Source
Occupational health: recognizing and preventing work-related disease and injury, 4th edition. BS Levy, and DH Wegman, eds. Philadelpia PA: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2000 Jan; :461-476
Abstract
Occupational injuries are caused by acute exposure in the workplace to physical agents such as mechanical energy, electricity, chemicals, and ionizing radiation, or from sudden lack of essential agents, such as oxygen or heat. Examples of events that can lead to worker injury include motor vehicle crashes, assaults, falls, being caught in parts of machinery, being struck by tools or objects, and submersion. Resultant injuries include fractures, lacerations, abrasions, burns, amputations, poisonings, and damage to internal organs. Occupational injuries are a serious public health problem. In 1996, more than 6,100 workers died from occupational injuries and more than 6 million workers sustained nonfatal injuries, based on a survey of employers.This latter estimate is conservative because it relies on employer reporting and excludes important groups of workers, such as the self-employed, workers small farms, and government employees. The annual societal cost of occupational injuries in the United States has been conservativiely estimated at more than $145 billion.
Keywords
Injuries; Acute-exposure; Occupational-exposure; Workers; Mechanical-properties; Electricity; Ionizing-radiation; Radiation-exposure; Heat-exposure; Health-hazards; Traumatic-injuries; Employees; Employee-exposure; Employee-health; Mortality-rates; Mortality-data; Occupational-health; Occupational-hazards
