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Biomedical subjects

Giulia Earle-Richardson

Publications and source records attributed to Giulia Earle-Richardson.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

Time dependent memory decay.

BACKGROUND: To estimate the rate of time dependent memory decay, injury rates from three independent studies were compared. METHODS: The studies asked subjects to recall injuries during the previous 2 months, 12 months, or 10 years. RESULTS: The annual injury rates obtained were 108/1,000, 66/1,000, and 19/1,000, respectively. These rates are all significantly different from one another at the 0.05 level. CONCLUSIONS: Important methodological and demographic differences between the studies, such as those involving age, injury severity, and seasonality, were ruled out as causes of these differences. Results found in the literature for other studies are compared and contrasted. These data suggest that recall periods of greater than 2 months are likely to significantly underestimate injury rates.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed2002

New York State child agricultural injuries: how often is maturity a potential contributing factor?

BACKGROUND: Children living or working on New York farms face unique hazards and experience on-farm injuries related to these. The New York Community Partners for Healthy Farming (CPHF) surveillance provided a unique source of information for analyses of risk factors-particularly age-for these events. METHODS: Agricultural injuries recorded by the state's agricultural nurse surveillance (CPHF) program over a 6-year period were analyzed. Injuries were classified by type, severity, and possible contributing factors, including whether the age of the victim was below the "job appropriate age limits" designated by the investigators using materials from the North American Guidelines for Children's Agricultural Tasks (NAGCAT). RESULTS: Of the 164 recorded injuries to persons aged 1-18 years, 29 were fatalities, 18 were disabling, and 55% occurred while working. Leading injury types were tractor run-over (12) and overturns (11). Of those injured while working, 35% were under the "job appropriate age limits." Tasks of loading hay (square bales) (100%, 3), fieldwork with trailed implements (100%, 3), and feeding calves (100%, 2) most frequently involved very young victims. Grouped by injury source, injuries involving non-powered wagons had the highest frequency of under-age victims (82%, 9). CONCLUSION: The frequency of problems with job appropriate ages suggests that some children on NY farms may be developmentally inappropriate for the tasks to which they are being assigned. The NAGCAT Guidelines are a needed tool for child agricultural injury prevention in New York.

Accidents↗
PubMed2002

Ergonomic exposures in apple harvesting: preliminary observations.

BACKGROUND: Recent research on occupational injury to apple harvest workers in New York and Pennsylvania indicates that muscle strain is one of their leading problems. A descriptive study of ergonomic risks for strains of the shoulder and lower back among apple harvesters was carried out to identify opportunities for intervention. METHODS: Based upon pilot observation in four orchards, a Posture-Activities-Tools-Handling (PATH) data collection template was designed and used to analyze the work of fifty-one workers in eight additional apple orchards. RESULTS: Physical loading on the shoulder appears to result from three major factors: reaching to pick apples with elbows over shoulder height; downward pressure from the bucket's strap in contact with the collarbone; and strain from carrying the ladder. Strain to the back appeared to come from three circumstances: static, awkward picking postures; bending to empty the picking bucket into the bin; and supporting a full load of the apples with the lower back. CONCLUSION: Possible intervention strategies are suggested, with emphasis on direct communication and active involvement on the part of the growers and harvesters.

Agricultural Workers' Diseases↗