Occupational injuries in Ohio wood product manufacturing: a descriptive analysis with emphasis on saw-related injuries and associated causes.

BACKGROUND: Stationary sawing machinery is often a basic tool in the wood product manufacturing industry and was the source for over 2,500 injury/illness events that resulted in days away from work in 2010. METHODS: We examined 9 years of workers' compensation claims for the state of Ohio in wood product manufacturing with specific attention to saw-related claims. For the study period, 8,547 claims were evaluated; from this group, 716 saw-related cases were examined. RESULTS: The sawmills and wood preservation sub-sector experienced a 71% reduction in average incidence rate and an 87% reduction in average lost-time incidence rate from 2001 to 2009. The top three injury category descriptions for lost-time incidents within saw-related claims were fracture (35.8%), open wounds (29.6%), and amputation (14.8%). CONCLUSIONS: For saw-related injuries, preventing blade contact remains important but securing the work piece to prevent kickback is also important.

Minimum Requirements for Taxicab Security Cameras.

PROBLEM: The homicide rate of taxicab-industry is 20 times greater than that of all workers. A NIOSH study showed that cities with taxicab-security cameras experienced significant reduction in taxicab driver homicides. METHODS: Minimum technical requirements and a standard test protocol for taxicab-security cameras for effective taxicab-facial identification were determined. The study took more than 10,000 photographs of human-face charts in a simulated-taxicab with various photographic resolutions, dynamic ranges, lens-distortions, and motion-blurs in various light and cab-seat conditions. Thirteen volunteer photograph-evaluators evaluated these face photographs and voted for the minimum technical requirements for taxicab-security cameras. RESULTS: Five worst-case scenario photographic image quality thresholds were suggested: the resolution of XGA-format, highlight-dynamic-range of 1 EV, twilight-dynamic-range of 3.3 EV, lens-distortion of 30%, and shutter-speed of 1/30 second. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: These minimum requirements will help taxicab regulators and fleets to identify effective taxicab-security cameras, and help taxicab-security camera manufacturers to improve the camera facial identification capability.

Occupational risk factors and back injury.

Twenty-one risk factors affecting laborers in manual materials handling tasks were analyzed to determine what, if any, statistically significant relationships existed between the factors and the emergence of occupational back injury. The statistically significant risk factors (p ≤ .05) in the univariate analysis were determined to be weight lifted per hour (work intensity), trunk twists per hour, weight lifted per day, frequency of lift, trunk motions per hour, and trunk flexions per hour, with odds ratios (ORs) of 1.28-2.88. In addition, self-reported discomfort in the neck, middle back, knees, and lower back was associated with the outcome of back injury (p ≤ .05, OR 1.75-2.66). In the multivariate analysis, the statistically significant risk factors (p ≤ .05) were weight lifted per hour (work intensity), average weight of lift, and number of trunk twists per hour, with ORs of 1.74-4.98.

Seasonal changes in VO2max among Division 1A collegiate women soccer players.

Aerobic capacity and body composition were measured at 3 time points over a 1-year period in 26 Division 1A women soccer players from Texas A&M University, in order to determine whether there were seasonal changes in these parameters. Subjects were tested in December, immediately following a 4-month competitive season; in April, following 15 weeks of strength and conditioning; and immediately prior to the start of the regular season in August, following a 12-week summer strength and conditioning program. A periodized strength and conditioning program design was incorporated in order to optimize anaerobic and oxidative capacity immediately prior to the regular competitive season. Significant differences in VO2max were measured between August (49.24 +/- 4.38 ml x kg(-1) x min(-1)) and December (44.87 +/- 4.61 ml x kg(-1) x min(-1)). No significant changes in aerobic capacity were found between April (47.43 +/- 4.01 ml x kg(-1) x min(-1)) and August (49.64 +/- 5.25 ml x kg(-1) x min(-1)). Significant increases in body fat were measured between August (15.71 +/- 2.92%) and December (18.78 +/- 2.79%), before and after the competitive season, respectively. No significant changes in body fat were found between April (16.24 +/- 2.95%) and August (15.71 +/- 2.92%). The results of this study suggest that decreases in muscle mass over the course of a regular competitive season contribute to decreases in aerobic capacity in collegiate women soccer players. Although it is unknown whether this decrease in muscle mass is the result of inadequate training or a normal adaptation to the physiological demands imposed by soccer, the results of the current study suggest that resistance training volume should be maintained during the competitive season, in order to maintain preseason levels of muscle mass.

Personal and non-occupational risk factors and occupational injury/illness.

BACKGROUND: The materials handling industry performs is an essential function in the world economy, however, it is plagued with occupationally related injuries and illnesses. Understanding the risk factors may assist this industry in alleviating these injuries and illnesses, as well as their associated costs. METHODS: Forty-eight personal and non-occupational risk factors were measured and evaluated for statistically significant relationships with occupational injury in 442 volunteer manual material handlers who worked for three different companies, at nine US locations, with 15 different job descriptions. OSHA 200 logs were used to ascertain evidence of occupational injury within this population for 1 year after the testing and measurement was completed. RESULTS: Higher occurrences of injury were significantly associated with six risk factors in the univariate model (odds ratios 1.51-4.00). The significantly (P < 0.05) related risk factors in the univariate model were aerobic power, smoking status, perceived fitness level, fishing/hunting as a hobby, speed limit obeyance, and witnessing or being involved in a violent fight. In the multivariate analysis, five risk factors (aerobic power, smoking status, percent body fat, body mass index, and sit-and-reach measured flexibility) were significantly (P < 0.05) associated with occupational injury. Odds ratios in the multivariate analysis varied from 1.42 to 10.11. CONCLUSION: Evidence of an association of occupational injury occurrence with certain risk factors presented in personal and non-occupational univariate and multivariate models is shown. In industry, effective injury reduction programs should go beyond traditional methods of job-related ergonomic risk factors and include personal factors such as smoking, weight control, and alcohol abuse.

Postural versus chair design impacts upon interface pressure.

An investigation of postural and chair design impacts upon seat pan interface pressure has been performed in an effort to identify whether differences in posture or chair design result in greater pressure differences. Investigation of postural variables focused on trunk-thigh angle and use of armrests. Twelve ergonomic office chairs were used to assess chair design differences. Both male and female subjects were included. Gender effects were controlled through use of a repeated Latin square design, with squares defined by gender. Significant gender-based interaction was observed amongst postural treatments and chair effects. Postural treatments, chairs designs, and participant effects all resulted in significant interface pressure differences, though gender-based interaction yielded some non-additivity of results between males and females. The final conclusion drawn from the results is that chair design differences had the greatest effect on seat pan interface pressure, followed by participant effects, and lastly postural treatments.

A prospective field study of the relationship of potential occupational risk factors with occupational injury/illness.

Twenty-one occupationally related risk factors were measured and prospectively evaluated for statistically significant relationships with occupational injury/illness in 442 manual material handlers, working for three different companies, at nine U.S. locations, and encompassing 15 different job descriptions. OSHA 200 logs were used to ascertain evidence of occupational injury/illness (dichotomous) within this population for 1 year after the testing and measurement were completed. The present study demonstrated evidence of a subset of critical variables significantly related to occupational injury/illness occurrence through the significantly related occupational risk factors presented in the univariate and multivariate models. Higher occurrences of injury/illness were significantly associated with nine risk factors in the univariate model, with odds ratios ranging from 1.11-2.27. The significantly (p<0.05) related risk factors in the univariate model were lifting frequency; weight lifted per day; weight lifted per hour; number of trunk flexions per hour; number of trunk twists per hour; number of trunk motions per hour; number of knee flexions per hour; number of shoulder flexions per hour; and static shoulder flexion. In the multivariate analysis two risk factors were associated with occupational injury/illness. The significantly (p<0.05) related risk factors in the multivariate model were lifting frequency (p=0.0010, odds ratio [OR]=4.47, 95% confidence interval [CI]=[2.38-8.40], and average weight of lift (p=0.0001, OR=1.71, 95% CI=[1.29-2.25]).