Fatal Occupational Accidents Research Articles

Vigilância dos acidentes de trabalho em unidades sentinela em saúde do trabalhador no município de Fortaleza, nordeste do Brasil

This article examines the factors associated with the notification of occupational accidents by sentinel workers' health centers in the municipality of Fortaleza in the northeast of Brazil. An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted of five sentinel workers' health centers for serious and fatal occupational accidents. A total of 354 interviews were conducted with professionals responsible for notifying occupational accidents. Bivariate analysis was conducted using Pearson's chi-square test and/or Fisher's exact test using prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals, followed by stratified analysis and multivariate Poisson regression adopting the stepwise forward method. Variables that obtained a p-value of less than or equal to the chosen significance level (0.05) were maintained in the final model. Professionals who had a greater number of years of work experience, had undertaken three training courses, had knowledge of policy directives concerning occupational accidents, were familiar with the SINAN notification form, were aware that occupational accidents are reportable, and discussed the theme of occupational accidents in the workplace were statistically more likely to notify occupational accidents. Education and training helps raise awareness among health professionals.

Individual and workplace factors related to fatal occupational accidents among shipyard workers in Turkey

Risks for occupational accidents are significantly associated by individual and workplace factors. This study has been designed in order to identify individual and workplace factors that increase the risk of an accident, and to provide evidence for the achievement of precautionary actions in workplace environment. Registered fatal occupational injuries between the years 2004 and 2014 were investigated. The case reports of shipyard occupational accidents of Ministry of Labour and Social Security of Turkey have been analyzed. Then, a workplace survey was conducted among workers and foremen at Turkish shipyards located in Istanbul region. Classification of fatal occupational accidents revealed five major reasons for the shipyard workers; falling from higher elevation to a lower level, exposed to electric shock, fire and/or explosion, being struck by or struck against objects and caught in between, and drowning. The ratio of the places of fatal occupational accidents at Turkish shipyards can be classified as occurring inside the ship (43.7%) and the shipyard (56.3%). The questionnaire contains four groups: personal data, workplace environment, personal factors and commuting factors. The total number of questions is 56. The results reveal that substandard low education level of shipyard workers, housekeeping at workshops, lunch effect, bad weather conditions, improper use of PPE, being tired and sleepy, overcapacity ship production, hectic work, overtime, being a subcontractor worker and strenuous work are main risk factors for workplace accidents.

Temporal and spatial distribution fatal occupational injuries in Ecuador

Introduction: Ecuador is a country in South America, divided geographically by the Andean Mountain Range. With the approval of the Resolution No C.D. 333 in 2010, companies are compelled to report all occupational accidents and diseases to the corresponding Occupational Health Public Organisms. Currently, there are no studies on the geographic and temporal distribution of deadly occupational accidents in the country.
 Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the temporal and geographic distribution of fatal occupational accidents (FOA) in Ecuador.
 Material-Methods: Ecologic Study of temporal and geographical distribution of FOA in the 24 provinces of Ecuador between 2010 and 2016. Data was obtained thru official secondary information sources. Gross and Adjusted Mortality Rates were calculated for workers affiliated to the General Mandatory Insurance, allowing the space representation in terms of the object of study.
 Results: During the period analyzed, 1.748 workers have passed due to work related accidents in Ecuador. The Gross Mortality Rate (x100.000-affiliated workers) presents a decreasing tendency from 2010 (13.2) to 2014 (6.3), increasing for 2015 (9.5). The main provinces with a higher Adjusted Mortality Rate (x10.000-affiliated workers) are located in the Amazon Region: Morona Santiago, Napo, Orellana and Sucumbíos.
 Conclusions: Ecuadorian Geography implies important differences in terms of FOA distribution by provinces and the compliance of legal norms in Safety and Occupational Health thru time. The temporal distribution and geographic representation of this phenomenon will allow the corresponding public control entities to identify provinces with high mortality rates and implement specific actions to prevent. The results of this study will help establish future research lines that will analyze more in depth this issue.

A combined DEMATEL and grey system theory approach for analyzing occupational risks: A case study in Turkish shipbuilding industry

ABSTRACTThe shipbuilding industry is known as heavy industry because of its high-risk work activities. Therefore, in order to prevent fatal occupational accidents in the shipbuilding industry, the processes of defining hazards, evaluating risks, taking action to eliminate or reduce risks are important issues in risk assessment. This article presents a novel occupational risk-assessment approach, which can help managers of shipbuilding make proper precautions strategies for accidents, to evaluate shipyard Critical Risk Factors and risky shipyard processes/work units. Thus, DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) and Grey system theory approaches are integrated to develop a systematic risk-assessment framework for the shipbuilding industry. This approach was applied to a real case study in a Turkish shipyard. The performance evaluation results have indicated that the combined approach can provide satisfactory risk assessment for occupational risk causes and relevant improvement strategies to prevent accidents. Sensitivity analysis was also conducted on the results to ensure the reliability of solutions. Even though a novel decision support and evaluation approach on risk implementation is introduced for shipbuilding, limitations and concerns are areas for further research opportunities. Further, a sensitivity analysis of results, managerial implications, conclusions, limitations and future research opportunities are provided.

Safety leadership at construction sites: the importance of rule-oriented and participative leadership.

Objectives The construction industry accounted for >20% of all fatal occupational accidents in Europe in 2014. Leadership is an essential antecedent to occupational safety. The aim of the present study was to assess the influence of transformational, active transactional, rule-oriented, participative, and laissez-faire leadership on safety climate, safety behavior, and accidents in the Swedish and Danish construction industry. Sweden and Denmark are similar countries but have a large difference in occupational accidents rates. Methods A questionnaire study was conducted among a random sample of construction workers in both countries: 811 construction workers from 85 sites responded, resulting in site and individual response rates of 73% and 64%, respectively. Results The results indicated that transformational, active transactional, rule-oriented and participative leadership predict positive safety outcomes, and laissez-faire leadership predict negative safety outcomes. For example, rule-oriented leadership predicts a superior safety climate (β=0.40, P<0.001), enhanced safety behavior (β=0.15, P<0.001), and fewer accidents [odds ratio (OR) 0.78, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.62-0.98]. The effect of rule-oriented leadership on workers' safety behavior was moderated by the level of participative leadership (β=0.10, P<0.001), suggesting that when rules and plans are established in a collaborative manner, workers' motivation to comply with safety regulations and participate in proactive safety activities is elevated. The influence of leadership behaviors on safety outcomes were largely similar in Sweden and Denmark. Rule-oriented and participative leadership were more common in the Swedish than Danish construction industry, which may partly explain the difference in occupational accident rates. Conclusions Applying less laissez-faire leadership and more transformational, active transactional, participative and rule-oriented leadership appears to be an effective way for construction site managers to improve occupational safety in the industry.

Occupational health and safety indicators of Turkey and their relationships with social and economic development factors between 1998 and 2014

ABSTRACTThe aim of this descriptive study is to analyse occupational health and safety status of Turkey between 1998 and 2014 and examine its relationships with some socioeconomic factors. Data reported by Social Security Institution of Turkey and two types of incidence rates of occupational accidents determined by the institution were used in analysis; the first uses working hours, while the latter uses the number of employees as basis. A third type of incidence rate involving occupational deaths per 100,000 employees was used in comparing Turkey and EU, and it was found significantly higher from developed countries like EU-15 (t = −10.032, P < 0.001). Incidence of occupational accidents and indicators, such as human development index (HDI), GDP, literacy rate, and budget spending for education in Turkey between 1998 and 2014, were correlated with each other, and a significant negative relationship was found between fatal occupational accidents and literacy rate (r = −0.577, P < 0.05). Furthermore, a negative significant relationship between growth rate (GDP) and HDI (r = −0.813, P < 0.01) was observed. A positive relationship between GDP and incidence of fatal accidents was found, but it was insignificant (r = 0.502, P > 0.05). Economically growing populations can protect their workers against occupational hazards by taking effective and preventive measures for occupational health and safety.

The Relationship between Economic Development and Fatal Occupational Accidents: Evidence from Turkey

Abstract Occupational accidents are among the most important issues of the agenda of working life in Turkey recently. Recently the causes and consequences of occupational accidents which are related to human, occupational and environmental factors have received great attention from the researchers but it has been paid little attention to focused on economic factors. The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to redressing this gap by examining the relationship between fatal occupational accidents and economic development over the period of 1980 to 2012 for Turkey. In this context, bounds testing approach which is also known as autoregressive distributed lag model is performed. The results indicate the existence of positive relationship between gross domestic product per capita and fatal occupational accidents in the short-run while in the long run this turns out to be in a negative way via economic growth and changes in structure of the economy.

The Relationship between Economic Development and Fatal Occupational Accidents: Evidence from Turkey

Abstract Occupational accidents are among the most important issues of the agenda of working life in Turkey recently. Recently the causes and consequences of occupational accidents which are related to human, occupational and environmental factors have received great attention from the researchers but it has been paid little attention to focused on economic factors. The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to redressing this gap by examining the relationship between fatal occupational accidents and economic development over the period of 1980 to 2012 for Turkey. In this context, bounds testing approach which is also known as autoregressive distributed lag model is performed. The results indicate the existence of positive relationship between gross domestic product per capita and fatal occupational accidents in the short-run while in the long run this turns out to be in a negative way via economic growth and changes in structure of the economy.

Fatal accidents at work in agriculture associated with alcohol intoxication in Lower Silesia in Poland.

Determining the prevalence of alcohol intoxication and the level of intoxication in victims of fatal occupational accidents is necessary to improve work safety. The circumstances of the accident and the time between alcohol consumption and death are important factors. A retrospective review of 18 935 medico-legal autopsy reports and toxicological reports performed in the Department of Forensic Medicine at the Wroclaw Medical University, Poland, in the years 1991-2014. The study protocol included circumstances, time and cause of death, injuries, quantitative testing for the presence of ethyl alcohol, gender and age. There were 98 farm-related fatalities. There were 41.8% (N = 41) of victims who had been intoxicated - 95.1% (N = 39) of them were males aged 19-70 years old, 4,9% (N = 2) were females aged 37-65 years old. In 8 cases the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was 50-150 mg/dl; in 15 cases it was 150-250 mg/dl and in 18 cases it was > 250 mg/dl. In 21 cases, the BAC was determined using alternative material and 76% (N = 16) victims were in the alcohol elimination phase with 19% (N = 4) victims in the alcohol absorption phase. The most common causes of death were traffic accidents, drowning and deaths resulting from being caught in or hit by moving parts of machinery or equipment. Alcohol consumption is a crucial risk factor in fatal agricultural accidents. In order to establish the time of alcohol consumption, all victims of agricultural accidents should be tested for alcohol concentration in their blood and urine or vitreous. Improving safety at work requires that the sobriety of employees should be monitored before and during work. Med Pr 2017;68(1):23-30.

A review of occupational accidents and HSE management system role in their reduction

In recent years, there are technological growth and the acceleration of industrial development. Although this rapid progress plays a significant role in increasing productivity and economic prosperity, but it also creates new challenges such as health, safety and environment issues. These issues are most evident in developing countries because in order to increase production, regardless of preventive safety principles, standards, working hours, training workers and the use of proper personal protective equipment to workers are addressing excessive pressure on workers. The most people of the world (58%), spend one-third of their life in the workplace. According to the ILO hundreds of thousands of workers are seeing serious injury. Hamalaynyn et al. 98 estimated that about 350,000 fatal occupational accidents and 264 million work-related non-fatal accidents occur. However, economic valuation and pricing of the life is nothing in the last three decades and has been done using new methods. Health, safety and environment management system which is responsible for all matters relating to occupational health, environment and industrial safety of industries. HSE plays a great role in developing of countries through the basics of systematic and various factors related to health, safety and the environment. Applying the principles of HSE management can reduce costs of the employee’s absence, employee's claim and product low quality etc. Implementation of these principles is significant in two aspects: 1. Determining the causes of accidents, diseases and injuries and 2. The impact of these principles on the organization economy. In fact, HSE is an added value for organizations.

Prevalence and associated factors of occupational injuries among municipal solid waste collectors in four zones of Amhara region, Northwest Ethiopia.

BackgroundRefuse collectors are at a high risk for fatal and non-fatal occupational accidents. This is more intensified in developing countries, like Ethiopia, due to physically demanding nature of the job. However, information on occupational injuries and related factors are almost non-existent in Ethiopia. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of occupational injuries and its associated factors.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among municipal solid waste collectors in four zones of Amhara region from February to May 2015. Computer generated simple random sampling technique was used to select the samples. Interviewer administrated questionnaires were used for the data collection process. Binary logistic regression was used to assess the association between outcome variables and explanatory variables.ResultsIn this study, the annual prevalence of at least one occupational injury among solid waste workers was 34.3 % (95 % CI: 29.52, 39.10). Of these, 50.7 % of them were visited health facility to receive health care. The independent predictors of at least one occupational injury were shorter service years, low monthly salary, history of job related stress, and sleeping disturbance related to the job. Being illiterate, having lower monthly income, and those who reported sleeping disturbance were significantly and positively associated with severe occupational injuries of solid waste collectors.ConclusionThe magnitude of occupational injuries among municipal solid waste collectors is lower than other similar studies conducted in Ethiopia. Based on the finding of this and other studies, job rotation among work components, improvement of employees’ income, job specific guideline regarding maximum production limits, and replacement of bags and bins with wheeled containers are an interventions expected to cope with the problem. There is also a need of specific periodic health surveillance (PHS) for refuse collectors to detect early signs of work related complaints and to monitor work ability.

Analysis of Fatal Occupational Accidents in Turkey for the Year 2014

Normal 0 21 false false false TR X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Normal Tablo"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Human life is above all than economical values. According to ILO, a world without fatal occupational accidents is possible. Work related deaths is an important issue for Turkey as well as for many other countries. A significant upward trend in the number of workrelated deaths is seen in Turkey in recent years. In total 1886 employees lost their lives, 1857 of them as a result of occupational accidents and 29 of them as a result of occupational diseases in Turkey in 2014. This data reveals that the year 2014 is the most deadly year in terms of work accidents and occupational diseases for Turkey. Moreover, an accident which causes the most deaths in Turkish labour history occurred in 2014. A total of 301 miners lost their lives in an explosion at a coal mine on 13 May 2014 in Soma which is a district of Manisa. In this study, fatal occupational accidents in Turkey are analyzed which were happened in 2014 in order to draw attention to this problem by using the data of Istanbul Occupational Health and Safety Assembly. In addition, multi-fatal occupational accidents occurred in Turkey and the world in 2014 was investigated. Finally, several suggestions are developed under possible solution aspects.

Risk factor analysis of fatal forest harvesting accidents: A case study in Turkey

The aim of this research was to identify the major factors responsible for fatal occupational accidents in forest harvesting operations in Turkey. A model was developed which determined five main factors and forty-five sub-factors leading to accidents during forestry operations, and then the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to determine the degree of importance of the factors and sub-factors in the model. In addition, the faulty behavioural risks of several recent fatal accidents which occurred in the Western Black Sea region of Turkey were identified using the AHP model. In conclusion, personal factors (32%) and organisational factors (22%) were ranked as the two most important causes of the incidences of fatal forest harvesting accidents. Furthermore, the major effective sub-factors causing fatal accidents were found. These included positioning in dangerous zone (5.0%), carelessness (4.9%), disorderly behaviour (4.9%), and unsuitable selection of workers (4.7%). It was observed that the risk level of these recent fatal accidents exceeded the risk limit value, which ranged from 0.578 to 0.718. The analysis revealed that forest managers should assign a more important role to training and selection of workers in order to reduce the number of fatal harvesting accidents. Although the application of the model proposed in this study is specific to fatal forestry harvesting accidents, it could be modified and applied to other types of forestry accidents.

Conduite et médecine du travail

The role of the occupational physician is to prevent occupational accidents and diseases. Therefore, he is the one to decide if a worker is fit to drive in the context of his professional activity, including in cases where no specific driving license is required (e.g. forklift truck, mobile crane). This decision is an important one, as two thirds of fatal occupational accidents occur on the road. The decision is made on the basis of both a medical examination and the regulation, which indicates all contraindications to driving. The physician's responsibility is involved, as is the employer's, as he must ensure that his employee is fit to drive and possesses a valid driving license at all times.

A STUDY ON THE INFLUENCE OF JOB STRESS IN ORGANISATIONAL FACTORS

Today, occupational accidents are considered among the potential threats because of their serious humanitarian, economic, social, and environmental consequences. Occupational accidents and injuries are the third cause of mortality in world and the second one in Iran. In addition, the economic and environmental damages of occupational accidents are catastrophic too.According to International Labor Organization (ILO) report in 1999 the average estimated fatal occupational accident rate was 140/100 000 workers and the number of fatal accidents was 335000. Though the registered number of accidents in Iran cannot be a faultless account of all the accidents happened, but in 2000, about 12000 work related accidents have been registered by the Department of Social Security. Calculations indicated that approximately 345000 fatal occupational accidents occurred in 1998 and that over 260 million occupational accidents causing at least 3 days absence happened in the same year. This work aims to study the relation of occupational stress of workers and the accidents in a rice milling industry. The data was collected using questionnaire. The questionnaire contained 30 questions to measure the perception s of the employees about the management practices. A five point likert scale was used. This was prepared based on review of related literature .The contents of this draft questionnaire were discussed with senior safety professional in the industry. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 20 software. Descriptive statistics and correlations of the studied variables were first analyzed. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to verify the reliability of the management practices. Regression analysis was conducted to test the goodness of fit of the various models.

Factors associated with fatal occupational accidents among Mexican workers: a national analysis.

ObjectiveTo identify the factors associated with fatal occupational injuries in Mexico in 2012 among workers affiliated with the Mexican Social Security Institute.MethodsAnalysis of secondary data using information from the National Occupational Risk Information System, with the consequence of the occupational injury (fatal versus non-fatal) as the response variable. The analysis included 406,222 non-fatal and 1,140 fatal injuries from 2012. The factors associated with the lethality of the injury were identified using a logistic regression model with the Firth approach.ResultsBeing male (OR=5.86; CI95%: 4.22-8.14), age (OR=1.04; CI95%: 1.03-1.06), employed in the position for 1 to 10 years (versus less than 1 year) (OR=1.37; CI95%: 1.15-1.63), working as a facilities or machine operator or assembler (OR: 3.28; CI95%: 2.12- 5.07) and being a worker without qualifications (OR=1.96; CI95%: 1.18-3.24) (versus an office worker) were associated with fatality in the event of an injury. Additionally, companies classified as maximum risk (OR=1.90; CI 95%: 1.38-2.62), workplace conditions (OR=7.15; CI95%: 3.63-14.10) and factors related to the work environment (OR=9.18; CI95%:4.36-19.33) were identified as risk factors for fatality in the event of an occupational injury.ConclusionsFatality in the event of an occupational injury is associated with factors related to sociodemographics (age, sex and occupation), the work environment and workplace conditions. Worker protection policies should be created for groups with a higher risk of fatal occupational injuries in Mexico.

Autopsy evaluation of coal mining deaths in the city of Zonguldak, Turkey

BackgroundIn this study, our aim was to evaluate the fatal occupational accidents that occurred in Zonguldak coal mines between the years 2005–2008.Material/MethodsWe retrospectively evaluated 42 fatal coal mine occupational accidents in Zonguldak (Turkey) between the years 2005–2008. The forensic records of autopsies referred to the chief prosecutors’ office during 2005–2008 were reviewed retrospectively. There were 42 cases. The cases were evaluated with respect to age, mechanism of injury, body region of wound, cause of death, and legality of the mine.ResultsAges of the deceased ranged between 17 and 52 (median: 32.9 yrs). Deaths were mostly in the 21–30 (35.8%), and 31–40 (30.9%) age groups. Only 1 case was younger than 18 years of age. Review of occupational fatalities has revealed that fatal accidents occurred mostly (76.2%) in the private, and fewer (23.8%) in the public mining enterprises. Crime scene investigation findings have demonstrated that of all occupational deaths (total n=42), 27 (64.3%) were due to subsidence, followed by methane gas poisoning (n=6, 14.2%), tram crash (n=3, 7.1%), log falls (n=2, 4.8%), electrocution (n=2, 4.8%), and methane explosion (n=2, 4.8%).ConclusionsDespite laws and regulations concerning mining and because of problems in their implementation, Turkey leads the world in work-related accidents, occupational injuries, and deaths. Evaluation of autopsy findings of deaths in fatal occupational accidents occurring in coal mines is quite important in planning to decrease rates of occupational fatalities.

What fatal occupational accident investigators can learn from fatal aircraft accident investigations

Our aim is to provide an overview of what international aircraft accident investigation practises could teach fatal occupational accident (FOA) investigators. The main purpose of an accident investigation is to prevent future accidents. This aim is easier to achieve if investigations are independent; biases and external pressures can place undue influence on particular recommendations. So far, independence has been easier to achieve in aviation investigations than in fatal occupational accident investigations. In FOAs, tensions often arise between different stakeholders including but not limited to industry regulators, police agencies, industry bodies, trades unions, insurance companies, etc. There are also a host of practical problems that complicate key activities in FOA investigations, including the need to prevent the contamination of evidence in the immediate aftermath of an accident. We argue that greater emphasis needs to be placed on the independence of FOA investigations and that this will help move the emphasis of recommendations from the worker level (sharp end) to the workplace and community system level (blunt end).

LEVEL OF REGIONAL SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND LABOR SAFETY INDICATORS IN MURMANSK REGION

Calculation of incompletely produced gross regional product in case of a fatal occupational accident in the Northwestern Federal District (NFD) has been done. The territorial indicators were high in the Vologda region and the Komi Republic. Eight NFD regions of ten including the Murmansk region are in the group of high and better-than-average levels of social and economic conditions’s opportuneness for occupational safety.

Shipyard fatalities in Turkey

The objective of this paper is to investigate causes and incidence rates of 115 fatalities between 2000 and 2010 in Turkish shipyards and to propose mitigation measures. The fatality rate in Turkish shipbuilding industry is unacceptably high, being 3.5 times the average of all industry groups. Classification of fatal occupational accidents revealed five major fatality reasons for the shipbuilding industry; falling from higher elevation to a lower level, exposed to electric shock, fire and/or explosion, being struck by or struck against objects, and caught in between. The highest number of cases of fatal accidents was found among welders, blasters, painters and substructure workers. Statistically analyzed data showed that working on Mondays and Saturdays have special impact on the fatality probability. Also, the number of fatalities is highest in working temperatures above average 25°C, which covers from June through September. Strategies recommended to minimize the fatalities at shipyards are discussed. Furthermore a risk framework of fatal occupational accidents were drawn so that when working conditions are within the high risk region, extra precautions can be taken in order to minimize the occurrence of accidents and fatalities.