Timing of Health Service Use Among Truck Drivers After a Work-Related Injury or Illness

Purposes Timely delivery of treatment and rehabilitation is generally acknowledged to support injury recovery. This study aimed to describe the timing of health service use by injured truck drivers with work-related injury and to explore the association between demographic and injury factors and the duration of health service use. Methods Retrospective cohort study of injured truck drivers with accepted workers’ compensation claims in the state of Victoria, Australia. Descriptive analyses examined the percentage of injured truck drivers using health services by service type. Logistic regression model examined predictors of any service use versus no service use, and predictors of extended service use (≥ 52 weeks) versus short-term use. Results The timing of health service use by injured truck drivers with accepted workers’ compensation claims varies substantially by service type. General practitioner, specialist physician, and physical therapy service use peaks within the 14 weeks after compensation claim lodgement, whilst the majority of mental health services were accessed in the persistent phase beyond 14 weeks after claim lodgement. Older age, being employed by small companies, and claiming compensation for mental health conditions were associated with greater duration of health service use. Conclusions Injured truck drivers access a wide range of health services during the recovery and return to work process. Delivery of mental health services is delayed, including for those making mental health compensation claims. Health service planning should take into account worker and employer characteristics in addition to injury type.

Cohort profile: the Ontario Life After Workplace Injury Study (OLAWIS)

PurposeThe substantial economic burden of work-related injury and illness, borne by workers, employers and social security programmes, is primarily attributed to the durations of work disability among workers whose recovery requires a period of absence from work, with the majority of costs arising from the minority of workers with the longest duration absences. The objective of the Ontario Life After Workplace Injury Study is to describe the long-term health and labour market outcomes of workers disabled by work injury or illness after they are no longer receiving benefits or services from the work disability insurance authority.ParticipantsWorkers disabled by a work-related injury or illness were recruited from a sample frame of disability benefit claimants with oversampling of claimants with longer benefit durations. Characteristics of workers, their employers and claimant benefits were obtained from baseline administrative data. Interviews completed at 18 months post injury (T1) and to be completed at 36 months (T2) measure return-to-work and work status; income; physical and mental health; case manager and healthcare provider interactions and employer accommodations supporting return-to-work and sociodemographic characteristics. Of eligible claimants, 40% (1132) participated in the T1 interview, with 96% consenting to participate in the T2 interview.Findings to datePreliminary descriptive analyses of T1 data have been completed. The median age was 50 years and 56% were male. At 18 months following injury, 61% were employed by their at-injury employer, 16% had changed employment and 23% were not working. Past-year prescription opioid use was prevalent (34%), as was past-year cannabis use (31%). Longer duration claimants had poorer function, recovery and health and more adverse labour market outcomes.Future plansMultivariate analyses to identify modifiable predictors of adverse health and labour market outcomes and a follow-up survey of 96% of participants consenting to follow-up at 36 months are planned.

Prevalence of Work-Related Injury and Its Determinants among Construction Workers in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background. Construction is one of the highest risky jobs for accident-related fatalities and injuries globally. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence of work-related injury and its associated factors among construction workers in Ethiopia. Methods. A systematic literature search was performed by using PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar. A random-effects model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of work-related injury and its associated factors. The heterogeneity of the studies was assessed by using the I2 test, and the presence of publication bias was evaluated by using funnel plot and Egger’s test. Results. After reviewing 292 articles, we included 10 studies that fulfilled the inclusion criteria in the meta-analysis. The findings from the 10 studies showed that the pooled prevalence of work-related injury in Ethiopia was 46.78% (95% CI: 32.17, 61.38). The subgroup analysis of this study showed that the highest prevalence was reported in Addis Ababa with the prevalence of 55.9% (25.42, 86.4), followed by a study conducted in Oromia Region with a prevalence of 43.3% (33.3, 53.3). Lack of occupational safety training (OR: 2.43, 95% CI: 1.76, 3.35), not using of personal protective equipment (OR: 2.32, 95% CI: 1.80, 2.99), and male workers (OR: 2.44, 95% CI: 1.15, 5.17) were the major factors significantly associated with the occurrence of work-related injury among construction workers. Conclusions. This study confirmed that construction is still a high-risk job with a high prevalence of work-related injury in Ethiopia. The modifiable risk factors such as the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), lack of safety training, and gender were the major associated factors with injury. Therefore, a continuous safety training and awareness creation program on risk-taking behavior should be given to construction workers.

On the Legal Application Dilemma of the Identification of Work Injury Caused by Infectious Diseases and Its Solutions

Although the country has achieved leapfrog development in recent years, all walks of life have made great progress, but due to the short development time, there is still a certain gap in laws and systems compared with developed countries, and there is still a lot to improve the place. For example, the current legal concept of "work-related injury" is absent, and the concepts of "occupational infectious disease" and "occupational disease" have not been censored. Actually, there are no clear regulations and implementation when the identification is carried out. At this stage, the lack of general provisions for the identification of workrelated injuries and the closure of the identification of occupational infectious diseases have made the application of the law for the identification of work-related injuries of infectious diseases quite embarrassing. Based on this, this article elaborates on the legal application dilemma existing in the identification of work-related injuries of infectious diseases, and puts forward some opinions based on its own practical experience, hoping to have a certain reference significance for improving the legal application of workrelated injury identification of infectious diseases in my country.

Identification of work-related injury emergency department visits using International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) codes

IntroductionEmergency department (ED) visit discharge data are a less explored population-based data source used to identify work-related injuries. When using discharge data, work-relatedness is often determined by the expected payer of workers’ compensation (WC). In October 2015, healthcare discharge data coding systems transitioned to the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM). ICD-10-CM’s structure offers potential new work-related codes to enhance work-related injury surveillance. This study identified work-related ED visits using relevant ICD-10-CM work-related injury codes. Cases identified using this method were compared with those identified using the WC expected payer approach.MethodsState ED visit discharge data (2016–2019) were analysed using the CDC’s discharge data surveillance definition. Injuries were identified using a diagnosis code or an external cause-of-injury code in any field. Injuries were assessed by mechanism and expected payer. Literature searches and manual review of ICD-10-CM codes were conducted to identify possible work-related injury codes. Descriptive statistics were performed and assessed by expected payer.ResultsWC was billed for 87 361 injury ED visits from 2016 to 2019. Falls were the most frequent injury mechanism. The 246 ICD-10-CM work-related codes identified 36% more work-related ED injury visits than using WC as the expected payer alone.ConclusionThis study identified potential ICD-10-CM codes to expand occupational injury surveillance using discharge data beyond the traditional WC expected payer approach. Further studies are needed to validate the work-related injury codes and support the development of a work-related injury surveillance case definition.