2 August 2021
Request IR-01-21-23344
P Kel y
[FYI request #16238 email]
Dear P Kel y
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) dated 28 July 2021
requesting information on injuries and deaths of Police staff.
You requested:
1. Please provide, by year for as many years backwards as you hold the
information,
a. The total number of injuries to staff in that year, broken down by
cause if available
b. The total number of deaths of staff in that year, broken down by
cause if available
Ideally the breakdown of cause would be whether a member of the public
was involved, e.g. if someone punched a police officer. But just as you have
it available. I expect that you wil have some injury and death data for many
decades.
1.a. Refer to the attached
Source of Police staff injuries table.
1.b. Refer
to: https://www.police.govt.nz/about-us/history-and-
museum/memorial/officers-killed-criminal-acts
You have the right, under section 28(3) of the OIA, to ask the Ombudsman to
review my response if you are not satisfied with the way I have responded to your
request.
Yours sincerely
Superintendent Mel Aitken
Director, Safer People
Police National Headquarters 180 Molesworth St, Wellington
Telephone: 04 474 9499 www.police.govt.nz
Source of Police staff injuries from 1/4/2013 to 19/7/2021
Source of injury
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Grand Totals
'Assault'
Total 'Assault'
Total 'Assault'
Total 'Assault'
Total 'Assault'
Total 'Assault'
Total 'Assault'
Total 'Assault'
Total 'Assault'
Total 'Assault'
Total
Not categorised
-
1
-
-
2
-
2
2
103
-
22
-
-
-
2 130
Contact / exposure to biological factors
4 11
20 34
13 28
16 31
10 24
16 35
11 24
14 20
2 7
106 214
Contact / exposure to chemical substance
-
8
1 17
-
6
5 33
3 37
2 24
4 17
1 14
1 11
17 167
Contact with cold objects
-
2
-
4
-
4
-
6
-
2
-
5
-
2
-
3
-
4
-
32
Contact with electricity
-
1
-
2
-
-
-
-
1
-
2
-
1
-
1
-
8
Contact with hot objects
-
9
-
5
-
12
-
10
-
17
1 14
1 21
-
34
1 8
3 130
Contact with sharp objects
1 66
2 99
-
109
2
133
3
102
5 131
6 150
2 126
5 67
26 983
Exposure to environmental temperatures
-
6
-
1
-
2
-
4
-
1
-
5
-
5
-
5
-
1
-
30
Exposure to mental stress factors
-
-
1
-
1
-
4
-
3
-
5
-
6
-
3
-
1
-
24
Exposure to noise
-
1
-
11
-
12
-
19
-
6
-
4
-
7
-
3
-
2
-
65
Exposure to radiation
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1
-
-
1
Fall from height
-
41
-
106
1 77
2 92
2 74
-
78
-
73
1 51
2 28
8 620
Hit or trapped by object(s)
-
15
-
16
-
23
-
27
8
112
8 122
6 141
7 122
3 66
32 644
Hit, struck or bitten by animal, insect or spider
2 43
-
72
1 66
-
95
1 74
-
60
-
104
1 80
-
36
5 630
Hit, struck or bitten by person (Assault)
173
173
291
291
320
320
407
407
311
311
292 292
341 341
321 324
188 191
2,644 2,
650
Hitting object, animal or person
1 70
3
125
4
122
8
153
8
138
6 140
11 163
10 119
7 57
58 1,
087
Muscle stress lifting / handling objects
-
81
1
133
-
128
-
162
1
176
-
168
1 220
-
148
-
67
3 1,
283
Muscle stress lifting / handling people
6
113
8
158
9
187
8
199
14
145
13 172
17 207
9 130
10 65
94 1,
376
Muscle stress no objects being handled
2
135
1
233
2
241
4
242
1
140
1 104
1 119
-
120
1 40
13 1,
374
Muscle stress physical exercise
1
152
1
210
-
200
2
230
-
200
-
260
1 298
1 154
-
74
6 1,
778
Muscle/Joint stress repetitive / forceful movemen
1 33
-
62
-
74
-
84
4
180
2 201
2 299
5 201
1 67
15 1,
201
Other (Please specify)
10
148
21
276
26
286
17
351
11
243
5 230
17 297
9 223
8 111
124 2,
165
Rubbing/chaffing
-
-
-
-
-
8
-
15
-
37
1 16
-
12
1 88
Slip / trip / stumble or fall on same level
2
188
6
208
2
269
6
327
4
249
1 224
6 300
3 204
4 121
34 2,
090
Spat at / blood exposure by Of ender
-
-
-
-
23 23
16 16
32 32
31 31
9 9
111 111
Grand Total
203 1,
297 355 2,
064 378 2,
169 477 2,
611 406 2,
368 368 2,
328 457 2,
865 416 2,
133 242 1,
046 3,
302
18,
881
Data prior to 1 April 2013 is not available. The data for 2021 is for the year to 19 July 2021. Incidents marked as
‘Assault’ indicate that a member of the public was involved in causing harm to
staff. Al data in this table comes from NZ Police staff reports of harm – this is different and separate from the system used for recording instances of criminal assault. For multiple assaults on
one Police Officer in a year, each instance is recorded as a separate assault. Note that the workforce has grown over the period included.
Document Outline
