Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate the association between high ambient temperature and acute work-related injury, expanding on previous research in this area. Specifically we ...examined the relationship between both daytime and overnight temperatures and injury risk and disentangled physically demanding occupational exposures from exposure to outdoor working conditions. Methods A time-stratified case-crossover study design was used to examine the association between ambient temperatures and acute work-related injuries in Melbourne, Australia, 2002–2012, using workers' compensation claims to identify work-related injuries. The relationship was assessed for both daily maximum and daily minimum temperatures using conditional logistic regression. Results Significant positive associations between temperature and acute work-related injury were seen for younger workers (<25 years), with the odds of injury increasing by 1% for each 1 °C increase in daily minimum temperature, and by 0.8% for each 1 °C increase in daily maximum temperature. Statistically significant associations were also observed between daily maximum temperature and risk of injury for workers employed in the highest strength occupations and for male workers, and between daily minimum temperature and injury for all cases combined, female workers, workers aged 25–35 and ≥55 years, "light" and "limited" physical demand groups, and "in vehicle or cab" and "regulated indoor climate" workplace exposure groups. Conclusions Young workers, male workers and workers engaged in heavy physical work are at increased risk of injury on hot days, and a wider range of worker subgroups are vulnerable to injury following a warm night. In light of climate change projections, this information is important for informing injury prevention strategies.
Contextualização: O artigo aborda a satisfação indemnizatória por facto ocorrido em violação do direito da concorrência, concretamente, a Lei n.º 23/2018, de 5 de junho (Lei de Private Enforcement). ...A tutela da pretensão indemnizatória ao abrigo da lei de private enforcement é realizada através da Lei da Ação Popular (Lei n.º 83/95, de 31 de agosto), combinando as regras do Código Civil, se o facto for decorrente de uma relação interindividual; ou do Código do Processo nos Tribunais Administrativos, se a relação envolver a Administração.Objetivo: O objetivo deste artigo é esclarecer ao leitor relativamente ao papel da lei de private enforcement e da tutela por via da ação popular quando a finalidade é a obtenção de uma indemnização por violação do direito da concorrência.Método: Para o efeito, recorreu-se à pesquisa bibliográfica, à análise legislativa e jurisprudencial nacional.Resultados: Um dos resultados extraídos foi a possibilidade existente de recorrer ao instituto da ação popular como forma de tutelar indemnizatórias no direito da concorrência.Conclusões: Para que tal seja possível, há a necessidade de conjugar diversos diplomas legais nacionais e europeus. Ademais, será relevante ter em consideração as partes intervenientes no processo, a saber: a autora (associação ou empresa que se apresenta a juízo), a parte (representada em juízo pela autora) e o (eventual) terceiro financiador.
•185,000 Nationwide occupational injuries in construction sector were analyzed;•A significant association of occupational injuries with high temperatures was found;•Occupation injuries among ...construction workers increased during heat waves;•Workers operating with hand-held tools, machine and handling of objects were at risk;•Construction, quarry and industrial sites were the work environments most at risk.
Extreme temperatures have impact on the health and occupational injuries. The construction sector is particularly exposed. This study aims to investigate the association between extreme temperatures and occupation injuries in this sector, getting an insight in the main accidents-related parameters.
Occupational injuries in the construction sector, with characteristic of accidents, were retrieved from Italian compensation data during years 2014–2019. Air temperatures were derived from ERA5-land Copernicus dataset. A region based time-series analysis, in which an over-dispersed Poisson generalized linear regression model, accounting for potential non-linearity of the exposure- response curve and delayed effect, was applied, and followed by a meta-analysis of region-specific estimates to obtain a national estimate. The relative risk (RR) and attributable cases of work-related injuries for an increase in mean temperature above the 75th percentile (hot) and for a decrease below the 25th percentile (cold) were estimated, with effect modifications by different accidents-related parameters.
The study identified 184,936 construction occupational injuries. There was an overall significant effect for high temperatures (relative risk (RR) 1.216 (95% CI: (1.095–1.350))) and a protective one for low temperatures (RR 0.901 (95% CI: 0.843–0.963)). For high temperatures we estimated 3,142 (95% CI: 1,772–4,482) attributable cases during the studied period. RRs from 1.11 to 1.30 were found during heat waves days. Unqualified workers, as well as masons and plumbers, were found to be at risk at high temperatures. Construction, quarry and industrial sites were the risky working environments, as well as specific physical activities like working with hand-held tools, operating with machine and handling of objects. Contact with sharp, pointed, rough, coarse ‘Material Agent’ were the more risky mode of injury in hot conditions.
Prevention policies are needed to reduce the exposure to high temperatures of construction workers. Such policies will become a critical issue considering climate change.
Data on retrospective compensation claims for injuries caused by pharmaceutical drugs are prone to selection and reporting biases. Nevertheless, this case study of the antidiabetic drug benfluorex ...shows that such data can be used to estimate the cumulative incidence of drug‐related injury, and to provide insights into its epidemiology. To this end, we develop a modelling framework for under‐reporting of retrospective claims for compensation arising from drug damage. The model involves a longitudinal component related to attrition of cases over time, and a cross‐sectional component related to incomplete reporting. We apply this model to cardiac valve surgery necessitated by exposure to benfluorex. Benfluorex was marketed in France between 1976 and 2009, when it was withdrawn because it caused valvular heart disease. A scandal erupted in 2010 over the scale of the damage caused by the drug. Since then, no further estimates of cumulative incidence have been published, though thousands of claims for compensation have been processed. The analysis combines compensation claims data and sociological survey data on benfluorex users, together with data on benfluorex sales and duration of treatment. We find a threshold of toxicity at about 6 months' exposure, and that at least 1690 individuals (95% CI 1290 to 2320) needed heart surgery to replace or repair valves damaged by exposure to benfluorex in France: a cumulative incidence of 3.68 per 10,000 (95% CI 2.68 to 5.34) benfluorex users or 3.22 per 10,000 (95% CI 2.48 to 4.39) person‐years at risk above the exposure threshold. While these findings are tentative, they are consistent with those obtained previously using very different methods.
This study examines the relationship between opioid use prevalence and subsequent filing of workers' compensation claims.
A retrospective cohort study design was utilized to examine data from ...drivers' initial commercial driver medical exam, employment data, and workers' compensation claims data.
Data from 57,733 over 7 years were analyzed. Drivers who reported opioid use at their initial medical exam visit filed subsequent workers' compensation claims 1.81 times sooner (P = 0.0001; 95% CI 1.34, 2.44) than drivers who did not report opioid use at their CDME when controlling for age, gender, BMI, and diastolic blood pressure.
These findings provide information that may aid in improving regulations to control for incidents, training programs to inform professional drivers of factors that increase accident risk and educating prescribers about increased risks of injury among opioid-using drivers.
Background This study aimed to report the outcome of patients who underwent arthroscopic rotator cuff repair (ARCR) and to determine the factors associated with return to work and activity. Materials ...Three hundred sixty-five patients who underwent ARCR were prospectively evaluated. The cohort was divided into 2 groups based on clinical results at 6 months. Group A consisted of patients who were considered to have a satisfactory outcome based on return to their previous professional or spare-time activities. Group B consisted of patients with an unsatisfactory outcome based on a lack of return to normal work or activities. Results Of the patients, 305 had a satisfactory outcome (group A) and 60 were categorized as having an unsatisfactory outcome (group B). On multivariate analysis, preoperative factors associated with group B included female gender and heavy manual labor. Postoperative bursitis on ultrasound at 6 months was associated with being in group B. Lack of tendon healing was not associated with group B. However, if a patient without healing had persistent pain at 6 months, the pain persisted at 9 months. Conclusion ARCR is an effective procedure that leads to significant improvement in pain, function, and tendon healing in most cases. However, in 1 of 5 cases, patients were unable to resume normal activity at 6 months postoperatively. Persistent limitation at 6 months was associated with female gender, heavy manual workers, and the presence of postoperative persistent bursitis.
The impact of heat stress on human health has been extensively studied. Similarly, researchers have investigated the impact of heat stress on workers' health and safety. However, very little work has ...been done on the impact of heat stress on occupational accidents and their severity, particularly in South Australian construction. Construction workers are at high risk of injury due to heat stress as they often work outdoors, undertake hard manual work, and are often project based and sub-contracted. Little is known on how heat waves could impact on construction accidents and their severity. In order to provide more evidence for the currently limited number of empirical investigations on the impact of heat stress on accidents, this study analysed 29,438 compensation claims reported during 2002-2013 within the construction industry of South Australia. Claims reported during 29 heat waves in Adelaide were compared with control periods to elicit differences in the number of accidents reported and their severity. The results revealed that worker characteristics, type of work, work environment, and agency of accident mainly govern the severity. It is recommended that the implementation of adequate preventative measures in small-sized companies and civil engineering sites, targeting mainly old age workers could be a priority for Work, Health and Safety (WHS) policies.
Purpose
Mental health concerns are common after a workplace injury, particularly amongst those making a compensation claim. Yet there is a lack of research exploring the effect of modifiable elements ...of the return-to-work process on mental health. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of perceived injustice in the interactions between claim agents and claimants on mental health symptoms in the 12-month following a musculoskeletal (MSK) workplace injury.
Methods
A cohort of 585 workers compensation claimants in Victoria, Australia were interviewed three times over a 12-month period following a workplace MSK injury. Perceptions of informational and interpersonal justice in claim agent interactions were measured at baseline, and the Kessler Psychological Distress (K6) scale was administered as a measure of mental health at all three timepoints. Path analyses were performed to examine the direct and indirect effects of perceived justice at baseline on concurrent and future mental health, after accounting for confounding variables.
Results
Each 1-unit increase in perceptions of informational and interpersonal justice, indicating poorer experiences, was associated with an absolute increase of 0.16 and 0.18 in respective K6 mental health score at baseline, indicating poorer mental health on a 5-point scale. In addition, perceived justice indirectly impacted mental health at 6-month and 12-month, through sustained negative impact from baseline as well as increased risk of disagreements between the claim agent and claimant.
Conclusions
This finding has highlighted the importance of perceived justice in claim agent interactions with claimants in relation to mental health following a work-related MSK injury.
Work-related injuries can harm mental health and affect other facets of injured workers' lives. Clinicians must be aware of the problem of emotional distress and treat the whole patient after a ...workplace injury. More education and information are needed for clinicians, employers, and workers' compensation carriers so that injured workers can be properly screened for mental health issues and supported during treatment. Further research is needed to establish a protocol for early intervention to minimize the negative emotional and mental health effects of workplace injuries.
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