recovered

People involved in a typical Search & Rescue Like the national and activity specific sections, most Search and Rescues in Mackenzie were to locate a single person or to rescue a single person lost or injured from a multi-person trip. In this section we’ve also explored the Search and Rescue-related extent of injury. Just over half of people involved in Search and Rescues were uninjured.

69% one person

16% 10% 4% two people

54% Uninjured

9% Slightly (first aid)

144 144

three people

21% moderate (doctor)

Four people

6%

Severe (hospitalised)

1% %

Five or more people

9%

Deceased

1% %

Not recorded

when? years

As seen in the national section, injuries have shown a steady increase over time and this appears to be increasing at a rate faster than the growth in population and international visitors. The number of fatalities and people involved in Search and rescues varies each year, with a trend starting to indicate an increase.

mAckeNzie

macKenZie had the hiGhest fatalitY rate of anY district 81 79 65 62

56

57

58

58

Injuries

mACKeNZIe ANNUAl AveRAge

40

50

2006

2007

38 24

2004

2005

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

22

2013

2014

29 24

People involved in Search & Rescues mACKeNZIe ANNUAl AveRAge

21

16

18

2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 4

1.6

3 2

2

Fatalities

mACKeNZIe ANNUAl AveRAge

1

2007

0

2008

2009

2010

0

0

2011

2012

2013

2014

(half year)

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

145

months In Mackenzie we see a strong pattern of injuries and Search and Rescues occurring during summer and autumn. The number of people injured hits its peak in January, while those involved in Search and Rescues spikes in December. December is also when the majority of fatalities occurred.

58% of the fatalities occurred in decemBer

mACKeNZIe moNthly AveRAge

4.7

Injuries

JAN

15%

13%

FeB

11%

16%

mAR

13%

5%

APR

9%

16%

mAy

7%

5%

JUN

7%

11%

JUl

6%

AUg SeP

146

1.8

People involved in Search & Rescues

2% 3%

0.1

Fatalities

1

3%

1% 7%

oCt

7%

0%

Nov

9%

6%

DeC

12%

19%

3 1 7

mAckeNzie

Weekly Mackenzie largely reflects what we see in the national section with an increase in injuries over the weekend. people involved in Search and rescues were more evenly spread across the week with a peak on monday. There were also a high number of fatalities which occurred on a monday.

moN

tUe

WeD

thUR

FRI

SAt

SUN

11%

13%

10%

10%

10%

25%

20%

Injuries

22%

12%

13%

12%

10%

15%

16%

People involved in Search & Rescues

1

1

2

2

1

5

Fatalities

Public holidays easter, Queen’s Birthday and Labour weekends all had more than 3 times the average number of injuries. of all public holidays it was the christmas-New Year period which accounted for the highest average number of people involved in Search and rescues at more than 4 times the average.

mACKeNZIe DAIly AveRAge non-PuBlic holidaY

0.13

0.45

0.45

0.45 0.28

0.25

0.2

Injuries

0.23 0.15

0.05

0.07

Christmas new Year period

labour weekend

Queen’s Birthday weekend

anZaC weekend

easter weekend

Waitangi weekend

People involved in Search & Rescues

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

147

who?

mACKeNZIe ANNUAl INCIDeNtS

male

gender

Looking at the numbers side-by-side gives us insight into who got into trouble. The gender split of incidents in Mackenzie shows that significantly more males were injured and involved in Search and rescues than females. All fatalities were male.

1.6

0

17

4.6

33

23

Fatalities

3% Asian

People involved in Search & Rescues

Injuries

2% other

3%

middle eastern

Injuries

Nationality of fatalities

ethnicity of people involved in a Search & Rescue

ethnicity of injuries

each data source represented ethnicity categorisation differently. Despite this, we can still see that injuries and Search and rescues overwhelmingly involved those of european (or caucasian) descent. in contrast to the national average, 75% of fatalities were foreigners.

maori

Fatalities

People involved in Search & Rescues

ethnicity

1%

Female

1

1

Swedish

Japanese

1

malaysian

1

Israeli

4% Asian

2

german

10% other

7%

Not reported

3

Australian

86% 148

european

84% european

3

New Zealander

Age A closer look at the age of each person gives further insight into who got into trouble. in mackenzie, those aged 25-34 were more likely to be involved in Search and rescues and made up 50% of fatalities.

mAckeNzie

half of the fatalities Were to those aGed 25-34

mACKeNZIe totAl INCIDeNtS

612 Age

Injuries

108

People involved in Search & Rescues

12

Fatalities

1%

0%

65-74

7%

1%

50-64

21%

18%

3

35-49

31%

20%

3

25-34

18%

35%

16-24

20%

23%

3%

3%

75+

25%

25%

6

50%

0%

≤15

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

149

4%

Auckland Region

home location of injuries All injured people provide a home address when submitting their Acc claim. of all injuries which occurred in mackenzie, the great majority resided outside the district. The data indicates that they generally came from the closest cities. International visitor numbers are difficult to determine as we believe visitors often supply their New zealand accommodation address when submitting an Acc claim. This address mackenzie often appears to be geographically close to where the injury occurred.

15%

4%

21%

Christchurch City

11% timaru

Queenstown-lakes

20% Dunedin City

macKenZie had the hiGhest fatalitY rate of anY district

half of the fatalities Were to those aGed 25-34

150

75% of the fatalities in macKenZie Were international visitors

58% of the fatalities occurred in decemBer

Mackenzie

For every 1 fatality in Mackenzie

14 35

people were involved in Search and Rescues

were injured.

Insights developed by the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council - 2016

151

Queenstown-Lakes

This area of New Zealand is a prime location to experience all kinds of outdoor activities. The Queenstown-Lakes district is one of New zealand’s hottest tourist destinations, and it regularly features in international top 10 travel lists. each year, nearly 4 million visitors are attracted by the adventure tourism and outdoor recreation opportunities in the area; the nearby mountains, glaciers, rivers and lakes; and national parks in the neighbouring districts. Queenstown and the surrounding areas are popular for mountain biking, mountaineering, tramping, trail running, skiing, and hunting. At the 2013 census, the Queenstown-Lakes district had one of the fastest growing populations in New zealand. even so, at the height of the tourist seasons in summer and winter, there can be 3 times as many tourists as locals. There is an international airport in Queenstown, which has regular flights to and from other centres around New Zealand and Australia. Queenstown Airport is New zealand’s busiest helicopter base, and sightseeing flights to Milford Sound and mount cook depart regularly. Tourist accommodation and information centres are available in Queenstown and wanaka. There is also a Doc Visitor centre in Queenstown. The Queenstown-Lakes district covers a total of 8,719km2 and is one of the key access locations for trips to surrounding national parks and great walks. The Queenstown Trail, one of New zealand’s great rides, runs through more than 110km of the district

total recorded incidents Injuries: 6,563

(11 years)

People involved in Search & Rescues: 148 (5 years) Fatalities: 15 152

(7.5 years)

each year there were on average

597

injuries

30

people involved in search and rescues

2

Fatalities

oF all the inCidents aCross the 5 aCtiVities, this hotspot represents:

7% 5.5% 15%

QueeNSTowN-LAkeS

Queenstown-lakes district percentage of incidents per activity

Tramping

Trail Running

72%

37% 53%

4%

13%

4% 5%

6% 1% 12%

13%

33% 45%

Hunting

Mountain Biking

Mountaineering

Injuries People involved in Search and Rescues Fatalities

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

153

what?

13 Falling

What caused the fatalities?

1

1

There were 15 fatalities in Queenstown-Lakes between July 2007 and December 2014. 8 were trampers, 5 were mountaineers and 2 were hunters.

River crossing

Shot (misidentified target)

People involved in a typical Search & Rescue Like the national and activity specific sections, most Search and Rescues in Queenstown-Lakes were to locate a single person or to rescue a single person lost or injured from a multi-person trip. In this section we’ve also explored the Search and Rescue-related extent of injury. Just over half of people involved in a Search and Rescue were uninjured.

82%

15% two people

one person

54% Uninjured

7% % Slightly (first aid)

154 154

2% 2%

three people

Four or more people

18% 17% moderate (doctor)

Severe (hospitalised)

3%

Deceased

1% %

Not recorded

when?

QueeNSTowN-LAkeS

13 of 15 fatalities Were due to fallinG

years

As seen in the national section, injuries have shown a steady increase over time and this appears to be increasing at a much faster rate than the growth in population and international visitors. The number of people involved in Search and rescues is decreasing. The number of fatalities remains steady.

984 937 836 708

597

514

Injuries

QUeeNStoWN-lAKeS ANNUAl AveRAge

289

400

553

583

590

169

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

30

2011

2012

2013

2014

36 32

People involved in Search & Rescues

31

QUeeNStoWN-lAKeS ANNUAl AveRAge

28

21

2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 4

2

3 2

2

2

Fatalities QUeeNStoWN-lAKeS ANNUAl AveRAge

1

0

2007

2008

2009

1

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

(half year)

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

155

months In Queenstown-Lakes we see a strong pattern of injuries and Search and Rescues occurring during the spring and summer seasons. The number of people injured and involved in Search and Rescues hits its peak in January. Similar to Mackenzie, December is the worst month for fatalities.

a Quarter of PeoPle in search & rescues occurred in JanuarY

QUeeNStoWN-lAKeS moNthly AveRAge

50

Injuries

JAN

16%

27%

FeB

12%

12%

mAR

13%

8%

APR

11%

12%

mAy

4%

0.2

Fatalities

2 1

3%

3%

3%

1

3%

2%

1

3%

0%

2

SeP

4%

5%

oCt

7%

9%

Nov

11%

11%

2

DeC

12%

7%

6

JUN JUl AUg

156

2.5

People involved in Search & Rescues

QueeNSTowN-LAkeS

Weekly Queenstown-Lakes largely reflects what we see in the national section with an increase in injuries over the weekend. people involved in Search and rescues and fatalities were more evenly spread across the week.

moN

tUe

WeD

thUR

FRI

SAt

SUN

12%

12%

12%

11%

11%

24%

18%

Injuries

13%

14%

15%

11%

18%

12%

18%

People involved in Search & Rescues

3

2

1

4

2

Fatalities

3

Public holidays waitangi weekend had 2.5 times the average number of injuries. easter weekend had more than 4 times the average number of people involved in Search and rescues.

4.00 3.84

QUeeNStoWN-lAKeS DAIly AveRAge non-PuBlic holidaY

3.27

2.30

2.46 1.84

1.5

1.64

Injuries

0.35 0.20

1.27 0.14

0.08 People involved in Search & Rescues

0.20 0.13

0.17

insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

Christmas new Year period

Westland anniversary

labour weekend

Queen’s Birthday weekend

anZaC weekend

southland anniversary

easter weekend

Waitangi weekend

0.07

157

who? Looking at the numbers side-by-side gives us insight into who got into trouble. The gender split of incidents in Queenstown-Lakes shows that significantly more males were injured and involved in Search and rescues than females. As a total of the hotspot dataset, 13 fatalities were male and 2 were female.

ethnicity

1% maori

2% Asian

ethnicity of people involved in a Search & Rescue

ethnicity of injuries

each data source represented ethnicity categorisation differently. Despite this, we can still see that injuries and Search and rescues overwhelmingly involved those of european (or caucasian) descent. exactly mirroring the national average, 73% of fatalities were New zealanders

male

Female

1.7

0.3

18

11

Fatalities

Fatalities

People involved in Search & Rescues

People involved in Search & Rescues

363

233

Injuries

2%

middle eastern

3% other

3% Asian

Injuries

Nationality of fatalities

gender

QUeeNStoWN-lAKeS ANNUAl INCIDeNtS

2

german

2

Australian

9% other

4%

Not reported

11

New Zealander

88% 158

european

88% european

Age

A closer look at the age of each person gives further insight into who got into trouble. in Queenstown-Lakes, those aged 25-34 were more likely to be injured or involved in Search and rescues. worryingly, those aged 16-24 accounted for 47% of fatalities.

QueeNSTowN-LAkeS

nearlY half of the fatalities Were to those aGed 16-24

QUeeNStoWN-lAKeS totAl INCIDeNtS

6,563 Age 75+

65-74

Injuries

1%

3%

148

People involved in Search & Rescues

15

Fatalities

2%

6%

1

50-64

16%

17%

1

35-49

31%

19%

4

25-34

31%

30%

16-24

16%

23%

3%

3%

2 7

≤15

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6%

Auckland Region

home location of injuries

5%

All injured people provide a home address when submitting their Acc claim. of all injuries which occurred in QueenstownLakes, the majority indicated a local address. international visitor numbers are difficult to determine as we believe visitors often supply their New zealand accommodation address when submitting an Acc claim. This address often appears to be geographically close to where the injury occurred.

Christchurch City

55%

Queenstown-lakes

18% Dunedin City

2% %

Invercargill City

160

more PeoPle died in QueenstoWn-laKes than in anY other hotsPot

13 of 15 fatalities Were due to fallinG

82% of search and rescues Were for a sinGle Person or 1 Person from a multiPerson triP, the hiGhest PercentaGe across the 5 hotsPots

nearlY half of the fatalities Were to those aGed 16 – 24

Queenstown-Lakes

For every 1 fatality in Queenstown-Lakes

15 302

people were involved in Search and Rescues

were injured.

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Southland

This area is known worldwide for its scenic views and terrain to explore. Southland is one of the largest districts in New zealand and it incorporates 2 of New zealand’s largest national parks: Fiordland National park and rakiura National park. Southland’s terrain includes rainforests, farmland, beaches and coastlines, mountainous plains, lakes, and glaciers. each year, nearly 1 million people visit to see the area’s untouched landscapes and natural beauty. There are 4 of New zealand’s 9 great walks in Southland: the milford Track, routeburn Track, and kepler Track in Fiordland and the rakiura Track on rakiura/Stewart island. Although mountain biking is not allowed on the walking tracks in Fiordland National park, there is a network of mountain bike tracks throughout Southland. hunting is also a popular activity in the region. hunters from all over New zealand visit Fiordland in march and April to take part in the annual wapiti bugle. Southland’s main airport is in invercargill. Stewart island can be reached by ferry from Bluff or plane from invercargill Airport. There are visitor information centres in invercargill, gore, and Fiordland, and Doc Visitor centres in Fiordland and rakiura National parks. The Southland district covers a total of 29,552km2 and includes Stewart island/rakiura. There are 121 Doc huts across the district. Fiordland National park is New zealand’s largest national park, with over 1.2 million hectares of conservation area, and is part of the South west New zealand world heritage Area. rakiura National park is New zealand’s newest and southernmost national park.

total recorded incidents Injuries: 2,801

(11 years)

People involved in Search & Rescues: 168 (5 years) Fatalities: 12 162

(7.5 years)

each year there were on average

255 injuries

34

people involved in search and rescues

1.6

Fatalities

oF all the inCidents aCross the 5 aCtiVities, this hotspot represents:

3% 6% 12%

SouThLAND

southland district percentage of incidents per activity

Tramping

66%

Trail Running

67%

50%

1%

7%

19% 2% 8%

20% 25%

25% 10% Hunting

Mountain Biking

Mountaineering

Injuries People involved in Search and Rescues Fatalities

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7

what?

What caused the fatalities?

Falling

2

Shot (misidentified target)

1

1

hypothermia

Falling object

1

River crossing

There were 12 fatalities in Southland between July 2007 and December 2014. Half were tramping related with 3 hunting and 3 mountaineering fatalities.

People involved in a typical Search & Rescue Like the national and activity specific sections, most Search and Rescues in Southland were to locate a single person or to rescue a single person lost or injured from a multi-person trip. In this section we’ve also explored the Search and Rescue-related extent of injury. Close to half of people involved in a Search and Rescue were uninjured.

76% one person

15% two people

49% Uninjured

10% % 29% Slightly (first aid)

164 164

5% % 2%

three people

moderate (doctor)

Four people

7%

Severe (hospitalised)

1% % 5 or more

5% %

Deceased

when? years

injuries have shown a slight increase over time, which appears to be consistent with the growth in population and international visitors. The number of people involved in Search and rescues in Southland is declining each year. The number of fatalities remains steady.

313

299

255

274

268

SouThLAND

PeoPle involved in search & rescues decreased siGnificantlY

291

288

282

Injuries

SoUthlAND ANNUAl AveRAge

248 183

204

151

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

34

2011

43

2012

2013

2014

40

People involved in Search & Rescues SoUthlAND ANNUAl AveRAge

33

29

23

2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15

2

2

2

2

2

2

Fatalities SoUthlAND ANNUAl AveRAge

1

2007

1

0

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

(half year)

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months In Southland we see a strong pattern of injuries and people involved in Search and Rescues occurring during the spring and summer seasons. Fatalities rose significantly in autumn which also coincides with ‘the roar’. The winter months see a considerable decrease in incidents, indicating that not many people venture outdoors in this area between May and October.

1 in 3 fatalities occurred in aPril

SoUthlAND moNthly AveRAge

21

Injuries

2.8

People involved in Search & Rescues

Fatalities

JAN

14%

14%

1

FeB

13%

21%

1

mAR

15%

17%

2

APR

15%

9%

mAy

5%

7%

JUN

4%

JUl AUg SeP

4 2

1%

2%

1%

3%

3%

3%

2% 3%

166

0.1

oCt

6%

Nov

9%

10%

DeC

11%

11%

1 1

SouThLAND

Weekly Southland largely reects what we see in the national section with an increase in the frequency of injuries occurring over the weekend. however, fatalities and people involved in Search and rescues had a more even spread throughout the week. This may be due to the prevalence of multiday tramps and hunting trips in Fiordland.

moN

tUe

WeD

thUR

FRI

SAt

SUN

12%

12%

12%

11%

12%

23%

18%

Injuries

17%

21%

13%

13%

15%

People involved in Search & Rescues

2

1

2

1

2

Fatalities

15%

5%

4

Public holidays easter weekend had the highest number of injuries for any public holiday in Southland with more than 3 times the national average occurring at that time.

2.32

SoUthlAND DAIly AveRAge non-PuBlic holidaY

1.67

1.43 0.82

0.64

0.88

1.30 0.83

Injuries

0.33

0.27

0.20 0.13

0.12

0.09 insights developed by the New zealand mountain Safety council - 2016

Christmas new Year period

Westland anniversary

labour weekend

Queen’s Birthday weekend

easter weekend

otago anniversary

Waitangi weekend

People involved in Search & Rescues

167

who?

SoUthlAND ANNUAl INCIDeNtS

male

gender

ethnicity

1%

PaciďŹ c Island Nations

2% Asian

3% maori

ethnicity of people involved in a Search & Rescue

ethnicity of injuries

each data source represented ethnicity categorisation differently. Despite this, we can still see that injuries and Search and rescues overwhelmingly involved those of european (or caucasian) descent. in Southland over a third of the fatalities were Australians.

1.1

0.5

22

12

Fatalities

Fatalities

People involved in Search & Rescues

People involved in Search & Rescues

138

117

Injuries

2%

middle eastern

2% maori

3%

Injuries

Nationality of fatalities

Looking at the numbers side-by-side gives us insight into who is getting into trouble. The gender split of incidents in Southland is consistent with the national view of more males getting injured and involved in Search and rescues than females. worth noting is the percentage of female fatalities which is more than double the national average at 1 in every 3.

Female

other

4%

4

Australian

Not reported

8% other

5% Asian

8

New Zealander

87% 168

european

84% european

A closer look at the age of each person gives further insight into who got into trouble. in Southland, 35-49 year olds were over-represented in fatality data compared to any other age group.

SouThLAND

Age

10% of all PeoPle inJured in southland came from aucKland

SoUthlAND totAl INCIDeNtS

2,801 Age

Injuries

168

People involved in Search & Rescues

12

Fatalities

1%

2%

65-74

6%

10%

50-64

28%

26%

2

35-49

28%

24%

6

25-34

18%

15%

16-24

14%

20%

≤15

4%

75+

2 2

3%

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10%

home location of injuries All injured people provide a home address when submitting their Acc claim. The surrounding city districts of invercargill and Dunedin contributed just under twenty percent each. Surprisingly, Auckland contributed 10% of the total injuries in the Southland district which was larger than christchurch’s contribution at 6%.

Auckland Region

6%

Christchurch City

3%

Queenstown-lakes

19% Dunedin City

19% % Southland

18% %

Invercargill City

the maJoritY of incidents in southland involved tramPers

1 in 3 fatalities occurred in aPril

170

the numBer of PeoPle involved in search and rescues in this area decreased siGnificantlY

10% of all PeoPle inJured in southland came from aucKland

Southland

For every 1 fatality in Southland

21 161

people were involved in Search and Rescues

were injured.

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hotspot summary Where Auckland had the highest number of injuries. The Central North Island had the highest number of people involved in Search and Rescues. Mackenzie had the highest fatality rate. Queenstown-Lakes had the highest number of fatalities.

When Auckland incidents occurred all year round. All other hotspots had seasonal incident rates . In Queenstown-Lakes and Southland, Search and Rescues and fatalities had an even spread throughout the week. Incidents occurred more commonly over Easter weekend in Central North Island, Queenstown-Lakes and Southland. In Mackenzie, the Christmas-New Year period accounted for the highest number of people involved in Search and Rescues.

Who Nationally, 73% of fatalities were New Zealanders. In Mackenzie, only 25% were New Zealanders and another 25% were Australian. In Southland, Australians accounted for 4 of the 12 fatalities, the other 8 were New Zealanders. In Auckland and the Central North Island, 16-24 year olds were the group most likely to be involved in Search and Rescues. 47% of fatalities in Queenstown-Lakes were aged 16-24. 25-34 year olds were the most likely group to be involved in Search and Rescues in Mackenzie and Queenstown-Lakes, and accounted for half of all fatalities in Mackenzie. 35-49 year olds were the most common group injured in Auckland and accounted for 50% of the fatalities in Southland. Nationally, the highest rate of fatality was amongst 50-64 year olds.

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hoTSpoTS

Percentage of total incidents in the hotspot areas

Auckland

Southland

12.8%

12.0%

6.0% 2.5% 3.0% 1.0%

15.0%

4.3% 5.5%

Queenstown-Lakes

7.0%

0.7%

4.0%

15.0% 5.0%

Central North Island

12.0%

Injuries Mackenzie

People involved in Search and Rescues Fatalities

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Of the

5

outdoor recreation activities included in this project,

67,785 people didn’t return home without experiencing some form of incident, regardless of severity.

Each dot represents one of those people.

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The key insights we have found will help us make decisions for the future. Insights developed by the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council - 2016

175

methodology Activities

Data sources

outdoor recreation is a broad category with many different types of recreation activities available ‘out of doors’. however, only a selection of these are relevant to the New zealand mountain Safety council (mSc). in order to narrow in on the outdoor recreation activities relevant to the mSc’s prevention-focused mandate we chose 5 activities which have a high number of participants and/or have a high proportional number of safety incidents. There are other activities relevant to the mSc, and these will be explored in the future.

The data used to create the infographics within this publication can be grouped into 4 main categories:

5

aCtiVities We eXplored:

tramping

Any walk where the intention is to be more than an hour away from the nearest road. includes day walks, overnight tramping and great walks.

mountaineering

Technical climbing in alpine areas. usually will require technical equipment that would not be needed when tramping. includes summer and winter mountaineering.

hunting

All recreational hunting of any game. Does not include fishing and trapping.

mountain Biking

mountain biking in remote locations on tracks which are also used for tramping, or may be specifically built for remote mountain biking such as rides included in Nga haerenga, The New zealand cycle Trail.

trail Running

running on tracks which are also used for tramping or day walks.

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• injuries • Search and rescues • Fatalities • participation.

The table below represents the specific date ranges for each incident type. As each data source covers a different length of time it is important to keep this in mind when viewing the information presented in this publication.

data range start

data range end

dataset time-frame

injury

2/01/2004

30/12/2014

11 years

search

1/07/2010

27/06/2015

5 years

Fatality

1/07/2007

31/12/2014

7.5 years

each data set has been supplied to the mSc by a partner organisation. The data supplied to the mSc has been handled in accordance with strict confidentiality and privacy standards. No identifiable personal information is contained within this publication. The following pages contain a breakdown of the datasets, how they’ve been acquired and the business rules we have created to ensure a consistent, repeatable methodology.

meThoDoLogY

Injuries Acc has supplied data relating to injury claims, through an ethics approval process. This data includes all claims from people who have received medical attention after their injury. regardless of the person’s nationality, if they received medical attention their claim is included, so this data represents all injury claims from both New zealanders and overseas visitors. The quality and frequency of relevant data increased materially from 2004-2006. Acc data may under-represent the true level of injury during this period

Business rules applied to the data Tramping All tramping injuries have been used without the need for any business rule application or data clean-up. Hunting All hunting injuries have been used without the need for any business rule application or data clean-up. Mountaineering mountaineering required a data cleanse, as it was common for Acc claims to specify mountaineering when the injury was clearly not sustained while mountaineering. This was achieved by reviewing the text fields in each claim. examples that were moved to other categories (such as tramping) or removed from the dataset included “climbing mt eden” and “walking up mt maunganui”. Trail Running Trail running is not a distinct category within the Acc injury claim data, therefore trail running injury claims are a subset of the total jogging injury claims (which are distinctly separate from all running injuries). in order to reduce the total number of running claims to more accurately represent trail running a key word search of the data was applied. This eliminated claims which mentioned words such as “road” and selected claims which mentioned words such as “bush”. Mountain Biking Although mountain Biking is a distinct category within the Acc data, mountain biking in urban locations and mountain bike parks is not of interest to mSc. in order to reduce the total number of mountain bike injury claims to more accurately represent mountain biking injuries relevant to the mSc a rural vs. urban approach was used. Using Statistics NZ classification of NZ Territorial Authorities, each Territorial Authority was identified as either predominantly urban or rural. Only injury claims resulting from Territorial Authorities that are predominantly rural were used. For example, injuries from Tauranga city were excluded while injuries from waitomo District were included. it is important to acknowledge that by removing urban Territorial Authorities from the data this approach will have eliminated some relevant injury claims while also including some non-relevant claims. The mSc discussed this approach with several partners, including Acc, and it was agreed that this approach was the best method to apply to the current data.

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Search and Rescues This dataset is provided by the New Zealand Search and Rescue Council (NZSAR). The NZSAR Data Store combines all the operational Search and Rescue data from NZ Police and the Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCC) and includes all Search and Rescue operations regardless of who and how they were conducted (i.e. LandSAR volunteers, police personnel or direct helicopter extractions.)

Business rules applied to the data Not all Search and Rescue events are relevant to the MSC, for example water activities such as boating or swimming. We also removed data related to Natural Cause, Suicide and Mental Health. As Search and Rescue events do not always involve a single person, all multi-person events were isolated and analysed as a separate event for each person. This allowed for the important demographic information such as gender, age and ethnicity/nationality to be extracted for each person involved in the SAR event. Therefore the SAR data in this publication represents all people involved, not the number of SAR events.

Fatalities This data has been acquired through 2 sources: 1) Research-based access agreement with the National Coronial Information System (NCIS). The NCIS is an internet based data storage and retrieval system for Australian and New Zealand coronial cases. All closed coronial cases in NZ have been entered into the NCIS database since 1 July 2007. 2) Partnership with the NZ Coronial Services Unit, part of the Ministry of Justice, approved by the Chief Coroner. This includes both open and closed coronial cases.

Business rules applied to the data From the data provided, each Coronial case file was isolated and reviewed, with MSC staff checking each Coronial finding to ensure it met the relevant criteria. From this review, we removed any fatalities which were as a result of Natural Cause, Suicide or Intentional Homicide. Any fatalities involving a person/s engaged in the activity through a commercial operation, school excursion or an organised event were also extracted from the data set. Finally, all fatalities sustained in an urban area were removed.

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Participation Participation data used as part of this project was sourced from 4 data sets: • Sport NZ’s Active NZ Survey 2013/14 (domestic only) • Department of Conservation (domestic and international) • Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) International Visitor Survey (international only)

After reviewing all datasets and considering the methodologies used to obtain them, the Sport NZ Active NZ Survey data was selected as the most appropriate source of domestic participation data and the MBIE International Visitor Survey was selected as the most appropriate source of international participation data. To estimate how frequently New Zealanders and international visitors head outdoors, we used the MBIE Tourist Activity Profile - Nature Based Tourism Profile, from August 2009.

Business rules applied to the data Active NZ survey

This data was collected using specific questions identifying participation in outdoor recreation activities most closely aligned to the MSC’s mandate. For example, the Sport NZ Active NZ Survey classified tramping as a distinct category whereas the AC Nielson data combined both tramping and camping into one dataset. Participation figures for tramping, hunting and mountaineering were used without need for any business rule application or data clean-up. To identify a participation baseline for trail running and mountain biking (relevant to the MSC’s mandate) a business rule consistent with that used to identify injury data was applied. International Visitor Survey The visitor participation data from MBIE’s International Visitor Survey was used for the activities of Tramping, Hunting and Mountain Biking. Tourism NZ provided this data. Hunting did not require any business rules. Tramping was selected as a combined number of unique responses for the fields of ‘Walk Over 3 Hours Not Overnight’, ‘Trek/Tramp Including Overnight Stay’ and ‘A New Zealand Great Walk’. Mountain Biking was selected as the number of responses to ‘Cycle on the NZ Cycle Trail’. We were not able to add numbers for Trail Running as this is not an option in the survey. Mountaineering is an option, however this is combined with Rock Climbing, Abseiling and Caving into one dataset, so we could not refine this to be specific enough to include only Mountaineering.

wrap up Summary The complete dataset the MSC now sits across represents the most comprehensive collection of ‘what’s going wrong’ across 5 major outdoor recreation pursuits. Combined, this data represents a spectrum of incidents from minor in nature right through to serious fatal events, and everything in between. The true value of this data is evident when the individual elements are viewed as a whole, as they represent an actual snapshot, over many years, of exactly what has been occurring. The methodology description represents a commitment from the MSC to portray this knowledge, and the insights it has generated, in the most accurate manner possible. We have developed a consistent and repeatable method that can be used for ongoing insights analysis. The MSC will continue to update this information as new data becomes available. Most notably as time passes, additional data will add to the time periods covered, growing the dataset to span across many years. Additionally, the MSC will continue to present relevant findings to its partners and the public.

What should you do with this publication? We encourage you to read this publication and consider what the insights presented within it mean in the context of your organisation and/or operation. Many aspects of the insights presented here will be highly relevant to numerous parties, but will likely have varying meaning and possible implications. Please share this with your colleagues, family and friends. We encourage you to discuss this with the MSC, please contact us at info@mountainsafety.org.nz. We hope you find the content stimulating. No doubt some aspects will challenge preconceived ideas, and some will undoubtedly support what you already thought. We hope this publication achieves its intended purpose, to present a ‘state of the nation’ clearly outlining what’s been going wrong in the world of outdoor recreation safety, and sets a foundation for the work we do with partners.

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- Published 2016 made possible with the support of the following partners:

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