A Case-Crossover Study of Heat Exposure and Injury Risk Among Outdoor Construction Workers in Washington State

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bonauto, David ; Calkins MM ; Hajat A ; Lieblich M ; Seixas, Noah S. ; Sheppard L ; Spector JT
• Description:
  Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to assess the relationship between heat exposure and occupational traumatic injuries among construction workers. Methods: We assessed the relationship between humidex, a measure of apparent temperature, and Washington State Fund workers' compensation injuries among outdoor construction workers using a case-crossover design with time-stratified referent selection. Warm month (March-October) adult outdoor construction traumatic injury claims from 2000-2012 were spatiotemporally joined with high-resolution meteorological data. We used conditional logistic regression with linear splines to assess the association between maximum daily humidex and injuries. Results: There were 63 720 occupational traumatic injury claims in construction that met our eligibility criteria during the study period. The traumatic injury odds ratio (OR) was 1.005 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.003-1.007] per one degree C change in humidex. In the spline analyses, we observed a nearly linear association of humidex with the risk of a traumatic injury. Effect estimates were higher among younger (18-24 years) and older (>54 years) workers, workers with lower extremity injuries, workers with less job experience, smaller employers, workers working in Western Washington, and time of injury before 12:30 hours, although CI of effect estimates overlapped in stratified analysis categories. Conclusions: In this study of Washington outdoor construction workers, increasing maximum daily humidex was associated with increasing traumatic injury risk. Further work should explore mechanisms of the association between heat exposure and traumatic injuries. Injury prevention efforts targeted at construction should address heat-related risk factors. In addition, heat awareness campaigns should address outcomes beyond heat-related illness. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Hot Temperature Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Temperature
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Construction Industry Construction Workers Heat Exposure Heat Stress Hot Environments Humidex Meteorological Data Occupational Injury Outdoor Workers Risk Factors Temperature Effects Traumatic Injuries Traumatic Injury USA Worker Compensation

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• ISSN:
  0355-3140
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  45
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20063848
• Citation:
  Scand J Work Environ Health 2019 Nov; 45(6):588-599
• Contact Point Address:
  June T. Spector, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific St., Box 357234, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
• Email:
  spectj@uw.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• Performing Organization:
  University of Washington
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6b9329ae7192b4210a8319e3ac095df34ff84ae088a49e2e9f4edd4b6bbffee2bcebeae6ae588476f1787c09901e49dfa77e021a87c72c470e70ede0bacd5159
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/222394/cdc_222394_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 538.28 KB ]