Back injuries among union carpenters in Washington State, 1989–2003

Abstract

Overexertion injuries from manual materials handling activities are responsible for the largest burden of back injuries among these carpenters, but a growing proportion of injuries result from acute traumatic events. Interventions are called for which specifically address risk among residential carpenters and drywall installers. These data provide additional evidence that Bureau of Labor Statistics data underestimate work-related injuries.

Civil engineering airman at increased risk for injuries and injury‐related musculoskeletal disorders

“…these Airmen construct facilities, operate and maintain heavy equipment, fabricate metals, and work in environmental conditions that are subject to change [HQ AFPC/DPSID, 2007]. These findings are also supported by studies among civilian construction workers who have been reported to be at increased risk for back injuries [Choi et al, 2007;Lipscomb et al, 2008], electrical injuries [Lombardi et al, 2009], eye injuries [Forrest and Cali, 2009;McCall et al, 2009], hand injuries [Choi et al, 2007], and a number of other injuries such as lacerations, sprains, strains, contusions, and foreign objects [Welch et al, 2005]. In this study, we observed similar injuries among the Civil Engineering Airmen.…”

Health Care Utilization for Musculoskeletal Back Disorders, Washington State Union Carpenters, 1989–2003

“…10 As do many members of construction trade unions, these carpenters have health insurance coverage through a jointly trusteed health and welfare fund. These funds developed through the collective bargaining process over a period of years in different local areas and in different industries and trades to provide health insurance coverage for non-work-related medical care.…”

“…These funds developed through the collective bargaining process over a period of years in different local areas and in different industries and trades to provide health insurance coverage for non-work-related medical care. Access to health insurance claims data from their health care trust, in addition to their WC records, 10 allowed us to evaluate more comprehensively the health care received by these carpenters for musculoskeletal back disorders. In addition to describing their health care utilization through the trust, analyses were specifically designed to explore potential costshifting across insurance payment systems for this large cohort of carpenters over a 15-year period.…”

Meta-analysis of studies examining long-term construction injury rates

“…Other factors include the risk differences depending on the categories of building workers involved and the different impacts of intervention policies in the work market. Often, the type and intensity of information and training activity were not documented [8,9,18,30]. Furthermore, some studies included were longitudinal studies monitoring the frequency of injuries in specific groups of workers after risk reduction programmes had been applied.…”