Accidental injuries caused by exposure to electric current, radiation and extreme ambient air temperature and pressure were the fourteenth ranked cause of injury hospitalisations in 2024–25 and deaths in 2023–24.

Electricity and air pressure injuries resulted in:

  • Hospitalisations 2024–25

    652 hospitalisations

    <1% of all injury hospitalisations

    2.4 per 100,000 population

  • Deaths 2023–24

    14 deaths

    <1% of all injury deaths

    0.1 per 100,000 population

This article describes unintentional electricity and air pressure injuries resulting in hospitalisation or death. Intentional injuries are included under Self-harm injuries and suicide or Assault and homicide.

Deaths due to this cause are relatively rare so are described in limited detail in this article.

Injuries by type of exposure

The main categories of electricity and air pressure exposures leading to injury hospitalisation include:

  • exposure to electric current: this includes incidents such as burns and other injuries resulting from contact with live wiring, sockets, or unidentified sources.
  • exposure to high and low air pressure and changes in air pressure: injuries in this category may arise from situations like the rapid reduction in atmospheric pressure encountered when surfacing from deep-water diving or underground environments, or from extended periods spent at high altitudes.
  • other exposures: examples include exposure to ionising radiation (such as X-rays), artificial visible and ultraviolet light (such as that produced during welding), or extreme temperatures involving excessive heat or cold (Table 1).
Table 1: Causes of hospitalisations due to electricity and air pressure, 2024–25
CauseHospitalisationsCrude rate (per 100,000)
Exposure to electric current (W85–W87)4071.5
Exposure to high and low air pressure and changes in air pressure (W94)2110.8
Other (W88–W93, W99)340.1
Total6522.4

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

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 injury hospitalisations caused by electricity and air pressure-related injuries has generally decreased over the past decade (Figure 1). Between 2015–16 and 2024–25, the rate decreased from 3.1 to 2.4 per 100,000. The hospitalisation rate in 2024–25 was 9.8% lower than the previous 5-year average of 2.7 per 100,000 population.

Figure 1: Injury hospitalisations due to electricity and air pressure, 2015–16 to 2024–25

Numbers and crude rates of injury hospitalisations related to electricity and air pressure both decreased from 2015–16 to 2024–25

Note: Columns represent numbers of hospitalisations, the line represents crude rates per 100,000 population.

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

For more detail, see supplementary data table H21.

The number of deaths caused by electricity and air pressure has fluctuated over time (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Deaths due to electricity and air pressure, 2014–15 to 2023–24

The number of injury deaths related to electricity and air pressure has fluctuated between 2014–15 and 2023–24

Source: AIHW National Mortality Database.

Seasonality

Injury hospitalisations related to electricity and air pressure exposures rose during spring and peaked in the early summer (Figure 3). In 2024–25, the peak for injury hospitalisations was observed in December, with 71 hospitalisations.

Figure 3: Injury hospitalisations due to electricity and air pressure by calendar month, 2024–25

An interactive tableau visualisation showing the number of injury hospitalisations by month for the most recent financial year, and the previous 5-year average.

An interactive tableau visualisation showing the number of injury hospitalisations by month for the most recent financial year, and the previous 5-year average.

Notes:

  1. The number of hospitalisations in the most recent financial year is shown by the columns, and the previous 5-year average by the dotted line graph.
  2. Month is based on month of hospital admission.  
  3. Hospitalisation counts in June of the most recent financial year may be an underrepresentation of the true number of admissions - see technical notes for details.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

What injuries occur?

Body part injured and type of injury

In 2024–25, most hospitalisations for electricity and air pressure injuries were categorised as injuries without a specified body location (474 hospitalisations, 73%).

Among the remaining cases, the wrist and hand were most frequently recorded as the primary injury site (99 hospitalisations, 15%).

Among people who were hospitalised due to electricity and air pressure accidents, injuries were most frequently classified as other specified and/or multiple injuries (480 hospitalisations, 74%). The second most common injury was burns (131 hospitalisations, 20%).

Activity while injured and place of occurrence

28% of activity records and 29% of place of occurrence records were missing for electricity and air pressure related hospitalisations.

  • Beaches and bodies of water was the most commonly specified place of occurrence (27%)

  • Sport was the most commonly specified activity undertaken when injured (26%)

Severity

Electricity and air pressure-related injury hospitalisations are generally less severe than for all hospitalised injuries (Table 2). In 2024–25, the average length of stay was shorter, and a lower proportion of cases involved ICU admission.

Table 2: Severity of electricity and air pressure injury hospitalisations, 2024–25
Severity measureElectricity and air pressure injuriesAll injuries
Average number of days in hospital2.03.5
Percentage of cases with time in an ICU (%)1.42.1
Percentage of cases with time on ventilator (%)0.81.2
In-hospital deaths (per 1,000 cases)n.p.5.9

Notes

  1. 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.
  2. All injuries includes electricity and air pressure injuries in the total calculations.

n.p. Not published

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

For more detail, see supplementary data tables H14.

Age and sex

Males, especially working aged adults, are more likely to be hospitalised with injuries caused by electricity and air pressure (Figure 4).

For electricity and air pressure injury hospitalisations in 2024–25:

  • 453 cases (69%) were males
  • the rate for males (3.3 per 100,000) was 2.4 times that for females (1.4 per 100,000)
  • males aged 25–44 had the highest rate (5.4 per 100,000).

Hospitalisation rates for males have decreased over the last decade, while those for females have remained stable (Figure 4). For electricity and air pressure injury deaths in 2023–24, 13 of 14 deaths were males.

Figure 4: Injury hospitalisations due to electricity and air pressure, age group and sex, 2015–16 to 2024–25

Tableau figure showing hospitalisations. It shows a time series of rates by age group, and by sex.

Tableau figure showing hospitalisations. It shows a time series of rates by age group, and by sex.

Notes

  1. Crude rates per 100,000 population.
  2. Break in hospitalisation time series between 2016–2017 and 2017–18. See technical notes for detail.
  3. All ages includes records where the age of the patient was not stated.
  4. Persons includes records where the sex of the patient was other, inadequately described, or not stated.

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

For more detail, see supplementary data tables H3 and H4.

State and territory

The states and territories with the highest rates of electricity and air pressure injury hospitalisations in 2023–24 were:

  • Tasmania (39 cases, 7.5 per 100,000)
  • Queensland (199 cases, 3.6 per 100,000)
  • Western Australia (103 cases, 3.5 per 100,000).

Age-standardised rates for state and territories with small numbers of electricity and air pressure injuries have not been calculated.

Figure 5: Age-standardised rate (per 100,000) of electricity and air pressure injury hospitalisations (2023–24), by state or territory of usual residence, Australia

Map of Australia showing age-standardised rate of electricity and air pressure hospitalisation by state or territory. Tasmania has the highest rate of injury.]

Notes:

  1. State and territory refers to the state and territory of usual residence for the individual.
  2. Age-standardised rates per 100,000 population.

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


For more detail, see supplementary data tables.

Remoteness

Over the last decade, Inner and Outer regional areas had higher rates of hospitalisation from electricity and air pressure-related injuries than Major cities (age-standardised rates for Remote and Very remote areas were not calculated due to small numbers). In 2023–24, people living in Outer regional areas, when compared with people living in Major cities, were 2.3 times as likely to be hospitalised by an electricity and air pressure injury.

Figure 6: Age-standardised rates of electricity and air pressure injury hospitalisations, by remoteness and financial year, Australia

Interactive tableau figure showing a line graph of the rate of electricity and air pressure hospitalisations by year and remoteness.

Interactive tableau figure showing a line graph of the rate of electricity and air pressure hospitalisations by year and remoteness.

Note: Age-standardised rates per 100,000 population.

Sources: 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.

Data details

< causes of Injury