Risk factors for occupational hand injuries: relationship between agency and finger

Protective gloves, hand grip strength, and dexterity tests: A comprehensive study

Protective gloves can affect hand performance indicators (HPIs) like manual dexterity and hand grip. The present study was conducted to comprehensively and comparatively investigate several types of protective gloves and HPI assessment tools. Seventeen healthy men participated in this study. Four types of protective gloves, two structural firefighting and two general protective gloves, were investigated using four different dexterity tests and the bulb dynamometer. Structural firefighting gloves were significantly different in terms of dexterity, while there was no significant difference between general protective gloves. In contrast, firefighting gloves were not significantly different in terms of hand grip strength, while general protective gloves were significantly different in this regard. Among the four investigated tests, the hand tool dexterity test had the highest discrimination power. The negative effects of structural firefighting gloves on HPIs were higher than those of general protective gloves. A trade-off between safety requirements and hand performance is needed.

Wood-Splitter-Related Upper-Limb Injuries: A Single-Centered Case-Series Study

(1) Background: Injuries to the upper limbs during wood splitting can affect social and economic life. We aimed to describe the clinical information concerning these injuries in Japan. (2) Methods: We identified patients from our patient database from April 2015-November 2021 and extracted data from their medical records, which includes age, gender, occupation, month, time and location of the injury, diagnosis, duration of hospitalization, ICU admission, treatment interventions including surgery, outcome, and medical costs. (3) Result: Seventeen cases were identified. Most of the patients were male (n = 15), with median age being 68 years old. Regarding the patients' backgrounds, six were apple farmers and three were unemployed. Injuries to the index finger was most common (n = 9), followed by injuries to the thumb in five cases (n = 5). Most of the incidents occurred at home or on the patient's farm estate. No injuries were due to incidents at work. (4) Conclusion: The wood splitter-related injuries required long-term treatment and frequently damaged the thumb, a functionally important digit. All the injuries were sustained during non-occupational use of a wood splitter. Therefore, we suggest that safety training should be provided to prevent traumatic injuries when these products are being sold.

High-Performance Electronic Cloth for Facilitating the Rehabilitation of Human Joints

The concern about easily characterizing the conditions of human joints to facilitate rehabilitation during recovery training has been out of sight, even though it is acknowledged that timely recovering functions of injured joints is a must. To facilitate the situation to be addressed, a stretchable, air-permeable electronic cloth (SApEC) was fabricated by electrostatic spinning and hot-pressing. The SApEC consists of conductive-elastic fabric Ag and composite nanofibrous membrane (CNFM) with components of poly(vinylidene fluoride- co-hexa-fluoropropyiene) and thermoplastic urethane. The electronic cloth not only owns chemical stability and ultralight weight, but scavenges triboelectric signals from joint movements. These characters allow the SApEC to be an easy and convenient indicator to indicate the activity of joints, when users get rehabilitation training in non-hospital places. With the assistance of several electronic components, the SApEC could control alarms, such as a warning lamp. This favorable ability allows the SApEC to make alerts, once users face any accidents again, like sudden fall or heart failure. Given the advantages mentioned above, it is reasonable to believe that the SApEC has a promising prospect in portable and wearable electronics, involving indicating rehabilitation of joints and keeping an eye on users' safety.

[Hands well - all's well : Prevention campaign of the Austrian General Accident Insurance Institution (AUVA) to reduce hand injuries]

Overall, 41% of all work-related accidents lead to a hand injury. In the younger generation, the incidence rate even rises to 50%. In Austria, these accidents result in approximately half a million sick leave days per annum, an average of 12.5 days per accident. In comparison, leisure-time hand injuries show a significantly higher accident rate: 60% of hand injuries occur during leisure time. Far fewer safety measures are taken and a lack of adequate training and a disregard for safety recommendations are observed.This large number of hand injuries led to the launch of a campaign in Austria in 2014-2015 called "Hände gut - Alles Gut", (Hands well - all's well). This campaign was aimed at reducing the costs, a sum of 309 million Euros, incurred solely from work-related hand accidents, by at least 5-10%.These exorbitantly high costs are not only due to severe hand trauma, most result from a multitude of slight and superficial wounds.

Transient risk factors for acute occupational hand injuries among metal manufacturing workers: A case-crossover study in southern China

BACKGROUND

Acute occupational hand injuries are a common occurrence in China's metal manufacturing industries. This study aimed to explore the transient risk factors for acute occupational hand injuries among metal manufacturing workers.

METHODS

A case-crossover study was conducted from October 2013 through December 2013 in Zhongshan city, southern China. Face-to-face interviews were used to collect information on the occurrence of 12 transient risk factors during the "hazard" period (a 60-min period prior to occupational hand injury) and a "control" period (the week before the injury).

RESULTS

One hundred ninety-four qualified acute occupational hand injury cases (139 male, 55 female) were enrolled in this study, with a mean age of 35.5 (standard deviation [SD] 10.4) years. The most common (64.9%) type of work was punching, and the most common injures were crushes and fractures (28.8 and 23.7%, respectively). Of these cases, 62.9% were regarded as severe or major. Among the 12 transient risk factors, 11 ones were significantly associated with acute occupational hand injuries occurring during the hazard period: "replacing sharp knives" (IRR = 14.38, 95%CI 11.43-18.08), "using malfunctioning machinery" (IRR = 30.59, 95%CI 17.84-52.48), "using different tools" (IRR = 10.96, 95%CI 4.77-25.17), "using different machines" (IRR = 5.20, 95%CI 2.25-12.00), "performing unusual work tasks" (IRR = 24.38, 95%CI 14.11-42.15), "working overtime" (IRR = 13.40, 95%CI 7.70-23.29), "performing a task with a different method" (IRR = 56.41, 95%CI 23.61-134.81), "being in a bad mood" (IRR = 108.11, 95%CI 55.10-211.11), "feeling ill" (RR = 12.27, 95%CI 4.95-30.43), "rushing" (IRR = 5.16, 95%CI 2.49-10.70), and "not wearing gloves" (IRR = 1.63, 95%CI 1.23-2.15).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study suggested that multiple transient risk factors were responsible for the acute occupational hand injuries in China's metal manufacturing industries. Am. J. Ind. Med. 59:832-840, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Fall-induced spinal cord injury: External causes and implications for prevention

OBJECTIVE

To document the demographic and clinical profile of persons who sustained spinal cord injury (SCI) as a result of accidental falls and to determine the usual circumstances surrounding the fall-induced SCI.

DESIGN

Cohort study.

SETTING

21 SCI Model Systems centers throughout the United States.

PARTICIPANTS

6,408 individuals with traumatic SCI between 2005 and 2014 were recruited from the National SCI Database. 1,877 (29%) of them were injuries caused by falls.

INTERVENTIONS

Not applicable.

OUTCOMES MEASURES

External causes of injury documented by the International Classification of Diseases, 10(th) revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM).

RESULTS

Falls on the same level from slipping, tripping, and stumbling were the most common cause of fall-induced SCI (20%), followed by falls from building (16%), stairs and steps (16%), and ladder (9%). People who were 61 years of age and older had the highest frequency of falls on the same level, while those aged 16-45 years had a higher percentage of falls from buildings, usually work-related. The mechanisms of falls also varied by sex and race. Associated injury and vertebral injury occurred frequently among falls from buildings and ladders. High falls were more likely to be work-related and result in thoracic and complete injury, while low falls were more commonly associated with cervical and motor functionally incomplete injury.

CONCLUSION

The study findings of different mechanisms of falls by age, sex, race and medical consequences provide an insight for future interventions aimed at high risk persons, activities, and environmental factors for preventing or reducing fall-induced SCI.

Aging and Spinal Cord Injury: External Causes of Injury and Implications for Prevention

BACKGROUND

Despite a consistent trend toward older age at time of spinal cord injury (SCI), little is known about the external causes of SCI in the elderly.

OBJECTIVE

To examine environmental circumstances, documented by International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification codes, at time of SCI among older adults.

METHODS

Data on individuals injured in 2005 or later were retrieved from the National SCI Database. Demographics, injury profiles, and external causes of injury were compared between the study group (age >60 years, n = 1,079) and reference group (age 16-45 years, n = 3,579) using chi-square and Student t tests.

RESULTS

Among the elderly, falls were the most common etiology of SCI (60%), followed by transport accidents (24%) and complications of medical and surgical care (12%). In the younger group, transport accidents were the most common etiology of SCI (49%), followed by falls (22%) and assault (21%). Falls on the same level (30%), from stairs and steps (22%), and other slipping, tripping, and stumbling (11%) were the most common mechanisms of falls in the elderly group. Among motor vehicle accidents, car occupant injured in a collision with another car was the most common mechanism of injury among the elderly (28%).

CONCLUSIONS

There is an urgent need for effective fall prevention programs among the elderly to reduce SCI in this expanding population. Details on the mechanisms of falls and other major causes of SCI among the elderly provided in this study should inform the development of future interventions for high-risk persons, activities, and environments.