Temporal trend of occupational injuries; first versus second half of a working shift.

OBJECTIVES: To assess occupational injuries in the 1st versus 2nd half of a working shift in terms of (a) the likelihood of hospital referral following an injury event; (b) the external causes of injuries. METHODS: Logistic regression analyses of data from a 16-year (1991-2007) experience of ongoing surveillance of occupational injuries in a synthetic fiber factory in Iran. RESULTS: The likelihood of a hospital referral following an injury in the 1st half of a shift was higher than in the 2nd half (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.50, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.10-2.00). Comparing the 2 halves of the shift, an injury occurring in the 2nd half was more likely to be due to exposure to smoke, fire and flames (OR 2.34, 95% CI 1.06-5.19) or transport accidents (OR 1.84, 95% CI 1.06-3.21). CONCLUSIONS: Time-specific safety interventions could be used in the risk management of occupational injuries. Further studies to investigate the effect of time-dependent interventions are recommended.

Occupational injuries in a synthetic fibre factory in Iran.

BACKGROUND: A lack of information on the overall characteristics of work-related injuries in Iran holds back the development of effective injury prevention strategies. AIM: To evaluate characteristics of work-related injuries in a synthetic fibre factory in Iran. METHODS: This study reports a 16-year (1991-2007) experience of ongoing surveillance of work-related injuries in a large synthetic fibre factory. Descriptive statistics were used to show the overall characteristics of work-related injuries. Associations between external causes of injury and the odds of an accident occurring that led to hospital referral were examined using logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: In total, 836 injury events were reported. Almost half of these (46%) involved injury to hand/wrist, while about a quarter (24%) of injuries were to the head and 10% to ankle/foot. Hospital referral after an injury was related mainly to falls [odds ratio (OR) 3.24, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.72-6.12, P < 0.001] and to work involving moving machinery (OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.12-3.55, P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that falls are a serious safety concern in the workplace. The results also show that 80% of injury events affected hand/wrist, ankle/foot or head; a finding which could be used in injury prevention efforts.