Investigation of Work-Related Injuries in a Core Hospital in an Agriculture and Forestry Region
- VernacularTitle:Investigation of Work-Related Injuries in a Core Hospital in an Agriculture and Forestry Region
- Author:
Makoto MOTOMIYA
1
;
Naoya WATANABE
1
;
Takuya KONNO
2
;
Keigo YASUI
2
Author Information
- From:Journal of the Japanese Association of Rural Medicine 2018;67(1):52-57
- CountryJapan
- Language:Japanese
- Abstract: In Hokkaido, the number of work-related deaths has been decreasing owing to increased safety measure implementation. However, safety measures for non-life-threatening injuries are considered to be insufficient. To reveal the status of non-life-threatening work-related injuries in Tokachi district, we investigated patients with work-related injuries who visited the Orthopaedic Surgery Department of our hospital, which has the only Emergency and Critical Care Center in the district, and examined in detail patients who needed multiple operations. All patients in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery who had worker’s accident insurance were included in this study. We investigated age, sex, occupation, injury cause, injury site (upper extremity, lower extremity, and/or spine), diagnosis, and number of operations. There were 818 cases of work-related injuries and mean age was 47 (16-82) years. Regarding injury site, 482 patients had upper extremity injury, 273 had lower extremity injury, and 123 had spinal injury. Regarding number of operations, 371 patients had operations and 37 (28 upper extremity injuries and 11 lower extremity injuries) underwent operations more than 3 times. In 19 cases, injuries were caused by the primary industry of employment and 14 by a secondary industry; 19 cases were due to the patient being caught in an industrial machine, mostly agricultural harvesters. Severe injury requiring surgery occurred more than 3 times involved complex injury in the upper extremity or open fracture with soft tissue defect. In Tokachi district, severe limb injury is typically accompanied by soft tissue damage and requires long-term treatment including multiple operations. In future studies, it will be important to conduct detailed evaluation of non-life-threatening work-related injuries, including severe limb injury, and to establish relevant safety measures for such injuries especially those occurring in agricultural workers.
