Incidence of commuting accidents among non-physician staff in a large French university hospital centre from 2012 to 2016.

BACKGROUND: Traffic road crashes are the leading cause of fatal crashes at work. The circumstances of work-related road accidents have been a regular focus of study, but there is still a lack of knowledge about commuting accidents. OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to estimate the overall incidence of commuting accidents for non-physician professionals in a major French university hospital, by gender and different professional categories, and to assess its evolution over a 5-year period. METHODS: A descriptive analysis was performed on 390 commuting accidents from 2012 to 2016 extracted from the university hospital's occupational health service. Incidences of commuting accidents were calculated according to gender, occupational categories, and years. Crude relative risk (RR) for the association of commuting accidents with gender, occupational categories, and year of the accident was also estimated using log-binomial regressions. RESULTS: The annual incidence ranged from 354 to 581 accidents per 100,000 employees. Compared with administrative staff, the relative risk (RR) for commuting accidents for service agents was 1.6 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1-2.4) and for auxiliary nurses and childcare assistants was 1.3 (95% CI: 1.0-1.9). Nursing executives had a non-significantly lower RR of 0.6 (95% CI: 0.3-1.5). CONCLUSION: The increased risk observed for the auxiliary nurses and childcare assistants and for the service agents may be related in part to the fatigue caused by work schedules, long commuting distances, physical work, and psychological burden.

Commuting Accidents among Non-Physician Staff of a Large University Hospital Center from 2012 to 2016: A Case-Control Study.

Road risks (commuting and on-duty accidents) have been responsible for 44% of work-related fatalities compensated by the French system of Social Security in 2012 and still represented 37% in 2018. Our objective was to assess risk factors for commuting accidents among the non-physician staff in a French university hospital. We conducted a case-control study of commuting accidents from 2012 to 2016. Cases were identified and controls were randomly selected from the hospital's personnel file with matches by year of the accident, gender and age. Risk factors were assessed using conditional logistic regression analysis. An increased risk was observed for 2 × 8 hour shifts, crude OR = 1.40 (95% CI = 1.05-1.86) compared to daytime schedules, but not confirmed in the multiple model. Being a duty officer and not working the day before the accident were associated with increased risk of accidents with adjusted OR = 1.9 (95% CI = 1.1; 3.3) and OR = 1.5, (95% CI = 1.1; 2.1), respectively. The risk increased as the distance between home and work increased, such as adjusted OR = 2.2 (95% CI = 1.4; 3.4) for a distance of >3.6 to 9 km, OR = 2.6, (95% CI = 1.7; 4.0) for a distance of >9 km to 19 km, and OR = 4.2, (95% CI = 2.8; 6.2) for >19 km vs. <3.6 km. The distance between home and work, not working the day before the accident, and certain categories of personnel were related to commuting accidents.