Hofmann Jonathan, Snyder Karen, Keifer Matthew
Department of Epidemiology, Box 357236, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195-7236, USA.
Occup Med (Lond). 2006 Jun;56(4):251-7. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kql018. Epub 2006 Apr 20.
Previous studies have reported high rates of occupational injury and illness among workers in the tree fruit industry. However, many common and preventable risk factors and conditions in orchards have not been investigated.
To identify and rank risk conditions leading to workers' compensation claims among orchard workers with respect to frequency, severity and cost.
State Fund workers' compensation claims between 1996 and 2001 for orchard workers in the main tree fruit growing region of Washington were reviewed and categorized according to cause of injury. Descriptive analyses were performed to characterize claims by cause of injury.
Of the 13,068 claims in the dataset, 4,020 (31%) were determined to be ladder-related injuries. Ladder-related claims accounted for nearly half (48%) of all 'compensable' claims (e.g. claims involving time loss, disability or 'loss of earning power' in addition to medical expenses). Claims related to ladders were not only the most frequent but also the most expensive collectively in terms of medical aid, time loss and other costs. On a per-claim basis, ladder-related injuries were among the most severe and costly reported injuries. Other common causes of injury among claims were branches and vegetation, structure and material and ground-related injuries.
There is a strong and compelling need to develop interventions to reduce the number of ladder-related injuries in orchards.
先前的研究报告称，果树种植行业的工人职业受伤和患病比例很高。然而，果园中许多常见且可预防的风险因素和状况尚未得到调查。
识别并按照发生频率、严重程度和成本对导致果园工人提出工伤赔偿申请的风险状况进行排序。
对华盛顿主要果树种植区1996年至2001年期间果园工人的州立基金工伤赔偿申请进行审查，并根据受伤原因进行分类。通过描述性分析按受伤原因对申请进行特征描述。
数据集中的13,068份申请中，有4,020份（31%）被确定为与梯子相关的伤害。与梯子相关的申请占所有“可赔偿”申请（即除医疗费用外还涉及误工、残疾或“收入能力丧失”的申请）的近一半（48%）。就医疗救助、误工和其他成本而言，与梯子相关的申请不仅是最频繁的，而且总体上也是最昂贵的。按每份申请计算，与梯子相关的伤害是报告中最严重且成本最高的伤害之一。申请中其他常见的受伤原因包括树枝和植被、结构和材料以及与地面相关的伤害。
迫切需要制定干预措施，以减少果园中与梯子相关的伤害数量。
