Injuries and Illness at Work

Injuries and Illness at Work Kirk Smith Tulane University Course Title: Principles of Occupational Health Course Number: GEHS 6540 Kirk Smith Dr. Swiff Principles of Occupational Health 17 April 2013 Injuries and Illness at Work Injury and Illness at work, known by a variety of names, are universal interventions that can substantially reduce the number and severity of workplace injuries and alleviate the associated financial burdens on U. S. workplaces. Many states have requirements or voluntary guidelines for workplace injury and illness prevention programs.

Also, numerous employers in the United States already manage safety-using Injury and Illness Prevention Programs and we believe that all employers can and should do the same. Most successful injury and illness prevention programs are based on a common set of key elements. These include: management leadership, worker participation, hazard identification, hazard prevention and control, education and training, and program evaluation and improvement. Workplace injuries happen all the time. The most susceptible employees who experience workplace injuries are those working in more dangerous areas such as construction sites and factories.

However the most common types of injuries, which have greatly affected both employees and employers, are those that we don’t necessarily think as dangerous but are nevertheless detrimental to the health and safety of workers. In this paper I will discuss the sprains and strains, overexertion fatal work injuries in the private construction sector, and nonfatal occupational injuries. The most common workplace injuries is Sprains and strains, most often involving the back, accounted for 43 percent of the 1. 3 million injuries and illnesses in private industry.

Over six million injuries occur in the workplace each year. Sprains, strains and tears to muscles and connective tissues are some of the most common injuries workers experience. Sprains and strains can result from lifting injuries, being hit by fallen objects, or even a simple misstep. Overusing your muscles can also cause problems. Sprains occur when a ligament has been stretched too far from its normal position. Sprains of the fingers, wrists, knees and ankles are most common. Strains are the result of pulling too far on a muscle or by pulling a muscle in one direction while it is contracting.

Repetitive movements that lead to an over-stretching of muscle fibers can also cause strains. Strains of the back, neck, groin and hamstring are most common. When sprains and strains, bruises and contusions, cuts and lacerations, and fractures are combined, they accounted for nearly two-thirds of the cases with days away from work. Sprains and strains were the leading nature of injury or illness in every major industry sector in 2003, with 33 percent of these cases occurring in the trade, transportation, and utilities major industry sector and an additional 19 percent in the education and health services major industry sector.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) the overall greatest number of injuries and illnesses were laborers and material movers; heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers; and nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants. Laborers and material movers, and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers often suffered sprains and strains to the trunk or lower extremities, stemming from overexertion or contacts with objects or equipment. Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants predominantly suffered sprains and strains to their trunk (typically their back), due to overexertion related to lifting or moving patients.

In this paragraph I will talk about some known tips for prevention sprains and strains at work. As an employee we should always follow the employer guidelines for lifting, especially if your position requires you to lift particularly heavy items. We should reduce repetitive movements if possible; chronic strains are usually the result of overuse. Using proper form while completing tasks – extensive “gripping” can increase the risk of hand and forearm strains. Practicing safety measures to help prevent falls, avoid slippery surfaces, and always use harnesses and nets if applicable.

Also wear the proper attire, and other applicable protective equipment. Considering your posture when sitting for long periods of time; maintain an overall relaxed position. And we should maintain fitness and flexibility and develop a reserve of strength. These data are from the Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities program. Overexertion is the third leading cause of unintentional injuries treated in emergency departments in the United States, accounting for an estimated 3. 3 million visits annually, according to Injury Facts, 2011 Edition. Most overexertion injuries are the result of lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling or carrying.

An overexertion injury happens when a worker becomes fatigued or performs a job where the human body’s capacity to complete the task was not sufficiently considered. Both can cause a mismatch between the physical capacity of workers and the physical demands of their jobs. When the muscles become fatigued, muscular size is decreased and puts a worker at risk for an overexertion injury. There are about 60 percent of overexertion injuries affecting the back and apparently not enough companies use engineering controls to decrease or eliminate tasks such as lifting.

A recent study by the Liberty Mutual Group listed overexertion, defined as working beyond one’s physical capabilities, as the overwhelmingly No. 1 cause of workplace injuries nationwide. The Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index — compiled using Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, workers’ compensation claims reported to the National Academy of Social Insurance and comp benefits paid by Liberty Mutual — indicated that overexertion accounted for more than 25 percent of direct workers’ comp costs paid in 1998. Overexertion estimated cost of $9. billion in 1998, which was more than double the second-highest accident cause on the record, falls on the same level ($4. 4 billion), and four times costlier than repetitive motion ($2. 3 billion). Numerous ergonomists interviewed come to believe that overexertion warrants more attention in the workplace. The significance of BLS injury rates (overexertion caused 28 percent of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses involving lost workdays in 1998) and workers’ comp costs alone indicate not enough is being done.

Additionally, because it may be impossible to factor in every individual’s physiological makeup, there is a perception that overexertion will happen no matter what preventive steps a company takes. As a result, many employers are puzzled about how to reduce or prevent overexertion injuries, especially those involving the back, and conclude that there are few solutions, said Thomas R. Waters, Ph. D. , CPE, chief of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Research Section at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). They think that back pain is going to happen anyway, so it’s probably not the job causing it but something else,” said Waters, the primary author of the revised version of the NIOSH Lifting Equation. “A lot of companies don’t want to accept the fact that it may be the work that’s causing it. ” Ergonomists, however, believe there are solutions to costly injuries resulting from overexertion. For starters, employers need to have a better understanding of why overexertion occurs. Then they can learn what steps to take to reduce or prevent its occurrence.

The number of fatal work injuries in the private construction sector declined by 7 percent, from 774 in 2010 to 721 in 2011. The rate of fatal work injury for workers in the private construction industry in 2011 was 8. 9 per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers, as compared to 9. 8 per 100,000 for 2010. The number of fatal work injuries in construction has declined every year since 2006. Construction accounted for the second highest number of fatal work injuries of any industry sector in 2011, after transportation and warehousing.

Transportation and warehousing accounted for 733 fatal work injuries in 2011, an increase of 11 percent over the final 2010 count (661) and the highest count since 2008. The fatal work injury rate in transportation and warehousing was 15. 0 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers in 2011. The number of fatal injuries in truck transportation increased in 2011, led by increases in general freight trucking and specialized freight trucking. Fatal work injuries in air transportation were lower, but fatal work injuries in water and rail transportation were higher in 2011.

Work-related fatalities in agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting were down by 10 percent to 557 in 2011 from 621 in 2010, led by a sharp drop in crop production fatalities. The rate of fatal work injury in agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting was 24. 4 per 100,000 workers in 2011. Fatal occupational injuries among government workers increased by 2 percent from 2010 to 495; the 2011 fatal work injury rate was 2. 2 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. Fatalities among local government workers increased in 2011 due to an increase in the number of fatal work injuries in police protection.

Fatal work injuries were lower among both state and federal workers. Fatal work injuries in the professional and business services sector were up 16 percent (from 364 in 2010 to 424 in 2011), with a fatal work injury rate of 2. 9 in 2011. The increase was led by an increase in fatal work injuries in landscape services. The number of manufacturing fatal work injuries (322) was slightly lower in 2011; the fatal work injury rate in manufacturing was 2. 2. Work-related fatalities in the private mining industry (which includes oil and gas extraction) were down 10 percent in 2011 after an increase of 74 percent in 2010.

Fatal work injuries in mining numbered 154 in 2011, down from 172 in 2010. The rate of fatal work injury in mining was 15. 8 fatal worker injuries per 100,000 FTE workers in 2011, compared with 19. 8 the previous year. Fatal work injuries were down sharply in coal mining in 2011. A preliminary total of 4,609 fatal work injuries were recorded in the United States in 2011, down from a final count of 4,690 fatal work injuries in 2010. The rate of fatal work injury for U. S. workers in 2011 was 3. 5 per 100,000 FTE workers, as compared to a final rate of 3. 6 for 2010.

These data are from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), which is part of the BLS Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities program. Data for 2011 are preliminary. The rate of nonfatal occupational injury and illness cases requiring days away from work to recuperate was 117 cases per 10,000 full-time workers in 2011, statistically unchanged from 2010, according to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The total number of private industry, state government, and local government cases with days away from work remained statistically unchanged at 1,181,290.

The median days away from work–a key measure of severity of injuries and illnesses–was 8 days, the same as the previous year. Occupational injuries and illnesses to workers in five occupations accounted for nearly 20 percent of the days-away-from-work cases in 2011: laborers; nursing aides and orderlies and attendants; janitors and cleaners; heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers; and police officers and sheriff’s patrol officers. Police officers had an incidence rate per 10,000 full-time workers that was five times greater than for all occupations; the rate for laborers was three times greater than the rate for all workers.

The proportion of injuries and illnesses was highest among workers age 45-54–accounting for 26 percent of the total cases in 2011. In private industry, workers in this age group had decreases in case counts and incidence rates, as did workers age 16-19 and 65 and over. Injuries and illnesses to workers age 55-64 in manufacturing increased 6 percent to 21,660 cases; workers age 20-24 had a 13 percent increase in the same industry. Among private industry workers, injuries and illnesses to workers with 1-5 years of service with an employer accounted for 35 percent of the cases despite an 11 percent decrease.

However, the number of days-away-from-work cases increased for workers with fewer than 3 months-of-service (up 3 percent) and 3-11 months-of-service (up 7 percent). In the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry, there was a 32 percent increase in the number of cases for workers with 3-11 months-of-service. Musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) cases (387,820) accounted for 33 percent of all injury and illness cases in 2011. Six occupations accounted for 26 percent of the MSD cases in 2011: nursing assistants; laborers; janitors and cleaners; heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers; registered nurses; and stock clerks.

Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers required a median of 21 days away from work to recuperate, compared to 11 days for all workers who sustained an MSD. Laborers accounted for the highest proportion of injuries and illnesses in private industry–6 percent of 908,310 cases. Laborers in private industry had an incidence rate of 353 cases per 10,000 full-time workers–more than three times greater than the rate for all private industry workers. These workers required a median of 9 days away from work to recuperate.

Injuries and illnesses to correctional officers accounted for 21 percent of the 72,650 total cases in state government. The incidence rate for correctional officers was 629 cases per 10,000 full-time workers, compared to a rate of 183 for all state government workers. These workers required a median of 24 days before returning to work after their injuries–more than twice as many days as all state government workers. Of the 200,330 days-away-from-work cases in local government, 15 percent occurred to police officers at an incidence rate of 659 cases per 10,000 full-time workers.

Janitors and cleaners accounted for another 9 percent of the cases in local government and had an incidence rate of 565; these occurred primarily in the educational services industry. The incidence rate for public sector workers was 190 cases per 10,000 full-time workers (compared to a rate of 105 for private industry). Some occupations experienced higher rates in the public sector (state and local government combined) than their counterparts in the private sector. Janitors and cleaners and landscaping and grounds keeping workers had a public sector rate that was over twice that of the private sector. Annotated Bibliography

Smith, Sean. Office of Compensation and Working Conditions, “Injuries, illnesses, and fatal injuries,” Beyond the Numbers: Workplace Injuries, vol. 2, no. 1 (U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2013) Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) began collecting fatal injury data in 1992, there have been no more than 60 fatal injuries in any given year, and fewer than 200 fatal injuries per year for all workers in the mining industry as a whole. In addition to the fatal work injuries, there were 15,500 recordable nonfatal injuries and illnesses in the workplace during 2010, a rate of 2. 3 incidents per 100 full-time workers.

Construction and extraction occupations accounted for 62. 2 percent of fatally injured workers in the mining industry, and 21. 5 percent were employed in transportation and material moving occupations, the group that includes truck drivers. In the industry as a whole, 29. 7 percent were killed as a result of transportation incidents, and 23. 8 percent of fatal injuries resulted from contact with objects and equipment. Chaser, Kimberly. Workplace Injuries And Ways To Minimize Them (2005-2011) Workplace injuries is always happen. Fall to Lower Level happens from an elevated area such as roofs, ladders, and stairways.

Struck against an Object happens when a person accidentally runs into concrete objects such as walls, doors, cabinets, glass windows, table, chairs. And Repetitive Motion is a type of workplace injury is one of those less obvious but definitely harmful ones in the long run. Meanwhile workplace injuries will surely affect the employee’s physical and mental health, it is obviously stated by the law that they are entitled to receive proper compensation for the damages. Workplace injuries can cause a major disability that is eventually detrimental to the employee’s work and personal life.

There are a lot of ways that employers and employees can do in order to prevent work related injuries. First is a careful planning of the office or work area from the location of the equipment, tables and chairs, and also warning signs for other dangerous equipment. Nighswonger, Todd. The Costly Problem of Overexertion June 1, 2001 The Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index compiled data using Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, workers’ compensation claims reported to the National Academy of Social Insurance and comp benefits paid by Liberty Mutual.

It also indicates that overexertion accounted for more than 25 percent of direct workers’ comp costs paid in 1998. The estimated cost of overexertion in that year, $9. 8 billion, which was more than double the second highest accident cause on the list, falls was also on the same level at $4. 4 billion, and four times higher than repetitive motion which was $2. 3 billion. NIOSH Lifting Equation can help determine what part of a job is causing the problem, like the size of the load, vertical height of the lift, or the lift’s frequency and duration.

Employers can take steps to reduce the problem which will help keep a handle on their workers’ comp costs and injury rates, and fewer workers will have to suffer debilitating muscle injuries. Work Cited: http://www. bls. gov/home. htm http://www. bls. gov/opub/ted/2012/ted_20121031. htm http://www. articledashboard. com/Article/10-Most-Common-Workplace-Injuries-and-Ways-to-Minimize-Them/972999 http://ehstoday. com/news/ehs_imp_34438 Smith,K (2012) Injuries and Illness at Work, Tulane University