Cause, type, and workers' compensation costs of injury to fire fighters

Details

• Personal Author:
  Conrad KM ; Furner SE ; Samo DG ; Walton SM
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: Work-related injury rates in the fire service industry exceed those for most other industries, however little is known about the cost of injury to firefighters. METHODS: This is a preliminary investigation of detailed worker's compensation records of firefighter injuries, 1,343 claims in all, collected from 1992-1999. Summary statistics and regression analysis regarding the cause, nature, and cost of injury to firefighters are presented. RESULTS: Overexertion accounted for a significant portion (over 1/3) of injuries to firefighters, typically involved injuries to the back, and was associated with significantly higher costs than other types of injuries. The per-claim average worker's compensation cost of injury to firefighters was $5,168 and the average for injuries caused by overexertion was $9,715. CONCLUSIONS: Overexertion is a costly source of injury to firefighters that can likely be reduced through policy intervention. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Firefighters Morbidity Mortality Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Injury Cause Costs Fire-fighters Fire-fighting Hazards Injuries Morbidity-rates Mortality-rates Overexertion Physical-capacity Physical-stress Physiological-effects Physiological-factors Physiological-function Traumatic-injuries Worker's Compensation

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• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  454-458
• Volume:
  43
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20039381
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2003 Apr; 43(4):454-458
• Contact Point Address:
  Surrey M.Walton, Department of Pharmacy Administration (M/C 871), College of Pharmacy, 833 SouthWood St., Room 241, Chicago, IL 60612-7231
• Email:
  walton@uic.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2003
• Performing Organization:
  University of Illinois at Chicago
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20290630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:005bcd778046b7b3b5d1d42232972ad9a0d9d4b77d6e4f3b36acf67ac24c266a46c1a56d13dc9525a8b1dacb3e442fe3e900525ee485bcc89450ced8eb18d9b8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192692/cdc_192692_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 79.31 KB ]