Deaths, crash-related

High cost of crash-related deaths Assessing dust explosion hazards... 

Risk is the probability of harm or loss and can be considered to be a product of the probability and the severity of specific consequences. Risk, as it relates to hazardous wastes and groundwater contamination, may be defined as the chance that humans or other organisms will sustain adverse effects from exposure to these environmental hazards. Risk is inherent in the life of all organisms—humans, animals, and plants. Tornadoes, landslides, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters carry a risk of injury or death to any living thing in their path. Similarly, human-caused risks such as automobile accidents, plane crashes, and nuclear disasters occur with varying levels of severity. 

Death 1,700 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die each year from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes (Hingson, Heeren, Winter, Wechsler, 2005). 

IV. Risk and post-crash injury outcome Different studies have shown that fatality rates are correlated with the level of medical facilities available in the country expressed in terms of population per physician and population per hospital bed, see (Jacobs Fouracre, 1977) and (Mekky, 1985). A review of a European study, in (WHO, 2004), showed that about half of deaths from road accidents occurred at the spot of the accident or on the way to the hospital. Noland (2003) concludes that medical care has led to reductions in traffic-related fatalities in developed countries over time (1970-1996). The variables used are infant mortality rates, physicians per capita, and average acute care days in hospital. 

Job-related deaths counted in 1993 Vehicle crashes, homicides lead all causes. 1994, July 27. Niagara Gazette, A6. 

Drivers in the trucking industry experienced the most fatalities of all occupations, accounting for 12 percent of all worker-related deaths according to www.OSHA.gov, 2010. About two-thirds of fatally injured drivers were involved in highway crashes. Drivers also had more nonfatal injuries than workers in any other occupation. Half... 

NIOSH. (2005). NIOSH Alert Preventing Worker Injuries and Deaths from Traffic-Related Crashes, NIOSH Publication No. 98-142. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH. 

In 2003, out of 4,986 fatalihes that occurred from crashes involving large trucks in the United States, 14% were occupants of large trucks, 78% were occupants of another vehicle, and 8% were nonoccupants [1,6. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), commercial drivers in the United States experience more job-related deaths than any other profession [1, 7]. 

Measuring the position of road crash disabling injuries and deaths relative to other public health diseases using age-adjusted measures must also be an important adjunct to targets seeking reductions in absolute numbers. Road trauma is a disease related to our lifestyle, and it is time we conceptualised and treated it as such. 

In Australia, it has been estimated that work-related road crashes account for about 50% of occupational deaths and about 15% of all road deaths. Many companies are responding with significant strategies and action plans. 

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