National Injury Prevention Day in Canada Date in the current year: July 5, 2024

According to statistics, injury is the leading cause of death among Canadians aged 1 to 44, killing an average of 48 people per day in Canada. 75% of injury related-deaths are from unintentional causes, such as car crashes, accidental poisonings, and falls. Falls are the leading cause of emergency department visits, hospitalizations, disabilities, and deaths in Canada.

Preventable injuries put a strain on the Canadian healthcare system, costing its $56 million per day, which amounts to $29.4 billion per year. Direct costs (costs incurred by hospitals for ambulance transportation, diagnostic imaging, drugs and medical supplies, physician service fees, and emergency care, hospital care and rehabilitation) account for the vast majority of this impressive sum.

National Injury Prevention Day (NIPD) was launched in 2017 by Parachute, a national charity dedicated to preventing serious and fatal injuries through evidence-based education and advocacy. Its mission is to create a country free of serious injuries, giving Canadians the opportunity to live long and mostly healthy lives to the fullest. Its work encompasses various aspects of injury prevention, ranging from road traffic safety to occupational safety and health (OSH) to home safety, and everything in between.

Parachute invites Canadian cities and towns to light up their landmarks in green on July 5 to raise awareness of National Injury Prevention Day and the importance of injury prevention. In 2024, about 80 landmarks were lit up in four dozen cities and towns in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island. In addition, five provinces and territories officially proclaimed National Injury Prevention Day: Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Yukon.

Hospitals and medical centers across Canada are invited to raise awareness of the importance of injury prevention by participating in the NIPD Hospital Challenge and shining the light on how much preventable injuries from collisions, drownings, falls, poisonings and violence cost the country’s healthcare system.

Individuals can get involved by sharing information about injury prevention on social media with the hashtag #ParachuteNIPD. You can find injury prevention resources on Parachute’s official website, sorted by topic: all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), burns and scalds, car seats, choking, concussion, cycling, drowning, falls in children, falls in seniors, Halloween safety, helmets, home safety, pedestrian safety, playgrounds and play spaces, poisoning, product safety, rail safety, road safety, strangulation and suffocation, summer sports and recreation, vacation safety, winter holidays, winter outdoor safety, and winter sports and recreation.