Biomechanical factors and injury risk in high-severity rollovers.

The number of rolls, as well as other factors, has been associated with increased injury risk in rollovers. Data from NASS-CDS from 1995-2003 were used to evaluate the biomechanical implications of vehicle kinematics during multiple rolls and to evaluate the risk of injuries to different body regions during rollovers. The data showed that the risk of injury increased with increasing number of rolls. The rate of increase in risk varied by the region of the body affected and injury severity. The increased risk was particularly great when a vehicle rolled more than two complete rolls.

Occupational injury surveillance among electric utility employees.

Currently, there are only limited injury surveillance data for the electric utility workforce. To address this gap, an Occupational Health Surveillance Database for electric power utilities was established for epidemiologic monitoring and intervention program evaluation. Injury rates varied across utility occupations, such as, managers, line workers, and meter readers, ranging from 0.18 to 9.63 per 100 employee-years based on more than 500,000 employee-years of observation. Compared with male workers, the risk of injury among female workers was lower overall, although their risk was higher in nonoffice occupations than their male counterparts. Across the period 2000 to 2002, three of four companies that experienced decreases in workforce size also experienced noticeable increases in injury rates. Our results suggest that benchmarking and prevention efforts should be directed at specific occupational groups and specific injury types.