The epidemiology of work-related injury admissions to hospitals in the Midland region of New Zealand

A Retrospective Comparative Study of Serbian Underground Coalmining Injuries

Background

During 2011, a study was undertaken to assess safety conditions in Serbian underground coalmines by analysis of injury data. The study covered all Serbian coalmines, identified week spots from the aspect of safety, and recommended possible courses of action. Since then, Serbia has made changes to safety and health legislation; all coalmines introduced new preventive measures, adopted international standards, and made procedures for risk management. After 10 years a new study has been performed to analyze the impact of these changes.

Materials and methods

In this study, the injuries that have occurred in the Serbian underground coal mines over the last 20 years were analyzed. Statistical data analysis was performed by IBM SPSS Statistics v23. The injuries that occurred in the last ten years were compared with the results of the previous study (2000–2009). The average values of injury rates for both periods were compared for each of the categories (severity, age, body part, qualification), and the results were presented as absolute difference or percentile difference.

Results

The results showed reduction in the number of injuries in the category of 20–30 years old workers, where the new training procedures for workers, which were set by mandatory legal regulations, certainly contributed. They also showed an increase in the number of injuries in the category of old workers, which indicates that the law did not have a positive effect on this category.

Conclusion

The total number of injuries is still high; therefore, it is necessary to introduce mechanization and automation in mines and have a better policy for older workers who retire later nowadays.

Injury epidemiology of workers by age, sex and industrial classification using the medical claim data of National Health Insurance in South Korea, 2012-2015: a population-based retrospective study

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to evaluate the risk of inpatient hospitalisation for all-cause injuries, according to age, sex and industrial classification (IC) in South Korea.

DESIGN

A population-based retrospective study.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Data from the National Health Insurance Database on medical claims for the entire population of South Korean workers aged 25-59 years from January 2012 to December 2015 were retrieved. We observed 30 900 712 person-years (63.1%) in male workers and 18 105 272 person-years (36.9%) in female workers.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The inpatient hospitalisation for all-cause injury was defined as admission for which the principal diagnosis included S00-T98 in the Korean version of International Classification of Diseases-10 codes.

RESULTS

Of 788 575 hospitalisations for all-cause injuries from 2012 to 2015, there were 565 107 cases in male workers (1 828.8 per 100 000 person-years) and 223 468 cases in female workers (1 234.3 per 100 000 person-years). The top five ICs with hospitalisation rate ratios (HRR) for all-cause injuries in both sexes compared with the financial intermediation IC included agriculture, hunting and forestry (HRR (95% CI); male: 2.09 (1.98 to 2.20); female: 1.53 (1.40 to 1.67)); mining and quarrying (male: 2.05 (1.92 to 2.19); female: 1.54 (1.27 to 1.87)) and fishing (male: 1.68 (1.57 to 1.80); female: 1.71 (1.51 to 1.93)). A U-shaped relationship occurred between age and risk for injuries in males; however, only a linear relationship was shown in females, regardless of IC.

CONCLUSIONS

The risk of injures varied by IC. The workers in agriculture, hunting, forestry, mining, quarrying and fishing were more vulnerable to injuries. The risk for injuries were higher among men and the age effect on this risk differed by sex. Thus, policy makers need to consider specific measures for prevention of injuries according to age, sex and IC.