March 15, 2002—The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has released a new Web page concerning Traumatic Occupational Injuries. It contains links to prevention information, publications, research, and other data pertaining to on-the-job traumatic injuries. Sub-topic pages include: Agricultural Safety; Confined Spaces; Construction Safety; Electrical Safety; Falls from Elevations; Logging; Machines; Motor Vehicles; Work Zones (Highway).
Acute trauma at work remains a leading cause of death and disability among US workers, according to NIOSH. [Trauma is defined as “an injury or wound to a living body caused by the application of external force or violence.” Acute trauma can occur with the sudden, one-time application of force or violence that causes immediate damage to a living body.] During the period from 1980 through 1995, at least 93,338 workers in the US died as a result of trauma suffered on the job, for an average of about 16 deaths per day (NIOSH). The Bureau of Labor Statistics (Department of Labor) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) has identified 5,915 workplace deaths from acute traumatic injury in 2000. BLS also estimates that 5.7 million injuries to workers occurred in 1997 alone; while NIOSH estimates that about 3.6 million occupational injuries were serious enough to be treated in hospital emergency rooms in 1998.
