Epidemiologic principles applied to injury prevention.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Coleman, Patrick J.
• Description:
  Injuries resulting from falls from ladders were analyzed to assess the applications of epidemiologic principles to injury prevention. The studied group consisted of 1,419 workers injured in ladder related accidents who responded to a 1978 Work Injury Report Survey questionnaire. Questions were included on the design, composition, and condition of the ladder; the task being attempted; the condition of the worker's shoes; and the amount and kind of training. Workers injured while working from the ladder were designated as referents and those injured while climbing the ladder were designated as cases; a case comparison analysis of other factors was then carried out using the Statistical Analysis System. The differences between the case and comparison groups were design and task related, while other factors were not directly comparable. The author concludes that falls from ladders are a diverse set of events which can be studied as a statistical aggregate with proper care; since differences in variables could be candidates for preventive action, there is a need for more carefully controlled studies of industrial accidents and injuries. The author suggests the following guidelines for case/referent studies: attention to sequences of events; consistency in defining cases and referents; and definition of what constitutes a case to minimize design factors and reveal unplanned features. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Epidemiology Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Health Occupational Injuries Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Analytical-methods Author Keywords: Case-referent Falls Industrial-safety Job-analysis Ladder NIOSH-Author Occupational-accidents Risk-factors Work Injury Report Survey

  More +
• ISSN:
  0355-3140
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  91-96
• Volume:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00179552
• Citation:
  Scand J Work Environ Health 1981 Dec; 7(Suppl 4):91-96
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr. PJ Coleman, Division of Safety Research, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 944 Chestnut Ridge Road, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1982
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health
• Supplement:
  4
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:27ecc9c433ff256cf5967a8a92cbb0a915773e6021c1cb1041de9c293358f93504ee8f2013989cdf870b96e31eb4e7cc8a6e56d60c2a05794bf1642bc76d14d2
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/185515/cdc_185515_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.31 MB ]