Fatigue and on-duty injury among police officers: the BCOPS study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Andrew, Michael E. ; Burchfiel CM ; Charles LE ; Fekedulegn D ; Gu JK ; Hartley TA ; Ma CC ; Violanti JM
• Description:
  Policing involves inherent physical and psychological dangers as well as occupational stressors that could lead to chronic fatigue. Although accounts of adverse events associated with police fatigue are not scarce, literature on the association between chronic fatigue and on-duty injury are limited. Methods: Participants were officers from the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) Study. A 10-item questionnaire was administered to assess how tired or energetic the officers generally felt irrespective of sleep hours or workload. The questionnaire consisted of five positively worded and five negatively phrased items that measured feelings of vigor/energy and tiredness, respectively. Total as well as separate scores for positive and negative items were computed by summing scores of individual items. Payroll records documenting each officer's work history were used to assess occurrence of injury. Poisson regression was used to estimate prevalence ratios (PR) of injury. Results: Nearly 40% of officers reported feeling drained. Overall prevalence of on-duty injury during the past year was 23.9%. Injury prevalence showed a significant increasing trend across tertiles of total fatigue score: 19.6, 21.7, and 30.8% for lowest, middle and highest tertiles, respectively (trend p-value = 0.037). After controlling for potential confounders, a 5-unit increase in total fatigue score was associated with a 12% increase in prevalence of injury which was marginally significant (p = 0.075). A 5-unit increase in fatigue score of the positively worded items was associated with a 33% increase in prevalence of injury (PR = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.04-1.70, p=0.022). Conclusion: Officers who do not feel active, full of vigor, alert, or lively had a significantly higher prevalence of non-fatal work place injury compared to their counter parts. Practical applications: With additional prospective evidence, workplace interventions designed to enhance level of energymay reduce feelings of tiredness and hence may prevent workplace injury. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Fatigue Law Enforcement Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Surveys And Questionnaires
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Non-fatal Injuries Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Chronic Tiredness Health Surveys Injuries Intervention Law-enforcement Law-enforcement-workers Law Enforcement Lost Work Days Police-officers Questionnaires Regression Analysis Risk Factors Statistical Analysis Worker Health Work History Work Schedules

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• ISSN:
  0022-4375
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract ; Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  43-51
• Volume:
  60
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20049133
• Citation:
  J Safety Res 2017 Feb; 60:43-51
• Contact Point Address:
  Desta Fekedulegn, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HELD/BEB, MS L-4050, 1095 Willowdale Rd., Morgantown, WV 26505-2888, USA
• Email:
  djf7@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• NORA Priority Area:
  Public Safety
• Performing Organization:
  State University of New York at Buffalo
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20150901
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Safety Research
• End Date:
  20190831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:538356deb4dabb0a36a41dc1542f303aedc034e9ba1ea2a0bd1c4df3cddd0b92ef5ed0d1fd075cfc034f6b6c15c2748c2f079adcedd003cd6da37f23ec26a7b8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/203691/cdc_203691_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 395.11 KB ]