Surveillance of construction worker injuries through an urban emergency department

Details

• Personal Author:
  Hunting KL ; Nessel-Stephens L ; Sanford SM ; Shesser R ; Welch LS ; Hunting KL ; Nessel-Stephens L ; Sanford SM ; Shesser R ; Welch LS
• Description:
  An urban emergency department based surveillance program was established to learn about the causes of nonfatal construction worker injuries and to identify injury cases for further work site based investigations and/or prevention programs. Construction workers with work related injuries or illnesses were identified from a review of medical records of all patients treated at the George Washington University Emergency Department during the 2 year period November, 1990 through October, 1992. Information was obtained on 592 injured construction workers with a work related diagnosis. Data included worker demographic characteristics, type of injury, and injury circumstances. The most commonly treated injuries among the construction workers were lacerations (38%), followed by strains and sprains (17.9%), contusions (15.7%), and eye injuries (12.3%). Injuries were most commonly caused by sharp objects (25.8%), followed by falls (17.9%) and falling objects (11.8%). The most common occupation was carpenter (23.8%), followed by laborer (17.1%), construction worker (10.8%), and electrician (8.1%). Preventive measures were discussed. The authors conclude that Emergency Department records are a valuable source for the initial identification and description of work related injuries. This information can then be applied to the formulation of prevention strategies. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Eye Musculoskeletal Diseases Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Occupational Injuries Safety Sense Organs Sense Organs / Injuries
• Keywords:
  Accident-rates Accident-statistics Construction-workers Eye-injuries Musculoskeletal-system-disorders NIOSH-Cooperative-Agreement NIOSH-Publication Occupational-accidents Occupational-hazards Traumatic-injuries
• ISSN:
  0096-1736
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article ; Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  356-364
• Volume:
  36
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00219855
• Citation:
  J Occup Med 1994 Mar; 36(3):356-364
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr. Katherine Hunting, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2300 K Street, NW, Room 201, Washington, DC 20037
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1994
• Performing Organization:
  Center to Protect Workers' Rights, Washington, DC
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19900928
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational Medicine
• End Date:
  19961231
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:39138526c5ff3a1f8615be9c085a2aedd2cd264b528d0d82acb39dc52c72e3e40dfc15986dac7ffb9b0731bdfa962470d36fb3f94c7bf61d699c2c28a7ff2c36
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/205657/cdc_205657_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 711.14 KB ]