Occupational Trauma Deaths

In 1984, the National Institute for Occupation Safety and Health (NIOSH) estimated that the number of trauma-related deaths were 10,000 per year. As the years progressed, the ability to count these deaths became a more precise process. As more attention was focused on occupational deaths, industries were better able to look at the specific types of deaths that were most prevalent in their industry. You need to know the types of fatalities that occur in your industry. 

It is definitely a good business practice to target the prevention of occupational deaths if you know what events or exposures cause them. You can identify the potential if the event or exposure could exist or occur in your workplace. The types of incidents that caused the 5703 trauma deaths are presented in Table 9.2. 

Workers who know the occupational safety and health rules and safe work procedures, and follow them, are less likely to become one of the 4,340 (2009) occupational trauma deaths, one of 90,000 estimated occupational illness deaths, or even one of the 3.7 million (2008) nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses. 

Trauma is by definition an injury produced by a force (violence, thermal, chemical, or an extrinsic agent). Occupational trauma transpires from the contact with or the unplanned release of varied sources of energy intrinsic within the workplace. Most workplaces have a plethora of energy sources from potential (stored) energy to kinetic (energy in motion) energy sources. These sources may be stacked materials (potential) or a jackhammer (kinetic). The sources of energy are the primary causes of trauma deaths and injuries to workers. 

It is often very difficult to get employers, supervisors, and employees to take seriously the exposures in the workplace as a potential risk to the workforce both short- and long-term, especially long-term. It can t be too bad if I feel all right now. This false sense of security is illustrated by the 90,000 occupational illness deaths that are estimated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to occur each year. This far surpasses the 6000 occupation trauma deaths a year. If both trauma and illness deaths are added together it would be equivalent to the lives lost to a jumbo jet crashing every day of the year. Would an aviation record like this be acceptable to you If not, I doubt that you would be flying. It is time for employers and the workforce to take on-the-job exposures as a potentially serious threat. 

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