[Others.033] Home DIY kills more Australians than shark attack every year?

As attached below, I saw this interesting diagram from the January - March 2009 issue of Australian Geographic magazine.

In case you can't see it clearly, it says:

GEO-GRAPHIC
CAUSE OF DEATH
Number of Australians are killed each year by:
Shark attack: 1.2
Lightning strike: 1.4
Bee, wasp or hornet sting: 1.5
Venomous snake or lizard bite: 2.6
Parachuting accident: 2.9
Rock fishing: 9.8
Falling off a ladder: 18.3
Home DIY accident: 60
Sources Sharks: Taronga Zoo; Lightning, Snakes & Lizard, Parachuting, Ladder, Bees, Wasps & Hornets: Karen Bishop, AIHW National Mortality Database; Parachuting & Fishing: National Coroners Information System; DIY: Monash University Accident Research Centre.

If you think from different angle, it's certainly understandable for animal/nature lovers like Australian Geographic to make a big fuss on things like this. Yes, shark attacks are quite rare, they are lovely creatures as long as you stay in safe areas,....etc.

We all know that whenever there's a shark attack, it goes to the headline of all media. I was quite surprise to see the figure to be that low, may be most of the shark attack victims luckily survived?

But for most house owners like me, we will certainly be more interested to the last 2 figures, as most of us would more or less have done (or always "in progress"...) at least a few Home DIY projects. And accidents during these projects tend to due to carelessness, lack of safety knowledge, trying to do things unprofessionally, ....etc.

The other day I also saw this article on The Wall Street Journal by Neal Templin about some Home disasters feedback from his readers after he wrote about how he hurt his knee, and also another one here about some other stories. Have a look and you will definitely find it quite interesting.

Any way, while everyone is having a laugh in all these, hope this reminds everyone to be more careful with any Home DIY projects.

Make sure you look after yourself and the families, and if that "small piece" of work (say trimming some branches, or changing faulty switches, ...etc) sounds a bit dangerous or you are not 100% sure if you can do it properly, may be it's indeed safer to get a trades person to do it. It might cost extra but most importantly, at least you don't have to worry about injuries! Also, make sure you find a licensed and properly insured one as at least if anything goes wrong, there's insurance to cover everything!