Fatalities worker

Homicide is another serious concern in some job settings. In 1995, homicide accounted for 16 percent of job-related fatalities. Workers most at risk are those who work late at night, work alone, and handle money. Taxicab drivers are the most susceptible and have a relative risk about 10 times higher than the typical worker. Other occupations that have a high relative risk of homicide include police and guards. 

Because of the difficulty of disputing or exaggerating serious injuries or fatalities workers or their families have little reason to file false claims for WC benefits. Workplace fatalities should be relatively free from mismeasurement and, therefore, should most accurately mirror real changes in safety. The diverging impact of WC benefits on fatal and nonfatal injuries may then simply reflect the difference between real and reported workplace accidents and diseases. Higher benefits improve workplace safety reducing both fatal and nonfatal injuries, but reported nonfatal injuries rise as some workers file false or exaggerated claims for WC benefits and others file previously unreported claims because it is now financially worthwhile. ... 

Year Location Radiation source Fatalities Worker Public ... 

Care must be exercised in handling carbon disulfide because of both health concerns and the danger of fire or explosions. Occupational exposure potentially may involve as many as 20,000 workers in the United States (136). Ingestion is rare, but a 10 mL dose can prove fatal (137). Contact usually occurs by inhalation of vapor. However, vapor and Hquid can be absorbed through intact skin and poisoning may occur by the dermal route (138). 

The threshold limit value—time integrated average, TLV—TWA, of chlorine dioxide is 0.1 ppm, and the threshold limit value—short-term exposure limit, STEL, is 0.3 ppm or 0.9 mg /m of air concentration (87,88). Chlorine dioxide is a severe respiratory and eye irritant. Symptoms of exposure by inhalation include eye and throat irritation, headache, nausea, nasal discharge, coughing, wheezing, bronchitis, and delayed onset of pulmonary edema. Delayed deaths occurred in animals after exposure to 150—200 ppm for less than one hour. Rats repeatedly exposed to 10 ppm died after 10 to 13 days of exposure. Exposure of a worker to 19 ppm for an unspecified time was fatal. The ingested systemic effects of low concentration chlorine dioxide solutions are similar to that of chlorite. 

Risk indices are usually single-number estimates, which may be used to compare one risk with another or used in an absolute sense compared to a specific target. For risks to employees the fatal accident rate (FAR) is a commonly apphed measure. The FAR is a singlenumber index, which is the expected number of fatalities from a specific event based on 10 exposure hours. For workers in a chemical plant, the FAR could be calculated as follows ... 

Consider the following example in which the worker risk from a catastrophic accident has been calculated to be 2 X 10 fatalities per year. It is possible to interpret this number in many ways, but one of the most common ways is the following there is one chance in 5000 per year that a worker will be fatally injured at the plant. However, you should be cautious when interpreting single risk estimates that are the sums of products of frequency and consequence of many accidents. The way you believe (and act) may be affected by the frequency/consequence profile that the number represents (see Sections 3.2.4 and 4.2.5.) That is, your reaction to an accident that occurs once every 100 years and kills 1 person (Risk = 10 fatalities per year) and your reaction to an accident that occurs once every 10,000 years and kills 100 people (Risk = 10 fatalities per year) are likely to be very different. 

Another approach is to use government and private mortality and injury statistics. Calculated absolute risk estimates (the probability per year of a worker being injured or killed) can be compared to those de facto worker risk standards. For example, in the United Kingdom, industry and government alike are using the fatal accident rate (FAR, see Glos-... 

If the probability of worker injury or death because of participation in a given work-related activity can be shown to be much less than the risk of injury or death associated with presently accepted activities under very similar circumstances (e.g., the same type of hazard), then you may feel more comfortable about accepting the status quo. Table 14 illustrates the types of public mortality data available for such comparisons. In the previous example, where the worker risk was calculated as 2 X 10 fatalities... 

The average number of fatalities expected in a particular worker population of interest over a period of 10 worker-hours (roughly 1,000 employee working lifetimes)... 

Provide employee accident experience for the past 5 years, including the current year. The submittal shall specifically include OSHA recordable cases rate, lost and restricted workday cases rate, vehicle accident rate, and number of fatalities with a description of each. The workers compensation interstate experience modification rate should be less than 1.0, and applicable SIC codes should be noted. 

The chemical process industry is vast and varied. The value of chemicals and chemical products in 1993 was 0.5 trillion for the Ll.S," involving 67,000 chemical engineers, 98,000 chemists. There were 5.5 non-fatal occupational injuries per 100 employees in 1995 involving chemical and allied products, and 4.8 per 100 workers in petroleum and coal products, There were 101 fatalities due to exposure to caustic, noxious or allergenic substances and 208 deaths from fires and explosions in 1995. 

Fatal accident rate Lost-time injury rate Capital cost of accidents Number of plant/community evacuations Cost of business interruption Cost of workers compensation claims Number of hazardous material spills (in excess of a threshold) Tonnage of hazardous material spilled Tonnage of air, water, liquid and solid effluent Tonnage of polluting materials released into the environment Employee exposure monitoring Number of work related sickness claims Number of regulatory citations and fines Ecological impact of operations (loss or restoration of biodiversity, species, habitats)... 

One of the most popular risk policies employed by industry is tlie FAR Concept (Fatal Accident Rate). FAR represents Uie nmiiber of fatal accidents per 1,000 workers in a working lifetime (10 lu-), where a working lifetime is assumed to be approximately lO lu-s. An acceptable FAR (by industries standards) is 4.0. Tliis is made up of ... 

The Fatal Accident Rate (FAR) is tlie nmiiber of fatal accidents per 1,000 workers in a working lifetime (10 lir). A responsible chemical company typically displays a FAR equal to 2 for chemical process risks such as fires, tovic releases or spillage of corrosive chemicals. Identify potential problem areas tliat may develop for a company if acceptable FAR numbers are e.vceeded. 

Soon after production began, TEL was held responsible for a high incidence of illness and deaths among production workers at both the DuPont and Jersey Standard plants. The substance penetrated the skin to cause lead poisoning. Starting in late 1924, there were forty-five cases of lead poisoning and four fatalities at Jersey Standard s Bayway production plant. Additional deaths occurred at the DuPont Plant and at the Dayton Laboratory. This forced the suspension of the sale of TEL ill 1925 and the first half of 1926. 

Claims for acute hydrogen sulfide exposure that occurred over a 5-year period (1969-1973) in Alberta, Canada, primarily among petrochemical workers, were reviewed by Burnett et al. (1977). Acute effects noted included coma, disequilibrium, and respiratory insufficiency with pulmonary edema. Of 221 cases, there were 14 deaths. A follow-up study of 250 workers claims for hydrogen sulfide exposure from 1979 to 1983 in Alberta, Canada, found 7 fatalities that usually involved the central nervous and respiratory systems hepatic congestion and cardiac petechiae were also noted (Arnold et al. 1985). The difference in fatality rate (6% down to 2.8%) was attributed to improved first aid training and an increased awareness of the dangers of hydrogen sulfide. 

NIOSH. 1991. Fatal accident circumstances and epidemiology (FACE) report Two maintenance workers die after inhaling hydrogen sulfide in manhole, January 31, 1989. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Morgantown, WV. NTIS publication no. PB91212761. 

Less information is available on PCP concentrations in serum. PCP concentrations lower than 0.5 mg/L have been observed in non-exposed populations. Values ranging from 0.2 to 1.8 mg/L have been measured in occupants of PCP-treated houses, and concentrations from 0.4 to 13 mg/L have been measured in occupationally exposed workers. PCP concentrations higher than 40 mg/L have been observed in fatal poisonings. 

---