Contact with objects

Contact with objects such as everyday or industrial objects including knives, tools, machines, and sports equipment, is the second leading cause of injury hospitalisations and the eleventh leading cause of injury deaths.

Injuries by type of object

There is a considerable diversity of inanimate objects that can cause injuries. Hospitalisations record the type of object responsible for the injury, classified according to ICD-10-AM codes in the W20-W49 range. In 2023–24, hospitalisations most often resulted from the following object types (Figure 1):

• contact with other sharp object(s) (54.1 per 100,000 population)
• striking against or struck by other object(s) (44.3 per 100,000 population)
• foreign body entering into or through eye or natural orifice (31.4 per 100,000 population).

Figure 1: Number and age-standardised rate of contact with object injury hospitalisations, by type of object involved, Australia, 2023–24

Notes:

1. ASR is the age-standardised rate per 100,000 persons.
2. Only object types causing more than 100 hospitalisations in 2023-24 are shown. For a comprehensive list of all object types, refer to supplementary data tables.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS National, state and territory population.

For some object type categories, it is possible to provide further detail about the specific type of object responsible for the injury hospitalisation. Click on the categories below for more detail on injuries caused by:

For more detail, see Supplementary Data tables.

Trends over time

There is a break in the time series for hospitalisations between 2016–17 and 2017–18 due to a change in data collection methods (see the technical notes for details).

The number of object injury hospitalisations has generally increased over the past decade, with the age-standardised rate ranging between 288.5 and 329.8 (Figure 3). Between 2017–18 and 2023–24, the rate increased by an annual average of 0.2%. There was a sharp increase in the rate in 2020–21, most likely resulting from high rates of object-related injuries at home during the COVID-19 pandemic (see What injuries occur? for more detail). Rates have since returned to their pre-pandemic levels.

Figure 3: Number and age-standardised rate of injury hospitalisations due to contact with objects, by financial year, Australia

Notes:

1. Bars represent numbers of hospitalisations, lines represent ASRs.
2. ASR is the age-standardised rate per 100,000 population.

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS National, state and territory population.

The number of deaths caused by contact with objects has generally remained stable over time, with the exception of a peak in 2019–20 (Figure 4).

Figure 3: Number and age-standardised rate of injury hospitalisations due to contact with objects, by financial year, Australia

Notes:

1. Bars represent numbers of hospitalisations, lines represent ASRs.
2. ASR is the age-standardised rate per 100,000 population.

Sources: AIHW National Mortality Database and ABS National, state and territory population.

While all object types showed an increase in the rate of injury hospitalisations in 2020-21, detailed trends varied depending on the type of object involved (Figure 5). For example:

Seasonality

Injury hospitalisations due to contact with objects in 2023–24 followed similar patterns to the previous 5 years, with higher rates of injury hospitalisations during warmer months, from October to March (Figure 6).

Some object types were associated with stronger seasonal patterns. For example, injury hospitalisations:

• caused by contact with other powered hand tools and household machinery or contact with non-powered hand tools are less likely to occur in summer months
• caused by contact with sharp glass are more likely in the summer months
• caused by contact with powered lawnmower are more likely to occur between October and March, and showed a sharp peak in January in 2023–24.

What injuries occur?

Body part injured and type of injury

In 2023–24, the three body parts most frequently injured in object injury hospitalisations (Figure 7) were:

Across different types of objects, wrist and hand injuries were the most common (Figure 7). Exceptions were:

• head and neck injuries were most common for injury hospitalisations caused by striking against or struck by other object, struck by thrown, projected or falling object, explosion and rupture of gas cylinder and explosion of other materials
• shoulder and upper limb injuries were most common for contact with hypodermic needle hospitalisations
• hip and lower limb injuries were most common for discharge from other and unspecified firearms hospitalisations.

Notes:

1. Main body part relates to the principal reason for hospitalisation.
2. Number and percentage of injuries classified as Other, multiple and incompletely specified body regions or Injuries not described in terms of body region not shown.

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS National, state and territory population.

The most common types of injury for people who were hospitalised due to contact with objects were:

The most frequent injuries by body part were open wounds to the wrist and hand, and fractures to the wrist and hand (Figure 8).

Figure 8: Age-standardised rates of injury hospitalisations due to contact with objects, by type of injury and body part injured, Australia, 2023–24

Notes: 

1. Matrix of age-standardised rates of body parts injured by type of injury.
2. Age-standardised rates per 100,000 population.
3. Rates under 1 are omitted.
4. Body part injured: Trunk includes thorax, abdomen, lower back, lumbar spine & pelvis), Shoulder and upper limb excludes hand and wrist, Other includes multiple and incompletely specified body regions, Not specified includes injuries not described in terms of body location, Hip and lower limb excludes ankle and foot.
5. Type of injury: Other/multiple includes other specified and/or multiple injuries.

 Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS National, state and territory population.

Activity while injured and place of occurrence

Over the past decade, object-related injury hospitalisations have been most likely where the injury occurred during unpaid work and learning activities (Figure 9). Rates of injury hospitalisations caused by this type of activity peaked during the COVID-19 period, and have since returned to the overall pre-pandemic pattern of gradual year-on-year increase. The other type of activity exhibiting a pandemic period peak in injury hospitalisations is construction work.

Figure 9: Age-standardised rate of injury hospitalisations due to contact with objects, by recorded activity at the time of injury, Australia, 2014–15 to 2023–24

Note: Rates are age-standardised per 100,000 population

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS National, state and territory population.

Object-related injury hospitalisation rates were highest in the home over the past decade, with rates increasing over the decade from 65.8 to 75.2 per 100,000 population (Figure 10). Minimal observable changes in rates of injury hospitalisations occurred at other places of occurrence.

Figure 10: Age-standardised rate of injury hospitalisations due to contact with objects, by recorded place of occurrence, Australia, 2014–15 to 2023–24

Note: Rates are age-standardised per 100,000 population.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS National, state and territory population. 

Rates of injuries occurring at home and associated with unpaid work and learning activity peaked during the pandemic period before returning to pre-pandemic trends of a gradual year-on-year increase. This is likely related to increased time spent on personal activities at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Severity

There are many ways that the severity, or seriousness, of an injury can be measured. Some of the ways to measure the severity of hospitalised injuries are:

• number of days in hospital
• time in an intensive care unit (ICU)
• time on a ventilator
• in-hospital deaths.

Object injury hospitalisations were less severe than the average of all hospitalised injuries in 2023–24 (Table 1).

Note: Average number of days in hospital (length of stay) includes admissions that are transfers from one hospital to another or transfers from one admitted care type to another within the same hospital, except where care involves rehabilitation procedures.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

Age and sex

Males were overall much more likely to be hospitalised with injuries from contact with objects (Figure 11).

First Nations people

Among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people:

• there were 5,421 injury hospitalisations due to contact with objects in 2023–24 (a crude rate of 526.1 per 100,000)
• males were twice as likely as females to be hospitalised (693.7 and 356.7 per 100,000 population)
• hospitalisation rates were highest among people aged 25–44 (Figure 12)
• there were 5 injury deaths due to contact with objects in 2022–23.

Figure 12: Injury hospitalisations due to contact with objects among First Nations people, by age and sex, Australia, 2023–24

Note: Crude rates per 100,000 population.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS Estimates and Projections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Comparison between First Nations people and non-Indigenous Australians

Figure 13: Age-standardised rates of injury hospitalisations caused by contact with objects, Indigenous status and financial year, Australia

Notes:

1. Age-standardised rates per 100,000 population.
2. ‘Non-Indigenous people’ excludes cases where Indigenous status is missing or not stated.

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS Estimates and Projections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

The rate of object injury hospitalisations was highest among the 25–44 age group for First Nations people, and the 15–24 age group for non-Indigenous Australians (Figure 14).

Figure 14: Injury hospitalisations due to contact with objects, by Indigenous status and age group, Australia, 2023–24

Notes:

1. Crude rates per 100,000 population.
2. ‘Non-Indigenous’ excludes cases where Indigenous status is missing or not stated.

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS Estimates and Projections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

For more detail, see Supplementary Data tables.

State and territory

The states and territories with the highest rates of object-related injury hospitalisation in 2023–24 were:

• Northern Territory (500.8 per 100,000)
• Queensland (343.8 per 100,000)
• Australian Capital Territory (311.2 per 100,000) (Figure 15).

Rates of injury death cannot be reliably calculated in most states due to low numbers. In Figure 15, we show the number of object-related injury deaths in each state and territory in 2022–23.

Figure 15: Age-standardised rate of injury hospitalisations (2023–24), and number of injury deaths (2022–23), due to contact with objects, by state of usual residence, Australia

Notes:

1. Injury hospitalisation rates are age-standardised per 100,000 population
2. The number of injury deaths in each state is presented, as numbers are too low for a reliable rate calculation.

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database, AIHW National Mortality Database and ABS National, state and territory population.

There are some differences in trends across states by type of contact with objects involved (Figure 16). As compared to the previous 5-year average, 2023–24 saw a decrease in overall contact with objects across all states and territories except for Tasmania. Contact with other and unspecified machinery injuries decreased across all states and territories. Other decreases that were seen across most states and territories include:

• Contact with other powered hand tools and household machinery
• Contact with other shard objects
• Contact with sharp glass
• Foreign body or object entering through skin
• Striking against or struck by other objects
• Struck by thrown, projected or falling object. 

For more information see the state supplementary data tables and the geography dashboard.

Remoteness

Areas of Australia which are more remote tend to have higher rates of hospitalisation and death from injury than less remote areas.

While most types of objects cause higher rates of hospitalisation in more remote regions, some object types exhibit different patterns (Figure 17):

• Remote areas had the highest rate of injuries caused by foreign body entering into or through eye or natural orifice or foreign body or object entering through skin
• Outer regional areas had the highest rate of contact with other and unspecified machinery-related hospitalisations
• Inner regional areas had the highest rate of contact with other powered hand tools and household machinery

Notes:

1. Age-standardised rates per 100,000 population.
2. Due to a change in coding practices, data for the Contact with other sharp object(s) and Foreign body or object entering through skin are only presented from 2015–16.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS National, state and territory population.

For information on how statistics are calculated by remoteness, see the technical notes.

Socioeconomic areas

Most object types are associated with higher rates of injury hospitalisation in more socioeconomically disadvantaged areas (Figure 18). The only exception concerns injuries caused by striking or being struck by sports equipment, with rates highest in least disadvantaged areas (22.7 per 100,000), and decreasing with socioeconomic disadvantage.

Notes:

1. Age-standardised rates per 100,000 population
2. Due to a change in coding practices, data for the Contact with other sharp object(s) and Foreign body or object entering through skin are only presented from 2015–16.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS National, state and territory population.

For more detail, see Supplementary data tables.

Data details

Technical notes: how the data were calculated

Glossary

< causes of Injury