A case-crossover study of heat exposure and injury risk among outdoor construction workers in
                    Washington State

Calkins, Miriam; Bonauto, David K.; Hajat, Anjum; Lieblich, Max; Seixas, Noah S.; Sheppard, Lianne; Spector, June T.

doi:10.5271/sjweh.3814

Cited by 44 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 41 publications

(67 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…With the increasing frequency of heat waves and hotter summers, we should expect to see more occupational injuries overall. Higher incidence of occupational injuries is associated with higher ambient temperatures for temperature sensitive industries such as Construction, Agriculture, Forestry, and Utility Servicing 8,9,40,41 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Heat related illness among workers in Washington State: A descriptive study using workers' compensation claims, 2006‐2017

Hesketh

Wuellner

Robinson

et al. 2020

American J Industrial Med

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Heat related illness (HRI) places a significant burden on the health and safety of working populations and its impacts will likely increase with climate change. The aim of this study was to characterize the demographic and occupational characteristics of Washington workers who suffered from HRI from 2006 to 2017 using workers' compensation claims data. Methods We used Washington workers' compensation data linked to weather station data to identify cases of work‐related HRI. We utilized Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System codes, International Classification of Diseases 9/10 codes, and medical review to identify accepted and rejected Washington State (WA) workers' compensation claims for HRI from 2006 to 2017. We estimated rates of HRI by industry and evaluated patterns by ambient temperature. Results We detected 918 confirmed Washington workers' compensation HRI claims from 2006 to 2017, 654 were accepted and 264 were rejected. Public Administration had the highest third quarter rate (131.3 per 100 000 full time employees [FTE]), followed by Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting (102.6 per 100 000 FTE). The median maximum daytime temperature was below the Washington heat rule threshold for 45% of the accepted HRI claims. Latinos were estimated to be overrepresented in HRI cases. Conclusion The WA heat rule threshold may not be adequately protecting workers and racial disparities are present in occupational HRI. Employers should take additional precautions to prevent HRI depending on the intensity of heat exposure. States without heat rules and with large industry sectors disproportionately affected by HRI should consider regulations to protect outdoor workers in the face of more frequent and extreme heat waves.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Higher incidence of occupational injuries is associated with higher ambient temperatures for temperature sensitive industries such as Construction, Agriculture, Forestry, and Utility Servicing. 8,9,40,41 Racial and ethnic minorities in WA are more likely to face environmental exposures that place them at a greater risk of HRI.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Heat related illness among workers in Washington State: A descriptive study using workers' compensation claims, 2006‐2017

Hesketh

Wuellner

Robinson

et al. 2020

American J Industrial Med

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Both high and low temperature exposure can cause occupational injury [11,12]. Several epidemiological studies have reported significant increases in the incidences of injury in steelmaking [13], tile production processes [14], construction [15], and agriculture [16,17], because of high temperature exposure. Meanwhile, in the mining industry, injuries are increasing because of low temperature exposure [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Occupational injury refers to the physical damage caused by an accident during a job performance, resulting in primary health problems, work delay and sick leave, as well as significant losses for workers and business owners alike [22]. Several studies have analyzed the correlation between high and low temperature exposure and the occurrence of injury [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]23,24]. However, most studies have often represented specific regions, or targeted specific jobs, such as agriculture, mining, and construction, even in the very countries where the study was conducted.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association between Exposure to Extreme Temperature and Injury at the Workplace

Lee

Choi

et al. 2019

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Exposure to extreme temperature is a critical occupational risk factor. This study aimed to investigate the association between exposure to extreme temperatures and injury at the workplace using data from 92,238 workers (46,175 male and 46,063 female) from the 2014 and 2017 Korean Working Condition Survey. Exposure to extremely high or low temperatures, injury experiences, and personal protective equipment (PPE) wearing behavior were investigated using a questionnaire. Logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate the association between exposure to extreme temperature and injury experience. The association between injury experience and PPE wearing behavior was analyzed for each exposure group. After adjusting for individual and occupational factors, the odds ratios (ORs) for injury experience were 2.06 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.78–2.38) and 1.64 (95% CI: 1.44–1.85) in both high and low temperature exposure groups, respectively, and 1.45 (95% CI: 1.15–1.83) for those not wearing PPE when exposed to high temperature. There was no significant association shown with wearing PPE and injury experience in the low temperature exposure group. Exposure to extreme temperature tended to increase the risk of injury, and was higher in workers not wearing PPE in high temperature. PPE that can be worn comfortably in high temperature is needed to prevent occupational injury.

show abstract

“…Rest interval should be integrated to guarantee the recovery of worker's physical strength. Additionally, adverse weather conditions should be considered in the design of workhour as a stressor of workload (Calkins et al, 2019). To illustrate, the outdoor works such as masonry and earth excavation starting from 12 pm during midsummer should be suspended and delayed until 3 pm due to the physical consumption and work burnout caused by high temperature.…”

Section: Workhour Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross-Regional Research in Demographic Impact on Safety Consciousness and Safety Citizenship Behavior of Construction Workers: A Comparative Study between Mainland China and Hong Kong

Meng¹,

Chan²

2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: The construction industry has rapidly developed with the continuous prosperity in Hong Kong and Mainland China, though accidents still occur with unacceptable frequency and severity. For promoting the safety issue of workers in construction industry, safety citizenship behavior (SCB) and safety consciousness (SC) were considered two influential constructs and further studied with integration of sociodemographic theories by scholars. However, no study has compared the SC and SCB of construction workers in terms of the demographic influence between Mainland China and Hong Kong. Methods: To fill this research gap, this study investigated the territorial difference between these two regions by conducting a cross-sectional questionnaire survey with recruitment of 253 Mainland construction workers and 256 Hong Kong construction workers. Results: Significant similarities and differences of SC and SCB performance were revealed in terms of the workers with different genders, education levels, weekly working hours, and ages. Conclusions: This study provides insights into the comparison of demographic influence on SC and SCB of construction workers between Hong Kong and Mainland China, which is unique as it can yield useful managerial knowledge relevant to the personal safety of targeted groups of construction workers with particular demographic characteristic in both regions and contribute the implementation of safety interventions in line with the specific distinction in territorial aspect.

show abstract

A case-crossover study of heat exposure and injury risk among outdoor construction workers in Washington State

Cited by 44 publications

References 41 publications

Heat related illness among workers in Washington State: A descriptive study using workers' compensation claims, 2006‐2017

Heat related illness among workers in Washington State: A descriptive study using workers' compensation claims, 2006‐2017

Association between Exposure to Extreme Temperature and Injury at the Workplace

Cross-Regional Research in Demographic Impact on Safety Consciousness and Safety Citizenship Behavior of Construction Workers: A Comparative Study between Mainland China and Hong Kong

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About