Low-back injuries in a heavy industry. I. Worker and workplace factors.

Abstract

The costs and circumstances of low-back strains, low-back impact injuries, and non-low-back injuries among field employees of an offshore petroleum drilling company, 1979-1985, were compared. The objectives were to identify worker and workplace factors associated with low-back injuries, to identify factors differentially associated with lost-time injuries, and to formulate recommendations for the control of low-back injuries. Low-back-impact injuries resulted largely from falls. Efforts to prevent falls would have a potential to reduce other serious consequences as well as back injuries. Workers performing the heaviest physical labor were at highest risk of low-back strains. Based on activities precipitating the injury, modifications of work site, equipment, and procedures to help reduce low-back strains are recommended. Only job was a predictor of whether a low-back strain was likely to be associated with lost time. Even this association was lacking for low-back impact injuries. Cost control by preventing the small proportion of high cost injuries may not be feasible. Rather, subsets of low-back injuries defined, for example, by work site or activity can suggest options for intervention.

• Authors: D I Clemmer, D L Mohr, D J Mercer
• Journal: Spine (Spine (Phila Pa 1976)) Vol. 16 Issue 7 Pg. 824-30 (Jul 1991) ISSN: 0362-2436 [Print] United States
• PMID: 1833829 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Petroleum

Topics

• Accidental Falls (economics)
• Accidents, Occupational (economics)
• Adult
• Back Injuries
• Back Pain (economics, epidemiology, etiology)
• Costs and Cost Analysis
• Humans
• Male
• Occupational Diseases (economics, epidemiology)
• Occupations
• Petroleum