![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.jpg)
BACKGROUND: Occupational crushing injuries are serious but potentially preventable injuries. For 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) estimated there were 11,210 crushing injuries in the U.S. In 2013, Michigan initiated multi-data source surveillance of work-related crushing injuries in Michigan.
METHODS: Records from all 136 of Michigan’s hospitals/emergency departments (EDs) and the Workers Compensation Agency (WCA) were used to identify work-related crushing injuries. Discharge summaries and ED notes were reviewed to differentiate the work and non work-related crushing injuries. Companies where individuals were hospitalized or had an ED visit within six months of identification were potentially referred for an OSHA enforcement inspection. Individuals whose workplace could not be identified in the records received were contacted to obtain employer information.
RESULTS: Hospital/ED reports identified 897 work-related crushing injuries; 218 matched with cases in the Michigan WCA data base. Of the 218 cases, 63 were coded in WCA as a crush/contusion and the other 155 had an injury description in the WCA as something other than crush/contusion. There were an additional 2,119 crush/contusion records in the WCA data base that are not included in the results below. One individual had two separate crushing injury incidents. Fourteen individuals were self-employed. The demographics were: men (80.2%); age range 16-79; Caucasians (85.1%), African-Americans (12.2%), Other (2.7%); Hispanic ethnicity (10.8%); involved the upper limb (74.0%), lower limb (18.5%), trunk (1.9%), multiple and unspecified sites (5.2%), face, scalp, and neck (0.4%); Workers’ Compensation was the expected payer in 69.3% of the cases for which the insurance information was available; ED visits (76.5%), hospitalizations (9.2%), outpatient visits (10.4%) and other (2.8%); press was the cause of injury in 7.0% cases; Primary Metal Manufacturing (NAICS 33) (26.2%), Construction (NAICS 23) (9.0%) and Retail Trade (NAICS 44) (7.6%). MIOSHA has investigated 42 companies where a crushing injury was identified.
CONCLUSIONS: We have initiated a multi-source surveillance system for work-related crushing injuries that was used to initiate case based follow up and identified approximately five times as many injuries as the BLS employer based survey. Further work is underway to characterize and incorporate the 2,119 crush/contusion cases identified in the WCA data base that were not identified in the hospital/ED records