Higher Incidence Of Accidents Research Articles

Enhancing intersection safety: Testing measures to reduce law violations in Loja (Ecuador)

This study evaluates the effectiveness of measures aimed at reducing traffic violations, specifically focusing on wrong-way driving, at intersections in Loja, Ecuador. The high incidence of accidents at these intersections, often resulting from wrong-way driving and non-compliance with traffic regulations, underscores the critical need for effective strategies to enhance road safety. To address this issue, we adopted a multidisciplinary approach to assess the impact of two specific interventions: the implementation of official warnings and the presence of traffic officers at a selected intersection. Data collection involved recording instances of traffic violations, administering road safety surveys, and monitoring the implementation of these interventions. The post-implementation analysis sought to determine the effect of these measures on driver behavior and overall traffic safety. Our findings indicate that while the interventions succeeded in increasing awareness about traffic violations, they did not produce a significant reduction in undesirable driving behaviors. This suggests that, although the presence of warnings and traffic officers is beneficial in raising awareness, these measures alone may not be sufficient to effect substantial behavioral changes. The research provides valuable insights for the development of more comprehensive road safety strategies and emphasizes the need for further studies to explore and address the underlying causes of traffic violations.

Analysis of Road Traffic Accidents in Dense Cities: Geotech Transport and ArcGIS

Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) provide a substantial risk to both public safety and infrastructure within severe earthquake zones. This research aims to provide a thorough analysis of the many elements that contribute to RTAs in the area. Although research on RTAs has been conducted in numerous settings, there is a lack of localized research specifically focused on developing countries. Therefore, this study is necessary to address this gap in literature. Our study focuses on examining the distinct issues and elements that are particular to this specific location. The objective is to provide customized solutions that effectively reduce the occurrence of accidents. The objective of this study is to examine the status of RTAs, ascertain the main factors contributing to RTAs, and provide viable approaches to improve road safety. A comprehensive study of data was undertaken, which included the examination of key highways, accident-prone areas, and causes contributing to accidents. Insights were derived by the use of statistical analysis, hotspot mapping, and the categorization of incidents. The results revealed a distressing roadway are afflicted by a significant frequency of accidents, even those occurring on prominent thoroughfares. Excessive speed has been revealed as the primary contributing factor, closely followed by negligence and recklessness. The common factor seen in these events was the insufficient enforcement of traffic regulations. The research highlights several practical consequences. Firstly, it is advised to implement urgent actions such as the upgrading of the traffic database, the adoption of contemporary traffic management software, and the enforcement of rigorous traffic laws. The establishment of a comprehensive centralized database system is crucial in order to enhance the documenting and management of accidents. Furthermore, the use of cost-benefit analysis provides justification for the adoption of traffic calming measures in locations with a high incidence of accidents. Furthermore, the implementation of continuous road safety awareness efforts and the establishment of clear legislative guidelines pertaining to fatal accidents are imperative measures in promoting enhanced road safety.

Data-driven automatic classification model for construction accident cases using natural language processing with hyperparameter tuning

The construction industry, while vital to societal progress, is marred by a high incidence of accidents and injuries. Manual classification of accident cases is intensive and susceptible to human bias. This study addresses this challenge by developing an automated accident case classification system for the construction industry using Natural Language Processing and machine learning techniques. This study was conducted using the following steps: (1) Establishment of dataset (2) Korean Natural Language Processing (3) Selection of machine learning models (4) Model evaluation. The models exhibited competitive performance, demonstrating high accuracy, precision, and recall rates across all classification tasks. XGBoost outperformed NB, SVM, and KNN for accident type, facility type, and work type with accuracy of 0.80, 0.56, and 0.67, respectively. The results also provided insights into the factors influencing accident classification. This study contributes to construction safety by providing a data-driven foundation for safety decision-making, resource allocation, and benchmarking.

Investigation of Car following and Lane Changing Behavior in Diverging Areas of Tunnel–Interchange Connecting Sections Based on Driving Simulation

Tunnel–interchange connecting sections pose significant safety challenges on mountainous expressways due to their high incidence of accidents. Improving road safety necessitates a comprehensive understanding of driver behavior in such areas. This study explores the influences of road characteristics, signage information volume, and traffic conditions on drivers’ car-following and lane-changing behavior in tunnel–interchange diverging areas. Utilizing driving data from 25 subjects of 72 simulated road models, driving performance is assessed using the Friedman rank test and multivariate variance analysis. The results highlight the significant influence of both connection distance and signage information load on driving behavior. In tunnel–interchange scenarios, the reduction in velocity increased by 62.61%, and speed variability surged by 61.11%, indicating potential adverse effects on driving stability due to the environmental transitions. Decreased connection distances are associated with reduced lane-changing durations, larger steering angles, and increased failure rates. Furthermore, every two units of increase in signage information leads to a 13.16% rise in maximum deceleration and a 5% increase in time headway. Notably, the signage information volume shows a significant interaction with connection distance (F > 1.60, p < 0.045) for most car-following indicators. Hence, the study recommends a maximum connection distance of 700 m and signage information not exceeding nine units for optimal safety and stability.

Lightweight Tunnel Obstacle Detection Based on Improved YOLOv5.

Considering the high incidence of accidents at tunnel construction sites, using robots to replace humans in hazardous tasks can effectively safeguard their lives. However, most robots currently used in this field require manual control and lack autonomous obstacle avoidance capability. To address these issues, we propose a lightweight model based on an improved version of YOLOv5 for obstacle detection. Firstly, to enhance detection speed and reduce computational load, we modify the backbone network to the lightweight Shufflenet v2. Secondly, we introduce a coordinate attention mechanism to enhance the network's ability to learn feature representations. Subsequently, we replace the neck convolution block with GSConv to improve the model's efficiency. Finally, we modify the model's upsampling method to further enhance detection accuracy. Through comparative experiments on the model, the results demonstrate that our approach achieves an approximately 37% increase in detection speed with a minimal accuracy reduction of 1.5%. The frame rate has improved by about 54%, the parameter count has decreased by approximately 74%, and the model size has decreased by 2.5 MB. The experimental results indicate that our method can reduce hardware requirements for the model, striking a balance between detection speed and accuracy.

Magnitude of dural tear and its associated factors among patients with depressed skull fracture.

Trauma is a huge problem seen in developed countries as well as developing countries. Head injury is a major factor responsible for mortality in young populations. Up to 6% of all head injuries and 11% of severe head traumas might result in a depressed skull fracture (DSF), a catastrophic injury. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of dural tear and to identify its predictors. A retrospective review of medical records of all patients operated on for DSFs at the University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital from 1 January 2021 to 1 January 2023 G.C. (Gregorian calendar) was conducted. A total of 163 patients were included in the study. A total of 163 patients [136 men (83.4%) and 27 women (16.6%)] had a mean age of 23.9 with a standard deviation of 14.8 (range from 3 to 65). Patients with penetrating injuries (missiles, axes) were excluded. The majority, 153 (93.9%) of the patients, were younger than 50 years of age. Physical assault accounted for 102 (62.5%) of the cases. Of the assaulted cases, 62 (38%) were assaulted by stone, 32 (19.6%) by stick, and 8 (5%) by other objects (beer bottle and shovel). Bleeding from the trauma site in 124 (76.1%), headache in 76 (46.6%), loss of consciousness in 75 (46%), and vomiting in 72 (44.2%) were the most common presentations. Based on the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), 123 (75%) patients had mild head injuries. Based on the site of fracture, frontal depressions are the most common (61, 37.4%), followed by parietal depressions (53, 32.5%). With regard to the associated injuries, brain contusion was seen in 52 (32%), epidural hematoma (EDH) in 26 (16%), subdural hematoma in 3 (1.8%), and intraventricular hemorrhage/subarachnoid hemorrhage (IVH/SAH) in 3 (1.8%). The median duration of presentation was 15h, with an interquartile range (IQR) of 8-24 (1-96h). From the multivariable logistic regression, brain contusion and EDH were significantly associated with dural tear. The rules of our culture are reflected in the higher incidence of accidents and fractures among men. Physical assault, particularly with stones, was the most common cause of DSFs. Frontal depressions were the most common site of fracture, followed by parietal fractures. Brain contusion and EDH were significantly associated with dural tears. School-aged children are more vulnerable to injuries from horse or donkey kicks and falls.

Acidentes de Trabalho em Hospital Central: uma visão holística

Introduction All over the world, workers are exposed to hazards in the workplace, which can result in accidents. Hospitals are environments rich in dangers and, therefore, Work accidents are more likely to occur with subsequent musculoskeletal injuries, or risk of transmission of biological agents. Objectives To know the characteristics of accidents in the work context that occur in a Central Hospital. By describing and analyzing them, it is possible to make an adequate risk assessment, allowing in the future to adopt preventive measures that reduce or eliminate the existing dangers in the hospital environment. Materials and methods Observational, cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study. As a data collection instrument, a database belonging to the Occupational Health Service of a Central Hospital, with information on injured Health Professionals, was used. Only mechanical accidents or those with exposure to biological fluids were selected. The normality of the distributions was tested and the Chi-Square, Fisher or Mann-Whitney tests were applied, considering the significance level for rejection of the null hypothesis of 5%. Results A total of 265 Work Accidents were analyzed, 36.2% mechanical and the remaining with exposure to biological fluids. The groups with the highest number of victims were the nurses (49.4%) and aged between 21 and 30 years (36.2%). Between January and March 2021 there was a peak in the number of accidents (n=51) and the median time from admission to the occurrence of the accident was lower in those who had exposure to biological fluids compared to mechanical ones. The attribution of Absolute Temporary Disability to the victims was 84.5%, highlighting that there were no associations between independent variables and the attribution of temporary disability (absolute or partial). Discussion and conclusions The characteristics of the population that suffered Work Accidents at the Central Hospital under analysis is identical to those of other studies. During the peak of hospitalizations in the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of accidents in the Hospital increased, suggesting that the pandemic and the associated high workload may be a possible cause. The high incidence of accidents with exposure to biological fluids, in professionals with less experience, may be related to the lack of dexterity in the handling of materials and equipment and the high attribution of Absolute Temporary Incapacity can be attributed to the low notification of less serious accidents. In this way, the Occupational Health Service should intercede with the Health Professionals to promote the notification of accidents, particularly the less serious ones that are often devalued, allowing to take measures to minimize these events. It will be important to strengthen preventive measures, which, considering the characteristics of accidents, may be the use of equipment or materials for the mobilization of loads, use of appropriate footwear, improvement of the Hospital’s infrastructures, awareness of existing risks and, especially in accidents with exposure to biological fluids, training to improve the technical skills of professionals in the handling of materials and equipment. No predictors were identified for the existence of temporary disability after a Work Accident, studies with a larger target population, an increase in time span and, eventually, longitudinal studies to identify possible associations are recommended. KEY WORDS: Musculoskeletal Injuries, Biological Agents, Work Accidents, Risk Assessment, COVID-19.

Lesões Músculo-esqueléticas relacionadas com os Acidentes de Trabalho: Avaliação diagnóstica numa empresa transformadora

Introduction Workers’ Safety, Health and Well-being should be the concerns for millions of professionals around the world, but the issue extends beyond individuals and their families, being extremely important for the productivity, competitiveness and sustainability of businesses and communities. Portugal is one of the countries with the highest rates of non-fatal Work Accidents in Europe, with Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders being the most common Occupational Health problem, having consequences for absenteeism and productivity falls. Objectives To analyse work accidents in a manufacturing industry in northern Portugal between 2018 and the first half of 2020; to describe the Musculoskeletal Disorders associated with work accidents. Methods Exploratory, retrospective and descriptive quantitative study. According to the inclusion criteria defined, a sample of 798 workers who suffered 1076 Occupational Accidents was selected. The data sources were the company’s workplace Accident records platform and data from the insurer. A data collection form has been created which included characterization of Work Accidents, organization and workload, causes and consequences of the accident at work and imputed costs. A descriptive analysis was made using SPSS 26.0 program. Results The 1076 work accidents affected 798 workers, observing that in 298 situations there are employees with more than one accident. On weekdays, most of the Accidents occurred in the Morning Shift (36.2%), with more Accidents occurring in the last quarter of the Shift (28.9%). The Production Department Vulcanization has a higher incidence of Accidents (34.6) followed by the Engineering Department Vulcanization (30.5). At the Weekend there was a lower absolute frequency of Work Accidents, however, are the Weekend teams in rotating Shifts that have a higher percentage of Accidents, especially when working weekdays rotating Shifts. The most frequent Injuries were wounds and superficial injuries (45.6%) and dislocations, sprains and strains (40.8%), with the Body’s Upper extremities being the most affected with 42%. Accidents at work represented a direct cost of EUR 967 799.53. Conclusion This study allowed the Department’s characterization and Jobs with the highest incidence of Work Accidents, Musculoskeletal Injuries resulting from them and the Shifts’ relevance in the occurrence of claims. These data allow us to identify the critical points to delineate an intervention plan directed to the identified specificities. Faced with this problem, it is essential to adopt effective preventive measures, interventions and strategies in order to reduce the occurrence of Occupational Accidents, contributing to the Workers Health and Well-being, and Occupational Health Services should play a preponderant role in the areas of investigation and prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders resulting from Occupational Accidents. KEYWORDS: Work Accidents; Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSD); Occupational Health.

Incidence related to accidents caused by venomous animals in the Northeast Region of Brazil: a spatial approach and spatio-temporal retrospective (2008 to 2017)

Accidents with venomous animals correspond to the second cause of epidemiological notification in Brazil, with around 140 thousand cases registered in recent years, which constitutes a serious public health problem. This study aimed to analyze the epidemiological profile and the spatial and spatio-temporal patterns of the incidence of accidents by venomous animals in the Northeast region of Brazil, from 2008 to 2017. We carried out an epidemiological and observational study of an ecological nature, with tools for spatial analysis. To do so, we calculated the incidence rate of cases. The occurrence of spatial autocorrelation was verified and the spatial KullDorff statistics were used to identify risk clusters. A total of 486,001 cases were reported, of which 50.1% (244,122) of those affected were female, the age group most affected by accidents was >60 years, 70.6% (343,295) of accidents were caused by scorpions and 14.7% (71,620) by snakes. The state of Bahia had the highest number of accidents, followed by Pernambuco and Alagoas. The highest incidence rates are observed mainly in the states of Alagoas, Pernambuco, Maranhão and Bahia. There was an increase in accidents in the period studied. In addition, this study shows that the use of space tools collaborate positively to identify locations with a high incidence of accidents by venomous animals.

Driving behavior of L3 autonomous vehicle drivers in fog zones under different traffic flow conditions

The foggy freeway is a scenario with a high incidence of accidents. Different traffic flow conditions will affect the driving behavior of conditionally autonomous vehicle drivers in the foggy areas of the freeway. In this study, the experiment was carried out by using the driving simulation system. Forty-two participants drove on a foggy freeway according to two traffic conditions and two non-driving related tasks. Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test and Survival Analysis were applied to explore the impact. The results show that the effects of different non-driving related tasks on driving behavior are mainly concentrated in the takeover process; The deceleration reaction time of the free flow (6.04 s) is much lower than that of bound flow (9.40 s); In the condition of bound flow, the driver is more inclined to slow down without braking. Potential application areas of this research comprise safety assessment of conditional autonomous driving and formulating autonomous driving policy.

Study on Risk Tolerance of Passenger Car Drivers Aged 18–25

A universal problem of the impact of behaviour of less experienced young drivers on the rate of road accidents referring to the Russian Federation in comparison to other countries.In the Russian Federation, in recent years, there has been a decrease in the total number of road accidents and in the number of deaths in them. This speaks of the effective preventive work of the traffic police and other related services, but at the same time, a fairly large number of car accidents persists.One problem is the high incidence of accidents among inexperienced young drivers. According to research conducted in different countries, the likelihood of road accidents is especially high during the first year after obtaining a driver’s license. The overwhelming majority of drivers responsible for road accidents with less than six months of driving experience belong to the age category of 18–25 years. One of the main reasons for the increased likelihood of road accidents is their excessive risk inclination.It is obvious that risky driving is common in young people, which also affects the operation of the car. Risk inclination is directly related to the number of errors made, which significantly increases the likelihood of an accident.Objective of the work was to assess the risk tolerance among drivers aged 18–25 years. Research methods comprise a survey of young people of the indicated age and the analysis of the results obtained. The figures obtained during the survey indicate that the majority of respondents (82 %) have a «mean level of risk tolerance». But there are also quite a few «risky drivers» (15 %). Moreover, these 15 % are in the youngest age group from 18 to 21 years old. Based on the results of the work, it is proposed: during training at a driving school, the future driver should receive not only theoretical knowledge and practical driving lessons, but also undergo a psychological analysis to determine his fitness to participate in road traffic; introduce certain restrictions «for young and novice drivers» into the Road Traffic Regulations. It is necessary to limit the permitted power of the car and the permissible speed (adoption of a multiplying coefficient for fines for speeding), prohibit the use of the car in the dark and in difficult road conditions, as well as passenger transportation.

91756 A participatory approach to develop regional health priorities for clinical and translational research

ABSTRACT IMPACT: Regional health issues can be best addressed at the population-level and input from the communities is vital for prioritization of health issues. OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The Great Plains IDeA-CTR (GP IDeA-CTR) was developed to increase clinical and translational research (CTR) that can address regional health priorities. Here we describe a collaborative process used to identify regional health priorities using existing surveillance data and community input. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We used a participatory approach that included a partnership between the GP IDeA CTR Community-Engagement and Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design Cores to ensure priorities were data driven and also aligned with community-based perceptions of need. First, aggregated surveillance data across Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota was presented to the GP IDeA CTR Community Advisory Board (CAB). Second, CAB members formed small groups and considered the information and generated priority health area lists. Third, small group lists were considered and discussed by the full CAB to finalize priority areas. Finally, the CAB reviewed the priorities annually thereafter. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We identified priority areas for CTR that included (1) behavioral health, (2) injury prevention, (3) obesity, (4) technology to improve health care access, (5) connecting clinical/community services, and (5) addressing health disparities. These priorities align with population-based surveillance data that show lack of mental health care access, high prevalence of obesity, higher incidence of accidents, and existing racial, ethnic, and geographic health disparities. The CAB highlighted that research was also needed to improve how people can access the health innovations developed through CTR to address the other priority health issues with a goal to have an impact on population health. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF FINDINGS: By integrating data- and community-driven approaches we identified regional health priority areas that if addressed, can have significant impact in the GP IDeA CTR region. The priorities are listed on all GP IDeA-CTR funding announcements to encourage CTR in these areas.

Animais peçonhentos do estado do Piauí: epidemiologia dos acidentes e lista de espécies de importância médica

Cases of poisoning have increased considerably in Brazil, however for state of Piauí only two studies were carried out so far. Here, we investigated, through the notification forms, the epidemiological characteristics of cases of poisoning that occurred during 11 years in a macro-region of Picos, state of Piauí, Northeastern Brazil. Furthermore, we also check whether the species recorded in the notification forms correspond to the species that occur in the region. We recorded 1.249 cases of envenomations, being 41% caused by scorpions, 35% caused by snakes and 24% caused by spiders. Most cases (arachnids = 99%, scorpions = 93%, snakes = 52%) there was no identification of species causing the accident. Most of the victims of the accidents (66%) were male individuals between 18 and 24 years from rural areas, stung during field activities in the rainy season (January-March). The most common injury sites were the lower limbs (37%) and the majority (53%) of the accidents was the mild type. This is the first study that reports the epidemiological profile of a series of envenomations (including arachnids and snakes) during 11 years of records in the state of Piauí. Furthermore, we also present the first list of species of arachnids and snakes of medical importance to the state. Our results demonstrate that there was a high incidence of accidents by venomous animals in the Center-South region of the state, most of the records was not notified in SINAN, most records does not present the identification of the species responsible for the accident, and there are records whose species was incorrectly identified.

A space-time varying graph for modelling places and events in a network

ABSTRACTModelling topological relationships between places and events is challenging especially because these relationships are dynamic, and their evolutionary analysis relies on the explanatory power of representing their interactions across different temporal resolutions. In this paper, we introduce the Space-Time Varying Graph (STVG) based on the whole graph approach that combines directed and bipartite subgraphs with a time-tree for representing the complex interaction between places and events across time. We demonstrate how the proposed STVG can be exploited to identify and extract evolutionary patterns of traffic accidents using graph metrics, ad-hoc graph queries and clustering algorithms. The results reveal evolutionary patterns that uncover the places with high incidence of accidents over different time resolutions, reveal the main reasons why the traffic accidents have occurred, and disclose evolving communities of densely connected traffic accidents over time.

Voluntary Product Safety Certification

This paper describes the incentives for firms to seek voluntary product safety certifications. We consider a firm that makes the decision of whether or not to seek certification prior to selling the product. We show that even when the firm and the consumers have the same beliefs about the product’s safety, there are incentives for the firm to seek safety certification. The main analysis investigates the role of consumer moral hazard and shows that it can lead to greater incentives for voluntary certification when inherent product safety and effort are substitutes, but smaller incentives when they are complements. The analysis of consumer moral hazard provides a nuanced perspective on the so-called risk compensation or the “Peltzman effect” phenomenon, which postulates higher levels of accidents for safer products. In our paper, products that are successfully certified can end up with a higher incidence of accidents. We also uncover an interesting nonmonotonic relationship between effectiveness of consumers’ effort and the firm’s incentives to seek certification. Finally, we find that certification can be welfare enhancing in the presence of consumer moral hazard. This paper was accepted by Matthew Shum, marketing.

Voluntary Product Safety Certification

This paper describes the incentives for firms to seek voluntary product safety certifications. We consider a firm which makes the decision of whether or not to seek certification prior to selling the product. We show that, even when the firm and the consumers have same beliefs about the product safety there are incentives for the firm to seek safety certification. The main analysis investigates the role of consumer moral hazard and shows that it can lead to greater incentives for voluntary certification when inherent product safety and effort are substitutes, but smaller incentives when they are complements. The analysis of consumer moral hazard provides a nuanced perspective on the so-called risk-compensation or the “Peltzman effect” phenomenon which postulates higher levels of accident for safer products. In our paper, products that are successfully certified can end up with higher incidence of accidents. We also uncover an interesting non-monotonic relationship between effectiveness of consumers’ effort and the firm’s incentives to seek certification. Finally, we find that certification can be welfare enhancing in the presence of consumer moral hazard.

Unions, Health and Safety Committees, and Workplace Accidents in the Korean Manufacturing Sector.

BackgroundDespite the declining trend of workplace accidents in Republic of Korea, its level is still quite high compared with that in other developed countries. Factors that are responsible for high workplace accidents have not been well documented in Republic of Korea. The main purpose of this paper is to estimate the effects of unions and health and safety committees on workplace accidents in Korean manufacturing firms. We also allow for the interactions between unions and health and safety committees in the analysis. The results obtained in this paper will not only contribute to the literature in this field, but might also be useful for employers and worker representatives who are trying to find an effective way to reduce workplace accidents.MethodsThis paper utilizes the 2012 Occupational Safety and Health Trend Survey data, which is a unique data set providing information on workplace injuries and illness as well as other characteristics of participatory firms, representative of the manufacturing industry in Republic of Korea.ResultsIn estimating the effects of unions and health and safety committees, we build a negative binomial regression model in which the interactions between unions and health and safety committees are permissible in reducing workplace accidents.ConclusionHealth and safety committees were found to reduce the incidence of accidents whereas unionized establishments have higher incidence of accidents than nonunionized establishments. We also found that health and safety committees can more effectively reduce accidents in nonunionized establishments. By contrast, nonexclusive joint committees can more effectively reduce accidents in unionized establishments.

Characterization of Publications on Burns in Brazil and Changes Resulting from Trauma in Brazil: Systematic Review of the Literature

Objective: Characterize the profile of scientific publications on burns in Brazil and systemic changes resulting from the trauma. Methods and results: This is a bibliographical, retrospective and descriptive research with a quantitative approach. It was held between April and May, 2016 in the databases Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences (LILACS); Nursing Database (BDENF); Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and the Journal Portal of Higher Education Personnel Improvement Coordination (CAPES). After the analysis of the inclusion criteria (articles available in full, in Portuguese, published between 2011 and 2015), there were 49 productions, and 16 were selected. Analyzing the sample for the event characteristics, it was observed a higher incidence of accidents in males. The main causes of burns were heated by liquid, followed by direct flame. Regarding the classification, the most frequent injury was the 2nd degree, but also there were burns reports with mixed classification. Also, the upper limbs and trunk were the body parts most affected. In addition to these data, it was also highlighted the most frequent types of systemic changes caused by burns, which were respiratory complications, infection and/or sepsis and metabolic sequels.  Conclusion: The study showed the need to characterize of the publications in burns, since the crossing of this information provides a better understanding of the main causal factors, distribution and identification of risk groups. It also enables the planning of prevention strategies to help to reduce accidents, favoring the reduction of injuries and the number of hospitalizations. Moreover, it is extremely important that health professionals know about the epidemiological profile, to provide support in the evaluation and organization of care, and to prevention campaigns, aiming to decrease burn rates. Keywords: Profile; Burns; Burn Units.

A Virtual Reality Safety Training System for Coal Mining Industry

The high incidence of accidents and fatalities in the coal mining industry is often attributed to ineffective training methods. To improve the training quality,virtual reality simulation has applied to improve the effectiveness of the training. This paper presents a VR-based system for coal mining safety training. System can provide the intuitive approach for studying of the safety knowledge, and provide the interactive exercises for learning self-rescue and escape in the disasters. An architecture is proposed for customize new training mission quickly. The requirements of functions in the system have been discussed. The implemented system has proved that virtual reality training has the potential to provide more meaningful and effective training to address the identified safety needs in coal mining industry.

Comparison of Road Traffic Injury Characteristics between Local versus Floating Migrant Patients in a Tertiary Hospital between 2007 and 2010

BackgroundThe aim of this study is to give a description of the road traffic injuries (RTIs) characteristics of floating migrant population by comparing with those of local residents in a harbor city of China.MethodsA population-based descriptive study was carried out between 2007 and 2010 with RTI patient records from the Fifth Center Hospital of Tianjin. Inpatient diagnoses of RTI patients were defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes. We analyzed the demographics and general characteristics of RTI patients that were in the hospital during the four years. In order to compare the group differences between local resident patients and floating migrant patients, the distribution of their ages, diagnoses, severity of injuries, duration of inpatient stays, hospitalization cost were analyzed.ResultsPeople between the ages of 16 and 55 were the most likely to suffer RTIs. The floating migrant patients between the ages of 16 and 45 had a higher incidence of accidents, while local resident patients between 46 and 55 had a higher incidence of accidents. Compared to local resident patients, floating migrant patients were more vulnerable to open injuries and severe traffic injuries. With the severity of injuries ranked from mild to severe, floating migrant patients had lower duration of inpatient stay, but higher hospitalization costs compared to local resident patients.ConclusionsFloating migrant patients had a different age distribution, severity of injuries, diseases, inpatient duration and hospitalization cost compared with local resident patients. Compared to local resident patients, floating migrants had a higher risk to RTIs and were more vulnerable to severer traffic accidents at lower ages.