Analysis of Text from Injury Reports Improves Understanding of Construction Falls

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bondy J ; Glazner J ; Guarini K ; Lezotte D ; Lipscomb HJ
• Description:
  OBJECTIVE: We combined payroll data, coded workers' compensation (WC) data, and text descriptions of injuries from the construction of Denver International Airport to create a more comprehensive picture of falls from height (FFH) than is typically available from WC data. Text descriptions were coded to identify circumstances surrounding falls. Slips/trips preceded one third of FFH, often involving motor vehicles or heavy equipment. Another third involved movement or collapse of work surfaces, usually ladders or scaffolds. CONCLUSIONS: The significant contribution of motor vehicles and heavy equipment to FFH, particularly those preceded by slips/trips, was not apparent from coded data. Heavy equipment engineering modifications are called for and workers in street/roadway construction/site development need fall protection training. Text analyses allow exploration of factors not identified at the time of data collection and better understanding of the context in which injuries occur. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Aircraft Construction Industry Environmental Health Occupational Health Occupational Injuries Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-statistics Accidents Airport-personnel Airports Construction Construction-industry Construction-workers Environmental-factors Etiology Injuries Occupational-accidents Risk-factors

  More +
• ISSN:
  1076-2752
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Colorado ; North Carolina ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 8
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  46
• Issue:
  11
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20029286
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Med 2004 Nov; 46(11):1166-1173
• Contact Point Address:
  Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Community and Family Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710
• Email:
  hester.lipscomb@duke.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2005
• NORA Priority Area:
  Research Tools and Approaches: Surveillance Research Methods
• Performing Organization:
  University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20000901
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  20040831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d3ff3a476fa5e347fc4e06d35957e1c65eeb21fe301c54f120de3fcc9d1273303b19836812023f9dd9675926c3db83e7b1296d250b6174d01d22cbbe962df7aa
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/190311/cdc_190311_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 264.03 KB ]