Don’t put your foot in it when wearing gumboots this winter

Media release

28 May 2013

Don’t put your foot in it when wearing gumboots this winter

They’re as Kiwi as rugby, tomato sauce and the mince pie.

Most of us have owned or at least worn a pair.

Kiwi icon Fred Dagg was even moved to immortalise them in song.

But ACC’s General Manager of Insurance and Prevention Services, John Beaglehole, believes Fred may have got it a tad wrong when he sang “If it weren’t for your gumboots, where would you be, you’d be in the hospital or infirmary”.

That's because for plenty of Kiwis last winter, it was their gumboots that caused them to seek hospital attention - or at least pay a visit to their local GP.

“We Kiwis are an innovative bunch, and when it comes to finding ways to injure ourselves with our gumboots, we’ve pretty much left no stone unturned,” says Mr Beaglehole, referring to the roughly 160 gumboot-related ACC claims lodged last winter.

Injuries happened while people were putting on, taking off, cleaning, throwing, walking, running and jumping in their gumboots.

“Every imaginable body part bore the brunt of these accidents,” says Mr Beaglehole, “with bent fingers, pulled hamstrings and strained groins, shoulders and backs all common by-products of the gumboot donning and removal process.”

“The inimitable Kiwi pastime of gumboot tossing didn’t escape the injury statistics,” says Mr Beaglehole, “with the shoulder the body part most likely to come to grief during this escapade.”

Quite a few people were bitten by spiders resting happily in their boots, until an intrusive foot disturbed their slumber – news that may prompt more Kiwis to give their boots a good shake before pulling them on.

But Mr Beaglehole advises Kiwis not to follow in the footsteps of their compatriots who believed gumboots would protect them from more than the elements of wind and rain, and “learned the hard way that rubber offers little protection against an axe when chopping firewood”.

You may also want to think twice before cleaning your gumboots with hot or boiling water, while your foot is still inside them.

“More than a few Kiwis were burned cleaning their gumboots,” says Mr Beaglehole, adding that “molten welding slag was another unwelcome substance that found its way inside gumboots last winter.”

Of course, there were plenty of grazes and blisters caused by ill-fitting gumboots. In fact, if ACC claims are any indication, the term ‘gumboot rub’ may soon make it into the Kiwi dictionary of slang.

People didn’t even need to be wearing their gumboots to come to grief – stray gumboots lying around on the porch or backyard proved a tripping hazard for adults and kids alike.

Mr Beaglehole says ACC doesn’t want Kiwis to abandon their well-founded love affair with the gumboot.

“After all, there aren’t too many countries in the world where you can wander along the main street in your gummies, without anyone so much as blinking an eyelid.

But he has come up with the following tips to help Kiwis stay safe in their gumboots this winter:
• Don’t rush – like a good wine, putting on and taking off gumboots can take time
• Wear something more sturdy if chopping firewood or using a chainsaw
• Take care on slippery ground – gumboots will keep the mud out, but they’re not totally skid-resistant
• Shake your boots before putting them on, if you don’t want to experience a ‘winter bite’ of the spidery kind
• Choose gumboots that are the right size, or you too could learn first-hand what it’s like to experience ‘gumboot rub’.

ENDS

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