BACKGROUND: Falls are frequent occupational accidents, and are responsible for a significant amount of lost working time and, more importantly, for a high mortality. The factors involved in falling mechanisms can be of external or individual origin, the latter being less well identified. AIMS: To assess the relations between certain individual characteristics and occupational accidents due to imbalance. METHODS: A total of 427 male employees, who had been victims of at least one occupational accident with sick leave due to imbalance (cases) and 427 controls were recruited among the employees of a large French railway company. A standardised questionnaire on life conditions and professional factors, and a description of the accidents was filled in by an occupational physician for each subject. RESULTS: Some job categories were more affected by a specific release mechanism of work related falls. Certain individual characteristics such as smoking, alcohol consumption, inactivity, sleep disorders, and request for a job change were correlated with the occurrence of occupational accidents. Sick leaves of eight days or over were more frequent in older and overweight injured workers. Some lesions were linked with the specific fall released mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS: Individual characteristics can increase the risk of occupational accidents, especially falling. This study identified subjects most at risk on whom prevention related to working conditions and falls could be focused.
BACKGROUND:Falls are frequent occupational accidents, and are responsible for a significant amount of lost working time and, more importantly, for a high mortality. The factors involved in falling mechanisms can be of external or individual origin, the latter being less well identified. AIMS: To assess the relations between certain individual characteristics and occupational accidents due to imbalance. METHODS: A total of 427 male employees, who had been victims of at least one occupational accident with sick leave due to imbalance (cases) and 427 controls were recruited among the employees of a large French railway company. A standardised questionnaire on life conditions and professional factors, and a description of the accidents was filled in by an occupational physician for each subject. RESULTS: Some job categories were more affected by a specific release mechanism of work related falls. Certain individual characteristics such as smoking, alcohol consumption, inactivity, sleep disorders, and request for a job change were correlated with the occurrence of occupational accidents. Sick leaves of eight days or over were more frequent in older and overweight injured workers. Some lesions were linked with the specific fall released mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS: Individual characteristics can increase the risk of occupational accidents, especially falling. This study identified subjects most at risk on whom prevention related to working conditions and falls could be focused.
Authors: N Chau; E Bourgkard; A Bhattacherjee; J F Ravaud; M Choquet; J M Mur Journal: Int Arch Occup Environ Health Date: 2007-08-16 Impact factor: 3.015
Authors: Nearkasen Chau; Gerome C Gauchard; Dominique Dehaene; Lahoucine Benamghar; Christian Touron; Philippe P Perrin; Jean-Marie Mur Journal: Int Arch Occup Environ Health Date: 2006-11-15 Impact factor: 2.851
Authors: Alberto J Caban-Martinez; Theodore K Courtney; Wen-Ruey Chang; David A Lombardi; Yueng-Hsiang Huang; Melanye J Brennan; Melissa J Perry; Jeffrey N Katz; Santosh K Verma Journal: PLoS One Date: 2014-10-16 Impact factor: 3.240
Authors: Michèle Baumann; Elisabeth Spitz; Francis Guillemin; Jean-François Ravaud; Marie Choquet; Bruno Falissard; Nearkasen Chau Journal: Int J Health Geogr Date: 2007-11-09 Impact factor: 3.918