An analysis of occupational stair accident patterns.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Archea J ; Cohen HH ; Templer J
• Description:
  Occupational injury data relating to stairway falls were analyzed. The injury data were based on reports from the Ohio and California workers' compensation agencies. Frequency tabulations were provided for factors including location of accident (indoors versus outdoors, on or off employer's premises), task (ascending versus descending, body movement, task being attempted), and events precipitating the fall. In 636 of 688 cases (92 percent), falls occurred when the worker was descending the stairs. Four broad categories of events related to accident frequency were identified; these included design induced conditions, environmentally related conditions, inherent user characteristics, and performance factors. Unfamiliar stair situations were associated with many falls; these included sudden changes in a familiar staircase due to maintenance or housekeeping and use of an unfamiliar staircase. User performance errors accounted for 50 percent of all injuries. Accidents could generally be attributed to system failures involving interactions of multiple factors. Countermeasures included training and safe work practice reinforcement. Injury records from the New York and Ohio workers' compensation agencies were used to rank industries in terms of frequency and severity rates of stairway related injuries; miscellaneous manufacturing industries were number one by far, followed by public health administration, police and fire protection, and membership organizations. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Environmental Health Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Occupational Injuries Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-statistics Contract-210-79-0020 Environmental-factors Injuries NIOSH-Contract NIOSH-Publication Occupational-accidents Occupational-hazards Risk-factors Workplace-studies

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• ISSN:
  0022-4375
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; New York ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  171-181
• Volume:
  16
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00178469
• Citation:
  J Safety Res 1985 Dec; 16(4):171-181
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1986
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Safety Research
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:68bd8217c8577d30bc6c98177ec66b9c264963b831f85750d528c6ebad7200b89f24df6a0ce2808e4655e367c9475ab0ba00f58d83f95681c24cc05e515973c0
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/185481/cdc_185481_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.06 MB ]