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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

[Bicycle accidents. Differences between one-vehicle accidents and accidents involving two or more vehicles].

INTRODUCTION: Bicycle accidents are the most frequent traffic accidents in Denmark. Most of these accidents are one-vehicle accidents. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences between one-vehicle accidents and accidents with a counterpart in order to suggest focused prevention. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The analysis was based on data of the Danish Accident Registry using all bicycle accidents reported to five Danish emergency departments in the period 1998-2000. RESULTS: 81% of the bicycle accidents were one-vehicle accidents which frequently resulted in injuries of the upper extremities. They frequently resulted in fractures and open wounds compared to other bicycle accidents. For intoxicated bicyclists, 95% were one-vehicle accidents, and injuries to the head constituted 63% of the injuries. DISCUSSION: One-vehicle accidents often result in severe injuries indicating a need for prevention. Special attention should be given to the young and the elderly. Although many bicycle accidents have no immediate cause, preventive measures should be taken, such as better clearing of roads and bicycle tracks and campaigns against drink-riding.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1989

[Differentiation of "accident" and "accident sequelae" in private accident insurance].

In legal and private accident insurance you can find a distinction between "accident" and "results of an accident". In the system of the AUB (general terms of accident insurance) the insurant's injury is a notional part of the accident, which has been criticized by some medical experts. In fact, this distinction could entail different meanings and interpretations of the term "results of an accident", especially in section 10.1 AUB. In the author's point of view, section 10.1 AUB is applicable whenever different factors due and not due to the accident combine to produce the injury or the further damage (e.g. death, disablement).

Disability Evaluation↗
PubMed1990

[Thoracic injuries in traffic accidents and non-traffic accidents].

Traffic accidents differ from non-traffic accidents where the injuries are concerned. With the males two thirds of the thoracic injuries happened in non-traffic accidents and one third in road accidents; with the females, the relation was reversed. In thirteen per cent of the traffic accidents and in twenty-five per cent of the non-traffic accidents there were only thoracic injuries, in the other cases there were multiple injuries. Blunt damages of the thorax occurred in the majority of both kinds of accidents, penetrating injuries were less common. Closed rib fractures happened twice as often in traffic accidents as in accidents at work. Compound fractures of the ribs were three times as frequent in non-traffic accidents as in traffic accidents. In thirty-five per cent of road accidents and in twenty-two per cent of non-traffic accidents the injuries were of an intrathoracal kind. Of all the three hundred and thirty thorax injured patients thirty-four did not survive their injuries, twenty-nine due to traffic accidents, and five due to non-traffic accidents.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed1989

Catastrophe modeling of the accident process: evaluation of an accident reduction program using the occupational hazards survey.

The report details a catastrophe theory model of the accident process with empirical validation. According to the cusp model, two distinct levels of risk can be observed for a distribution of group accident rates, one at 0.0 Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA)-reportable accidents per 100 person-years of exposure and one at 11.5. Changes within or between the two levels are determined by two control parameters: environmental hazard (asymmetry) and operator load (bifurcation). The sample consisted of 68 work groups from 8 Milwaukee-Chicago area sheet metal mills and foundries who completed the Occupational Hazards Survey (OHS). The OHS contributed six bifurcation variables (safety management, life stress, physical stress anxiety, beliefs about accident control, and experience) and two asymmetry variables (environmental hazards and danger). All organizations received an interpretive report of their survey responses with recommendations for accident control, and had held their reports for two to nine months at the time the follow-up accident rate data were collected. There were two additional bifurcation variables: months holding report and group size. Regression analysis determined that the cusp model (R2 = .42) was more than twice as accurate as the best log-linear or linear alternative. Accidents were successfully controlled by safety managers' attention to recommendations produced by the OHS analysis. Catastrophe theory provided some novel insights regarding the linkage between predictor variables and actual behavior. Research has shown that a substantial percentage of occupational accidents are the result of human error. In an effort to explain and predict such errors in a systematic manner, an accident process model based on the cusp catastrophe is developed and tested. The model offers several unique and useful properties: (1) It proposes that changes in accident rates for work groups are the result of a nonlinear dynamic process. (2) The distribution of accident rates is bimodal, with one model near zero and the other at some higher level. (3) Changes in accident rates are predicted from four sources: (i) ambient danger and hazard levels, (ii) variables that impact upon human performance capability, (iii) initial accident rates, and (iv) the mathematical function that interrelates those variables. (4) The mathematical model has inherent properties that allow for causal inference. Environmental and human performance factors can be operationalized as sets of more specific variables. In this application. The Occupational Hazards Survey was used to gather data from mill and foundry workers pertaining to hazards and dangers, adequacy of safety management, stress, anxiety, and beliefs about accident control.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Accident Prevention↗
PubMed1990

[Accident and injuries situations in accidents at school and on the way to and from school].

In the Federal Republic of Germany, where accidents to schoolchildren are covered by the statutory accident insurance, a total of 991,947 accidents of this kind occurred in 1987, 133 of which were fatal. In this study, the accidents and injuries sustained by 1059 schoolboys and schoolgirls who received medical treatment in our clinics are analysed. We are concerned here with 887 accidents actually at school and 172 accidents on the way to or from school. In the case of accidents at school, the proportion of 6-, 7- and 8-year-olds affected was below 3% for each of these age groups. The percentage of children involved in accidents at school increased steeply with increasing age, reaching a peak in girls at 12 years of age, with 15.4%, and in boys at 13 years, with 14.5%. After this, the proportion in each individual age group lay between 10% and 12% up to 17 years of age and decreased to 7% in 19-year-olds. The proportion of accidents among 20- and 21-year-olds was less than 2%. Of the 887 accidents at school, 53% occurred during sports lessons, 28% during break times, 11% in the course of the general coming and going involved in attendance on the school premises, 3% during instruction in academic subjects and 3% during extracurricular activities, e.g. school outings. Each of these accident areas has its typical accident risks, and often its characteristic accident pattern in addition. Furthermore, there are age-specific and sex-specific features. The frequency of injuries to the upper extremities, including the hand, was 11% higher in girls than in boys.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Accidents↗
PubMed2001

Fatal traffic accidents among trailer truck drivers and accident causes as viewed by other truck drivers.

Causality factors, the responsibility of the driver and driver fatigue-related factors were studied in fatal two-vehicle accidents where a trailer truck driver was involved during the period of 1991-1997 (n = 337). In addition, 251 long-haul truck drivers were surveyed in order to study their views regarding contributing factors in accidents involving trucks and the development of possible countermeasure against driver fatigue. Trailer truck drivers were principally responsible for 16% of all the accidents. Younger driver age and driving during evening hours were significant predictors of being principally responsible. In addition, the probability of being principally responsible for the accident increased by a factor of over three if the driver had a chronic illness. Prolonged driving preceding the accident, accident history or traffic offence history did not have a significant effect. Only 2% of the drivers were estimated to have fallen asleep while driving just prior to the accident, and altogether 4% of the drivers had been tired prior to the accident. Of the drivers 13% had however, been driving over 10 h preceding the accident (which has been criminally punishably in Finland since 1995 under the EC regulation) but no individual factors had a significant effect in predicting prolonged driving. The surveyed views regarding causes of truck accidents correspond well with the accident analysis. Accidents were viewed as being most often caused by other road users and driver fatigue was viewed to be no more than the fifth (out of eight) common cause of accidents. The probability of viewing fatigue as a more common cause increased significantly if the driver had experienced fatigue-related problems while driving. However, nearly half of the surveyed truck drivers expressed a negative view towards developing a technological countermeasure against driver fatigue. The negative view was not related to personal experiences of fatigue-related problems while driving.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1985

A framework for costing accidents and accident types.

Deriving the correct costs for accidents of various severity levels by using unit costs per person-casualty class requires a knowledge of all the casualties of various classes within a specific severity level. If this data is not known the accident costs are underestimated. This paper shows the correct structuring of data to derive the costs of accidents of various severity levels. Different accident types have different average severities and differing numbers of vehicles involved. The evaluation of countermeasures must take cognizance of the effects on various accident types and thus in turn the different average unit costs of various accident types. For example, a fatal "right angle" accident has a greater cost than does the all-types fatal accident, while a fatal pedestrian accident has less cost. This paper also shows how the costs of accidents of various accident types may be derived. The accident data of the State of Victoria, Australia for 1978 are used to illustrate the procedures.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1993

The effect of major railway accidents on the psychological health of train drivers--II. A longitudinal study of the one-year outcome after the accident.

The psychological impact on 101 train drivers of accidents causing major injuries or death to persons was studied by means of clinical interviews and questionnaires (Impact of Event Scale, General Health Questionnaire and a questionnaire addressing stress symptoms plus past and pre accident expectancies of being involved in accidents). The drivers were examined within hours to a few days after the accident and later at 1 month and 1 year. One month after the accident the symptoms of distress were significantly reduced and most so among the drivers with no preaccident risk experience according to self reports during the acute phase. A minor further reduction of distress was found at 1 year. Drivers with two or more previous accident experiences and those who had worried about being involved in accidents showed highest symptoms of distress at follow-up. Eleven out of 101 drivers reported sick leave more of than 1 week after the accident and this was related to higher intrusion scores. The few drivers who report longterm psychological distress are best predicted by a combination of acute high IES scores, experience of previous accidents and risk expectancy prior to the current accident. The study suggests that premorbid and non-accident related variables are more important for the 1 year psychological outcome of healthy drivers after on-the-track accidents than the stress event itself.

Absenteeism↗
PubMed1996

The relationship between symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and pain, affective disturbance and disability among patients with accident and non-accident related pain.

Recent studies have reported a high prevalence of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among individuals with chronic pain. Studies suggest that persons with pain and PTSD also display higher levels of affective disturbance. In the present study we examined self-reports of pain, affective disturbance, and disability among pain patients with and without symptoms of PTSD. Patients without PTSD symptoms were further subdivided into persons whose pain was the result of an accident or insidious in onset. Thus, three groups were examined: (1) persons with accident related pain and high PTSD symptoms (Accident/High PTSD); (2) persons with no or few symptoms of PTSD whose pain was accident related (Accident/Low PTSD); and (3) patients whose pain was not accident related and did not have PTSD symptoms (No Accident). No Accident patients were older than persons with accident related injuries, and both accident related pain groups were more likely than No Accident patients to be involved in litigation or receiving compensation. Thus, these variables were controlled for in the statistical analyses. Self-report of pain was also included as a covariate in the analyses examining group differences in affective disturbance and disability. Accident/High PTSD patients displayed higher levels of self-reported pain compared to the other two groups. The Accident/High PTSD group also had the highest levels of affective disturbance. Both accident groups tended to report greater disability compared to patients whose pain was not accident related. These findings suggest that PTSD symptoms in chronic pain patients are associated with increased pain and affective distress. Accident related pain, even without the presence of PTSD symptoms, appears to be associated with greater disability. The results indicate that the identification and treatment of PTSD symptoms in refractory pain patients may be a critical albeit subtle factor in the effective management of suffering and disability in this population.

Accidents↗
PubMed1993

["Warm-up!" Prevention of skiing accidents. A preventive campaign by the Swiss Accident Insurance Organization].

In 1991, 762,800 leisure time accidents were recorded in Switzerland. 33% of the accidents occurred in the course of a sporting activity with the majority happening while playing football. Skiing accidents came second. Although the recession reduced the number of accidents, skiing accidents were on the increase. The number of all other leisure time accidents including football accidents (the largest group) declined, as did occupational accidents. In terms of medicine, insurance and the economy, the significance of more than 54,000 skiing accidents each year is enormous. SUVA, the Swiss National Accident Insurance Organization is launching a comprehensive campaign to prevent skiing accidents. Among the many methods of prevention possible, such as physical preparation prior to the skiing season, safe equipment, correct skiing technique, consideration for other slope users and adaptation to the snow conditions, etc., this campaign focuses on the avoidance of a cold start. The campaign, which is planned to last several years and will cover the whole of Switzerland, aims to propagate the warm up before setting off downhill. The concept and development of this large-scale, professionally-run SUVA preventive campaign are described.

Athletic Injuries↗
PubMed1998

Accident risk as a function of hour at work and time of day as determined from accident data and exposure models for the German working population.

OBJECTIVES: Recent studies indicate that accident risk may be a function of hour at work and time of day. Further evidence was sought for these assumptions, along with the answer to the question of whether the risk of accident can be conceived as an interaction between hours at work and time of day. METHODS: Data on more than 1.2 million accidents for the year 1994 were provided, all listed according to the time of day and hour at work. Since information about how long each day and at what time of day people work is not available in Germany, different exposure models had to be estimated. For estimating the risk of having an accident relative accident risks were calculated from the ratio of accident frequencies to the exposure data. RESULTS: An exponentially increasing accident risk was observed beyond the 9th hour at work. The relative accident risks differed considerably according to the respective exposure model with regard to time of day. A highly significant interaction effect was found for hour at work by time of day, the percentage of accidents at different hours at work varying according to the particular time of day when work is started. For the 3 "traditional" shiftwork starting times, it was shown that, with later starting times, the relative accident risk increased dramatically beyond the 8th hour at work. CONCLUSIONS: Since the results clearly indicate that there are time-related effects on occupational accident risk, more detailed analyses are called for. More elaborated exposure models should be used to assess the efficiency of work schedules with extended workhours, especially under shiftwork conditions. The results also indicate the necessity of recording and providing adequate data bases for such analyses.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed2002

Selection of a representative set of chemical accidents from a complex data matrix for the development of environment-accident index.

Chemical accidents often lead to negative consequences for the environment. Preparedness and proper actions are, therefore, essential components in order to minimise environmental effects. To assist and facilitate this work, a proposed planning tool, the environment-accident index (EAI), was formulated by Scott [J. Hazard. Mater. 61 (1998) 305]. As a result of a first validation of the index, based on 21 chemical accidents, the database was complemented with 42 additional accidents covering a broader spectrum of chemicals. The additional accidents were collected by means of an inquiry and their environmental consequences are, so far, unknown. The collected data had an overrepresentation of accidents involving petroleum products (69%). Because of the overrepresentation of this group of chemicals in the material, the data was skewed with respect to chemical properties. Since the model should be valid for a variety of chemical accidents, a method was needed which enabled a proper and unbiased selection of a representative subset of accidents to be used in development and validation of the model. For this purpose, the possibility to use multivariate data analysis in combination with statistical design was investigated. The result showed the feasibility of this method in the selection of a representative subset from a complex and skewed large dataset. Within the new dataset, 53% were accidents involving petroleum products and 47% involved other chemicals. The selected accidents will be used in further work to evaluate the environmental consequences, for model development and model validation.

Accidents↗
PubMed2001

[Accidents in preschool children in the Boblingen district--accident causes and risk groups].

The characteristics of childhood accidents including their socio-demographic distribution were analysed using a cross-sectional design. In December 1999, questionnaires were sent to 50 kindergartens in the 'Landkreis Böblingen' (Southern Germany). 2,963 children went to these kindergartens, and the parents of the children were asked to fill in the questionnaire which was then analysed anonymously by the local health authority of Böblingen. The parents of 1,866 children sent back the questionnaire; the response rate was 72.0% for children with German nationality and 31.6% for the other children. On the average the parents reported 26 'accidents leading to a physician contact' per 100 child-life-years. Four indicators were used for characterising the socio-economic status of the parents (per capita income, occupational status of the father, school education of the mother, summary index), and three groups (low, medium and high socio-economic status) were constructed with each including about 1/3 of the children. Children from the low status group had about 13% fewer accidents than children from the high status group; for severe accidents, however, a contrary association was found (OR of the low as compared with the high status group: 4.1; Conf. Inter.: 1.12-14.96). The children with another nationality than German had severe accidents more often than German children (OR: 4.63; Conf. Inter.: 2.24-9.52). Boys had 33% more accidents than girls. About 3/4 of all accidents took place at home or in its direct environment. Concerning the age distribution, a peak was seen at age 2. The following accidents occurred particularly often: falling from stairs (10.2% of the accidents), falling from a playground equipment (9.5%), falling from a bicycle (8.9%), falling from a high bed (6.0%), stabs or cuts (4.9%), burns or scalds (4.4%), falling from a high chair (3.9%), falling from a nursery table (3.2%). The results are used by a regional working group which is asked to develop a strategy aimed at reducing accidents of pre-school children in the 'Landkreis Böblingen' until 2006 by 10%.

Accidental Falls↗
PubMed1990

An analysis of fatal bicycle accidents in Victoria (Australia) with a special reference to nighttime accidents.

This paper examines the fatal bicycle accidents which occurred in the period 1981-1984 in Victoria with particular emphasis on nighttime fatalities. The examination provides information on aspects of accident location, environment, problem type, time, and cyclist characteristics. The relationship between actual accidents and cyclists perceived collision danger is also investigated. The characteristics of fatal bicycle accidents are different to those of overall "casualty" accidents. A difference also exists between day and night, and between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan fatal accidents. In the metropolitan area, adult cyclists over 17 years were over-involved in fatal accidents. The proportion of cyclists involved in fatalities at night increases with increase in age. Almost 80% of nighttime accidents occurred on links on arterial roads, and the majority in the high speed limit zones (75 kph and over). A greater proportion of accidents was initiated by cyclists. In 90% of nighttime cyclist fatalities the cyclist was hit from the rear, compared with 40% in daytime. Inadequacy of bicycle and street lighting was found to be an important factor in nighttime fatalities.

Accidents↗