Citation

Horwitz IB, McCall BP. J. Burn Care Rehabil. 2004; 25(3): 328-336.

Affiliation

University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston, Texas 77030, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

15273476

Abstract

This study examined all accepted Oregon workers' compensation claims for occupational burn injuries during the period of 1990 to 1997 (N = 3,158). The Current Population Survey was used to derive employee population baselines for establishing rate estimates. It was estimated that the average occupational burn claim rate was 2.89 per 10,000 workers (95% confidence interval CI. 2.76, 3.02). The majority of claimants (71.7%) were males, the largest proportion (32.6%) was aged 25 years or less, and almost half (48.7%) had less than 1 year of job tenure. The most frequent burn type cited was heat/scald burns (78.9%) followed by chemical burns (19.3%). Costs averaged over 1.6 million dollars annually. The average indemnity period was 16 days. Higher relative risks were found for evening workers (2.97, 95% CI 2.96, 2.98) and night workers (2.13, 95% CI 2.12, 2.13) compared with dayshift workers. Kitchen workers had the highest burn rate of all occupations, with 62.5 claims per 10,000 workers.

Language: en