Citation

Hunting KL, Welch LS, Nessel-Stephens L, Anderson J, Mawudeku A. Appl. Occup. Environ. Hyg. 1999; 14(7): 458-469.

Affiliation

Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, George Washington University, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

10461402

Abstract

Construction is a dangerous industry, with high rates of both fatal and nonfatal injuries. To learn more about the causes of nonfatal construction worker injuries, and to identify injury cases for further work site-based investigations or prevention programs, we established an emergency department-based surveillance program in November 1990. This article describes circumstances of injury, diagnoses, and demographic characteristics of injured construction workers for 2,791 cases identified through mid-August, 1997. Lacerations and strains and sprains were the most frequent diagnoses; cutting and piercing objects were the leading causes of injury among all construction workers, followed by falls and overexertion. Because of the variety of work performed in this industry, more detailed injury descriptions, by trade, are most useful for thinking about injury prevention. To illustrate this, we profile injury patterns among workers from four specific trades: carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and ironworkers. Areas of concern highlighted by the trade-specific analyses include eye injuries among plumbers; falls from ladders among electricians and plumbers; slips, trips, and falls on the same level among ironworkers; electrical exposure among electricians; and, amputations among carpenters.

Language: en