The accident model applied to back injuries

The accident model applied to back injuries

Journal of Occupational Elsevier Science Publishers Accidents, 6 (1984) B.V., Amsterdam 195-197 --- Printed 195 in The Netherlands ABSTRACTS...

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Journal

of Occupational

Elsevier

Science

Publishers

Accidents,

6 (1984) B.V., Amsterdam

195-197 --- Printed

195

in The Netherlands

ABSTRACTS Advantages and Limitations Fall Accident Patterns H. HARVEY

of Various Methods Used to Study Occupational

COHEN

Safety Sciences, Division CA 92121 (U.S.A.)

of Syncor

International,

7586

Trade

Street,

San Diego,

This paper presents a discussion of over 6 years of research performed by the author and funded principally by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the U.S. Three major studies have thus far looked at falls on level working surfaces, falls on stairs, and falls from ladders. To a lesser extent, in other studies, falls from other elevated workstations have been looked at. A combination of case history, epidemiologicallybased, and otherwise experimentally controlled, retrospective and prospective field study approaches have been used, including: 1) Review of existing injury records, 2) Detailed accident investigations, involving both interviews and site observations, 3) Comprehensive, case-control, retrospective interview and site observation surveys, 4) Prospective longitudinal studies involving both setting up and operating for several years safety and health information systems for specific high-risk industries, and 5) Video recorded observations of critical incidents as they actually occurred over extended periods at high risk work sites. Findings to date are discussed in light of the types of data best obtainable from each approach.

The Accident J.D.G.

Model Applied to Back Injuries

TROUP

University of Liverpool, Department of Orthopaedic and Accident Surgery, Liverpool Hospital, P.O. Box 147, Liverpool I69 3BX (United Kingdom)

Royal

401 cases of back pain occurring during 1980 were investigated. True accidents were separated from non-accidental injuries (NAI), and back pain of unknown cause. Accident information was recorded on diagrams of the accident model. Structuring of information in this way facilitated the study of first unforeseen events, body movements and other factors contributing to the accidents. 80 (66%) of the first unforeseen events were underfoot, including 57 slips. There were highly significant differences between the body movements contributing to accidents and NAI, and significantly more of the NAI than accidents involved handling of loads. 52% of the sample of accidents and NAI were not handling loads.