Age and nationality in relation to injuries at sea among officers and non-officers: a study based on contacts from ships to Telemedical Assistance Service in Denmark

Abstract

ObjectivesCharacterisation of worker injuries on board merchant ships is modest. Using telemedical service contacts in Denmark, we describe the worker injuries patterns and factors related to injury incidence.MethodsThe data for this study were based on contacts (n=1401) from ships to Telemedical Assistance Service (TMAS) in Denmark in 2004–2014, which were supplemented with data on the annual estimation of all seafarers from the Danish Maritime Authority (n=73 336). The final data included information on broad age groups, occupation and nationality. The outcomes were injuries from any cause and six broad categories of injuries characterised by anatomic location or type of injury.ResultsDuring the observation period of 11 years, there were 1401 contacts to TMAS due to injuries, of which 36% were in upper limb, 18% in lower limb and 13% in the head. Age-adjusted incidence rates for all injuries varied between 13.6 and 26.8 incidences per 1000 person-years in 2004–2014. In most types of injuries, younger and older seafarers had higher risk for injuries than seafarers aged 30–49 years. Depending on the type of injury, non-officers had threefold to fivefold increased odds of injuries compared with officers, the risk being highest for head injuries with an OR of 5.00 (95% CI 3.19 to 7.83). Non-officers from the European Union (EU) had higher risk in most types of injuries than non-officers from outside the EU, whereas the pattern of this risk was inverse among officers.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that non-officers and European seafarers have an increased risk for several types of injuries on board Danish-flagged merchant ships. Additionally, age affected risk with the younger (<30 years) and older (>50 years) seafarers having increased risk.

Incidence of occupational injuries and diseases among seafarers: a descriptive epidemiological study based on contacts from onboard ships to the Italian Telemedical Maritime Assistance Service in Rome, Italy

“…Nearly 30% of injuries occurred in the wrist and hand, followed by the knee and lower leg (21%). Our results agree with the study conducted in the Danish-flagged merchant fleet, 18 which reported 36% and 18% of upper and lower limb injuries, respectively. Moreover, this study revealed that non-officers were more likely than officers to be injured (IRR=1.75).…”

Past, present, and future perspectives of telemedical assistance at sea: a systematic review

“…Offshore operating locations are challenging for delivering emergency medical care to personnel due to inadequate coverage of communication networks, bad weather conditions, absence of health professionals, or trained paramedics on board. However, regardless of these limitations, for the last 50 years, telemedicine by use of various means of communication such as telephone [22, 23, 26, 28, 30, 32-34, 37, 39-43, 46, 47], radio [22,23,26,27,34,36,39,40,44,45,47,48], videoconference [24,25,29,47], email [26, 28, 30-35, 37-42, 46-48], and telefax [22,23,28,34] has been offered different emergency medical services at sea successfully. As a result, telemedicine in the maritime industry has made it possible to reduce number of unnecessary evacuations (nearly by 20% per year), reduce treatment delay, improve the perception of safety, and increase patient satisfaction [29,32,49,50].…”

Associations of age, occupation and nationality of seafarers with risk of evacuations at sea: A register-based study on Danish-flagged merchant ships

“…For example, our recent study, based on data on contacts from ships to the RMD, found a higher risk for most types of injuries on board in younger and older ages as compared with those aged 30-49 years [16].…”