Epidemiologic Principles Applied to Injury Prevention

An analysis of injuries resulting from falls from ladders was carried out with the following objectives: to reveal potential causal factors of such injuries and to test epidemiologie concepts for improved design of a case-comparas on study of such injuries. The study observations consisted of 1,419 workers injured in ladder-related accidents who responded to a Work Injury Report Survey questionnaire. This survey, designed jointly by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, included questions on the design, composition, and condition of the ladder, the task being attempted by the injured, the condition of the worker's shoes, the amount and kind of tmining, and other factors. After the identification of one group of injured workers (those injured while working from the ladder) as referents and a second group (those injured wihile climbing the ladder) as cases, a casecomparison analysis of other factors was carried out. The conclusions drawn were that the differences between the case and comparison groups were design-and task-related, While other facbors were not directly comparable. This analysis points the way for designing a more carefully controlled study of such injuries.