Fire fighter fatalities 1998-2001: overview with an emphasis on structure related traumatic fatalities.

Objective: To review the causes of all fire fighter line-of-duty-deaths from 1998 through 2001, and present recommendations for preventing fatalities within the specific subgroup of structure related events.

Methods: Fire fighter fatality data from the United States Fire Administration were reviewed and classified into three main categories of injury. Investigations conducted through the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program provided the basis for the recommendations presented in this paper.

Occupational injury mortality rates in the United States: changes from 1980 to 1989.

Changes in occupational injury mortality rates over the 1980s were examined through analysis of the National Traumatic Occupational Fatalities surveillance system. The US occupational injury mortality rate decreased 37% over the decade, with decreases seen in nearly every demographic and employment sector. Greater declines were among men, Blacks, and younger workers, as well as among agricultural, trade, and service workers.

Understanding and evaluating manual handling injuries: NIOSH research studies.

This paper presents an overview of NIOSH research aimed at characterizing and identifying intervention strategies for reducing musculoskeletal injuries during manual handling activities. Surveillance and evaluative research projects are reviewed. Future research directions of the Institute are also discussed.

Investigation of the after-reach hazard in two-hand controlled power press operations.

One hazard inherent to hand-feeding operations at a power press occurs when a worker reaches into the point of operation after initiating the downward stroke of the press ram. One approach for controlling this hazard is to locate a two-hand actuator at a distance sufficiently far from the point of operation to prevent the operator from getting his hand into the die area before the ram completes its descent. In a study of this problem, the activities of a power press were simulated in the laboratory with the use of a model power press and two locations for the actuator controls, an upper and a lower location.