On-duty Injuries Research Articles

Odškodnění újmy způsobené neozbrojenému státnímu zaměstnanci služebním úrazem

The subject of this article is the regulation of compensation for injury caused by a service accident to a civil servant. It is a sad example that service law does not offer unarmed civil servants a better regulation of injury compensation, even if they have suffered such injury because of the violence of a client to whom they were providing services in the interest of the Czech Republic. In conclusion, it is noted that even the Czech Republic cannot afford to squander the potential of its civil servants by not providing them with tangible benefits in the event of an on-duty injury, as such civil servants will not normally be motivated to perform their civil service effectively. We use the Swiss regulation and case law to depict that Swiss case law is and should be an inspiration even for Czech judges. A key observation concerns Swiss case law on the test applied in assessing whether or not mental illness is an occupational disease.

0179 Poor Sleep Quality Increases Odds of On-Duty Injuries in Policing

Abstract Introduction Shiftwork is inevitable in law enforcement. Officers are scheduled around-the-clock to protect and serve communities. Many police departments are also understaffed; consequentially, officers’ work schedules often include long work hours. Shift work and long work hours can result in sleep loss, poor sleep quality, and fatigue. In turn, these factors can impair police officers’ operational performance. We investigated whether sleep loss and poor sleep quality increase odds of on-duty injuries or disciplinary actions in policing. Methods Officers (n=113) that started their careers as police officers at the Buffalo Police Department between 1994–2001 were studied. Work and injury data were obtained for each officer starting with their hire date and continuing day-by-day for 15-years. Between 2004–2009, officers reported any disciplinary actions in the prior two years and their sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Survey Screen for Apnea. Data were analyzed using logistic regression with logit link functions (PROC GLIMMIX, SAS 9.4). Covariates included sex, ethnicity, experience, shift type, workload, and secondary employment. Results Seventy-four percent of officers had poor sleep quality (PSQI global score ≥ 5). Officers with poorer sleep quality had greater odds of injury (OR=1.3 [95% CI: 1.0–1.5], p=0.03). Officers’ sleep duration was not a significant predictor of injuries (OR=1.0 [95% CI: 0.3–3.2], p=0.96). Officers with sleep disturbances (OR=3.5 [95% CI: 1.0–11.8], p<0.05) and/or using sleep medications (OR=15.7 [95% CI: 2.8–89.3], p<0.01) had higher odds of injury. None of the variables were significant predictors of disciplinary actions. Conclusion Poor sleep quality was prevalent among the officers. The natures of the injuries were likely multi-factorial and complex. Notwithstanding, poor sleep quality was associated with higher odds of on-duty injuries. The source of officers’ sleep disturbances (e.g. shift work, insomnia, and/or policing-related stresses) remains to be determined. Support CDC/NIOSH grant 1R01OH009640-01A1; NIJ grant 2005-FS-BX-0004

An investigation of on-duty injuries in industry and their relation to the working situation

No abstract available

Sleep, Obesity, and Injury Among US Male Career Firefighters.

The aim of this study was to determine the role of obesity on the association between sleep and on-duty injury among male career firefighters. Data on 1419 male career firefighters for this cross-sectional study came from two firefighter cohorts from 2008 to 2013. On-duty injury within the past 6 to 12 months was the dependent variable and getting enough sleep was the independent variable. A multivariable, mixed effect logistic regression model stratified by body mass index (BMI) categories was created to examine the presence of effect measure modification. Only obese firefighters who did not get enough sleep were twice as likely to have an on-duty injury than those who got enough sleep. This association was not significant among normal or overweight firefighters. Future studies into on-duty injury and sleep should examine body composition as an effect modifier among career firefighters.

On-Duty Nonfatal Injury that Lead to Work Absences Among Police Officers and Level of Perceived Stress.

We examined prevalence, frequency, duration, and recency of injury leave and the association of duty-related injury with perceived stress in U.S. police officers. This cross-sectional study contained 422 active duty police officers from a mid-sized urban police department. For each participating officer, work history records were used to assess on-duty injuries that lead to work absences. Linear regression analyses were used for analyses. Most participants had experienced at least one injury (62%), and among those injured, 67% experienced more than one duty-related injury. The average number of injuries per officer was three (range 1 to 12). There was a significant linear trend in mean perceived stress across injury count even after adjusting for age, rank, and sex (P = 0.025). Findings suggest that work-related injury is common and repeated work-related injuries are psychologically distressing in U.S. police officers.

Fatigue and on-duty injury among police officers: The BCOPS study

IntroductionPolicing involves inherent physical and psychological dangers as well as occupational stressors that could lead to chronic fatigue. Although accounts of adverse events associated with police fatigue are not scarce, literature on the association between chronic fatigue and on-duty injury are limited. Methods: Participants were officers from the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) Study. A 10-item questionnaire was administered to assess how tired or energetic the officers generally felt irrespective of sleep hours or workload. The questionnaire consisted of five positively worded and five negatively phrased items that measured feelings of vigor/energy and tiredness, respectively. Total as well as separate scores for positive and negative items were computed by summing scores of individual items. Payroll records documenting each officer's work history were used to assess occurrence of injury. Poisson regression was used to estimate prevalence ratios (PR) of injury. Results: Nearly 40% of officers reported feeling drained. Overall prevalence of on-duty injury during the past year was 23.9%. Injury prevalence showed a significant increasing trend across tertiles of total fatigue score: 19.6, 21.7, and 30.8% for lowest, middle and highest tertiles, respectively (trend p-value=0.037). After controlling for potential confounders, a 5-unit increase in total fatigue score was associated with a 12% increase in prevalence of injury which was marginally significant (p=0.075). A 5-unit increase in fatigue score of the positively worded items was associated with a 33% increase in prevalence of injury (PR=1.33, 95% CI: 1.04–1.70, p=0.022). Conclusion: Officers who do not feel active, full of vigor, alert, or lively had a significantly higher prevalence of non-fatal work place injury compared to their counter parts. Practical applications: With additional prospective evidence, workplace interventions designed to enhance level of energy may reduce feelings of tiredness and hence may prevent workplace injury.

Characteristics of Workplace Injuries among Nineteen Thousand Korean Firefighters.

To determine the actual firefighter injury statistics in Korea, we conducted a survey on the nature of on-duty injuries among all male firefighters in Korea. We distributed questionnaires to all Korean male firefighters via email, and data from the 19,119 workers that responded were used for data analysis. The job types were categorized into fire suppression, emergency medical service (EMS) and officers. As estimated of age standardized injury prevalence per one thousand workers, 354 fire extinguishing personnel, 533 EMS workers, and 228 officers experienced one or more injuries during the previous 12 months. The odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of injuries was 1.86 (1.61–2.15) for fire suppression and 2.93 (2.51–3.42) for EMS personnel compared to officers after adjusting for age, marital status, smoking habit and career period. Age standardized absence days from work due to injuries per one thousand workers were 1,120, 1,337, and 676 for fire suppression, EMS and officers, respectively. Car accident (24.5%) was the most common cause and wound (42.3%) was the most common type of injuries. Our nationwide representative study showed that fire suppression and EMS workers are at greater risk of on-duty injuries compared to officers. We observed different injury characteristics compared to those reported in other countries.

Physically Demanding Jobs and Occupational Injury and Disability in the U.S. Army

Effective job assignments should take into account physical capabilities to perform required tasks. Failure to do so is likely to result in increased injuries and musculoskeletal disability. To evaluate the association between job demands and health outcomes among U.S. Army soldiers. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis is used to describe associations between job demands, hospitalizations, and disability among 261,096 enlisted Army soldiers in heavily, moderately, and lightly physically demanding occupations (2000-2005) who were followed for up to 5 years. Controlling for gender, race, and age, soldiers in heavily demanding jobs were at increased risk for any-cause injury, on-duty injuries, any-cause hospitalizations, and any-cause disability, but not for musculoskeletal disability. Army job assignments should more accurately match physical capabilities to job demands and/or jobs should be redesigned to reduce injuries. Though musculoskeletal disorders are often the result of acute injury, the demographic and occupational risk patterns differ from acute injury.

The Physician's Role in On-Duty Injury Claims

Case A father of three and the sole provider for his family, KC is a loading dock maintenance worker at Peterson Memorial Hospital. He presents to the Department of Employee Health Services complaining of severe lower lumbar pain, and tells the Health Services physician that he injured his back while shifting heavy boxes around on the dock. The Health Services physician advises KC to seek treatment with his primary care physician, Dr. Carlson. Dr. Carlson has been KC's physician for many years, and the 2 enjoy a close and trusting patient-physician relationship.

Injuries on the fireground: risk factors for traumatic injuries among professional fire fighters.

This case-control study within a metropolitan fire department evaluated the effect of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and other risk factors on three types of injury at the scene of a fire (smoke inhalation, burns, and falls). Data on 75 injured fire fighters and 144 controls came from telephone interviews and department records. The two sets of uninjured fire-fighter controls were matched to cases on incident (n = 72) or on job position and fire type and size (n = 72). Smoke inhalation cases were not significantly different from controls in SCBA use, cigarette smoking, previous fires in the shift, or injury history. Jobs with high risk of burns included nozzle operator, engine officer, and forcible-entry person in first-due companies (OR = 20.1). Other risk factors for burns were: basement origin of fire (OR = 10.2); prior fire-fighting training outside the present department (same fire: OR = 11.2; similar fire: OR = 3.9); and on-duty injury in the prior 12 months (same fire: OR = 4.3; similar fire: OR = 3.5). When other risk factors were considered, consistent SCBA use was associated with falls (same fire: OR = 11.8; similar fire: OR = 4.3) but not with burns. Risk of falls also was elevated among members of truck companies (OR = 17.7) and fire fighters without children (same fire: OR = 8.4; similar fire: OR = 7.4). On-duty injury in the past 12 months was associated with falls when one compared cases with similar-fire controls (OR = 5.5), but not with controls attending the same fire. Neither age nor experience was related to injury in this population.

Accidental injuries among naval personnel by occupation, duty status, and pay grade

The relative incidence of accidental injury for Navy enlisted men during 1974–1977 was analyzed for 68 occupations, three pay grade or job responsibility levels, and duty status (on or off duty) at the time of the injury. Thirteen “blue-collar”, predominantly sea-going or construction occupations, were significantly higher than the Navy injury rate norm and 26 “white-collar” occupations, typically in clerical, supply, administrative or technical specialties, were significantly lower than the Navy norm. An inverse linear relationship was found between injury rate and job responsibility for all occupations combined. This relationship varied by occupation, however, suggesting that experience and familiarity with the work environment may not moderate risks to the same degree in all occupational fields. Occupations with high on-duty injury rates tended to have high off-duty rates as well, suggesting at least some common causal factors.