Abstract

In the Netherlands consumers ignite large quantities of fireworks on New Year’s Eve. Over the last five years there were among 500 victims with injuries by fireworks treated at EDs on December 31 and January 1 each year. On behalf of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management VeiligheidNL studied injuries by fireworks for which victims were treated at EDs. The objective of this study was to gather insight in causes of injuries and into the types of fireworks that caused specific kinds of injuries. VeiligheidNL and the NOS (the largest news organization in the country) asked all ED to count the total number of victims due to fireworks at December 31, 2017 and January 1, 2018. Hospitals were approached by phone to report the figures. In addition VeiligheidNL and the Netherlands Society of Emergency Physicians (NSEP) asked all ED’s by e-mail to collect additional data for each victim such as age, gender, type of fireworks, type of injury and body part, own use or being passer by and a narrative. All 87 Dutch EDs counted the number of victims with injuries by fireworks they treated on December 31, 2017 and January 1, 2018 (n=434, 27%<15 years) and 72 EDs collected additional data (n=294, 68% of all cases). Burns (36%) and eye injuries (27%) were most present. Analyses on the causes of injuries and on what type of fireworks causes what kind of injuries are not completed yet. The results will be presented at the conference. The high response is the consequence of conducting research on a hot topic, using a short and simple questionnaire and using the networks VeiligheidNL has built with EDs, NSEP and NOS. The Ministry will develop policies and regulations based on the results of this study.