Premium
Work injuries among drivers in the goods‐transport branch in denmark
Author(s) -
Shibuya Hitomi,
Cleal Bryan,
Mikkelsen Kim Lyngby
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.20568
Subject(s) - workforce , work (physics) , danish , medicine , falling (accident) , occupational safety and health , injury prevention , human factors and ergonomics , poison control , dangerous goods , environmental health , operations management , medical emergency , transport engineering , engineering , economic growth , economics , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy , pathology
Background Goods‐transport drivers in Denmark had an elevated rate of hospital contact due to injury compared with the skilled/semiskilled workforce in general in recent years. There is a need to elucidate the causes of their work injuries. Methods We analyzed the Danish National Work Injury Register for the 10‐year period 1993–2002. Results The vast majority (92.6%) of the work injuries among goods‐transport were sustained under non‐traffic activities, that is, collecting, loading, unloading, and delivering goods. They fell from height (22.3%), suffered from overexertion (14.2%), got caught between/under objects (12.6%), collided with objects (12.0%), slipped/tripped (10.6%), or got struck by falling objects (9.0%). Conclusions There is a clear need for efforts to prevent work injuries under non‐traffic activities among goods‐transport drivers in Denmark. For this end, it is necessary to involve not only the drivers' employers for reinforcement of safety procedures, but also the employers' customers for improvement of the physical environment, in which drivers collect, load, unload, and deliver goods. Am. J. Ind. Med. 51:364–371, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.