Publications by authors named "Hester J Lipscomb"
Background: Limited knowledge regarding the relative effectiveness of workplace accident prevention approaches creates barriers to informed decision-making by policy makers, public health practitioners, workplace, and worker advocates.
Objectives: The objective of this review was to assess the effectiveness of broad categories of safety interventions in preventing accidents at work. The review aims to compare effects of safety interventions to no intervention, usual activities, or alternative intervention, and if possible, to examine which constituent components of safety intervention programs contribute more strongly to preventing accidents at work in a given setting or context.
Background: Despite wide availability of patient lift equipment in hospitals to promote worker and patient safety, nursing staff do not consistently use equipment.
Objective: To determine the influence of factors on the use or non-use of lift equipment during patient lifts/transfers.
Design: Prospective observational cohort study.
Background: Devices to lift, transfer, and reposition patients are recommended for healthcare workers' and patients' safety, but their intended use has yet to be fully realized.
Objective: The aim of this study was to describe hospital nursing staff use of lift/transfer devices and the presence of factors at the time of lifts/transfers with potential to influence whether devices are used.
Methods: Participants were 108 US nursing staff in a university-based medical center and two community hospitals.
Context: Health care workers have high rates of musculoskeletal injuries, but many of these injuries go unreported to workers' compensation and national surveillance systems. Little is known regarding the work-related injuries of certified athletic trainers (ATs).
Objective: To determine the 12-month incidence and prevalence of work-related injuries and describe injury-reporting and -management strategies.
Background: Little is known about the work-related injury and illnesses experienced by certified athletic trainers (AT).
Methods: The incidence and characteristics of injury/illness claims filed in two workers' compensation systems were described from 2001 to 2011. Yearly populations at risk were estimated from National Athletic Trainers' Association membership statistics.
Background: Under-reporting of type II (patient/visitor-on-worker) violence by workers has been attributed to a lack of essential event details needed to inform prevention strategies.
Methods: Mixed methods including surveys and focus groups were used to examine patterns of reporting type II violent events among ∼11,000 workers at six U.S.
Objective: To explore whether surgical teams with greater stability among their members (ie, members have worked together more in the past) experience lower rates of sharps-related percutaneous blood and body fluid exposures (BBFE) during surgical procedures.
Design: A 10-year retrospective cohort study.
Setting: A single large academic teaching hospital.
Surgical Procedure Characteristics and Risk of Sharps-Related Blood and Body Fluid Exposure.
Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol
January 2016
OBJECTIVE To use a unique multicomponent administrative data set assembled at a large academic teaching hospital to examine the risk of percutaneous blood and body fluid (BBF) exposures occurring in operating rooms. DESIGN A 10-year retrospective cohort design. SETTING A single large academic teaching hospital.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hospital sitters provide continuous observation of patients at risk of harming themselves or others. Little is known about sitters' occupational safety and well-being, including experiences with patient/visitor-perpetrated violence (type II).
Methods: Data from surveys, focus groups, individual interviews at six U.
Background: An elevated risk of patient/visitor perpetrated violence (type II) against hospital nurses and physicians have been reported, while little is known about type II violence among other hospital workers, and circumstances surrounding these events.
Methods: Hospital workers (n = 11,000) in different geographic areas were invited to participate in an anonymous survey.
Results: Twelve-month prevalence of type II violence was 39%; 2,098 of 5,385 workers experienced 1,180 physical assaults, 2,260 physical threats, and 5,576 incidents of verbal abuse.
Background: Musculoskeletal symptoms and disorders (MSDIs) are common reasons for visits to medical providers in the general population and they are common work-related complaints. Prior reports raise concerns as to whether declines in workers' compensation (WC) rates represent true improvement in occupational health and safety or shifting of care to other payment systems.
Methods: By linking administrative records, we compared patterns of WC claims and private health care utilization for disorders of the upper extremity (UE) and knee among a large cohort of union carpenters over a 20-year period.
Background: Nail guns increase productivity in residential building but with a corresponding increase in worker injuries. They are also easily accessible, at low cost, to consumers.
Methods: Data from the occupational supplement to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS-Work) were used to calculate national estimates of work-related injuries from nail guns between 2006 and 2011.
Background: Acute nail gun injuries can be controlled significantly by using tools with sequential triggers and training. Concern has been raised that sequential triggers, which require that the nose piece of the gun be depressed prior to pulling the trigger, could increase risk of musculoskeletal problems.
Methods: We conducted active injury surveillance among union carpenter apprentices to monitor acute injuries and musculoskeletal disorders between 2010 and 2013.
Background: Numerous aspects of construction place workers at risk of musculoskeletal disorders and injuries (MSDIs). Work organization and the nature of MSDIs create surveillance challenges.
Methods: By linking union records with workers' compensation claims, we examined 20-year patterns of MSDIs involving the upper extremity (UE) and the knee among a large carpenter cohort.
Background: Declining work injury rates may reflect safer work conditions as well as under-reporting.
Methods: Union carpenters were invited to participate in a mailed, cross-sectional survey designed to capture information about injury reporting practices. Prevalence of non-reporting and fear of repercussions for reporting were compared across exposure to behavioral-based safety elements and three domains of the Nordic Safety Climate Questionnaire (NOSACQ-50).
Background: Falls from height (FFH) are a longstanding, serious problem in construction.
Methods: We report workers' compensation (WC) payments associated with FFH among a cohort (n = 24,830; 1989-2008) of carpenters. Mean/median payments, cost rates, and adjusted rate ratios based on hours worked were calculated using negative-binomial regression.
Background: While violence can adversely affect mental health of victims, repercussions of violence against workers is not as well characterized.
Materials And Methods: We explored relationships between workplace violent events perpetrated by patients or visitors (Type II) against hospital employees and the employee use of psychotropic medications or mental health services using a data system that linked violent events with health claims.
Results: Significant associations were observed between reported Type II workplace violent events and employee prescription claims for anti-depressants and anxiolytics combined (RR = 1.
Introduction: Construction workers are at high risk of work-related musculoskeletal back disorders, and research suggests medical care and costs associated with these conditions may be covered by sources other than workers' compensation (WC). Little is known about the back injury experience and care seeking behavior among drywall installers, a high-risk workgroup regularly exposed to repetitive activities, awkward postures, and handling heavy building materials.
Methods: Among a cohort of 24,830 Washington State union carpenters (1989-2008), including 5,073 drywall installers, we identified WC claims, visits for health care covered through union-provided health insurance and time at risk.
Background: Falls from height (FFH) continue to cause significant morbidity and mortality across the construction industry.
Methods: By linking data on work hours with workers' compensation records, rates of work-related injuries resulting from FFH and associated days away from work were evaluated among a large cohort (n = 24,830) of union carpenters in Washington State from 1989 to 2008. Using Poisson regression we assessed rates of FFH over the 20-year period while adjusting for temporal trend in other work-related injuries.
Objective: We evaluated work-related injuries involving a hand or fingers and associated costs among a cohort of 24,830 carpenters between 1989 and 2008.
Methods: Injury rates and rate ratios were calculated by using Poisson regression to explore higher risk on the basis of age, sex, time in the union, predominant work, and calendar time. Negative binomial regression was used to model dollars paid per claim after adjustment for inflation and discounting.
Background: There is widespread agreement that work organization is an important element of occupational safety and health, but the health effects of many aspects of work organization are likely to vary considerably across different sectors of work and geographies.
Methods: We examined existing employment policies and work organization-related research relevant specifically to immigrant workers in the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing (AgFF) Sector of the US workforce focusing, when possible, on the southeastern US.
Results: A number of specific aspects of work organization within AgFF subsectors have been described, but most of this literature exists outside the purview of occupational health.
Background: Individuals who work in the construction industry are at high risk of occupational injury. Robust surveillance systems are needed to monitor the experiences of these workers over time.
Methods: We updated important surveillance data for a unique occupational cohort of union construction workers to provide information on long-term trends in their reported work-related injuries and conditions.
Background: In the high-risk construction industry little is known about the prevalence or effects of programs offering rewards for workers and/or their supervisors for improved safety records or those that punish workers in some way for injury.
Methods: We conducted an anonymous survey of 1,020 carpenter apprentices in three union training programs to document prevalence of their exposure to such efforts. We explored associations between perceptions of the reporting of work-related injury and elements of these programs.
Musculoskeletal symptoms among female garment factory workers in Sri Lanka.
Int J Occup Environ Health
November 2012
Objectives: To assess the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and their association with sociodemographic risk factors among female garment factory workers in Sri Lanka.
Methods: 1058 randomly selected female garment factory workers employed in the free trade zone of Kogalla, Sri Lanka were recruited to complete two interviewer-administered questionnaires assessing musculoskeletal symptoms and health behaviors.
Discussion: Musculoskeletal complaints among female garment workers in the FTZ of Kogalla are less common than expected.