Defining Serious Injuries on Construction Jobsites: Lessons from the Literature
Publication: Construction Research Congress 2022
ABSTRACT
The primary objective of most safety management programs is to eliminate serious injuries and fatalities. However, serious injury prevention and control efforts are hampered by the lack of consensus amongst safety practitioners on what constitutes a “serious” injury. Existence of varied definitions, presumptions, and judgment-based assessments stifle the consistency needed for effective communication and shared learning. This paper comprehensively reviews how the healthcare, occupational safety, military, transportation, insurance law, law enforcement, and professional sports industries and trade or regulatory agencies identify, classify, and rationalize the seriousness of an injury. The philosophies, practices, and thresholds identified from the review have been used to propose considerations and recommendations for the construction sector for determining whether an injury is serious or not. This paper proffers recommendations for a new framework on injury severity determination based on the ability to perform Activities of Daily Living (ADLs); this framework is both a worker-centric philosophy and a standardizable practice for the industry at large.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
REFERENCES
Baker, S. P., O’Neill, B. B., Haddon, W. J., and Long, W. B. (1974). “The Injury Severity Score A method for describing patients with multiple injuries and evaluating emergency care.” J. Trauma Acute Care Surg., 14(3), 187–196.
Bryden, J. E., and Andrew, L. B. (1999). “Serious Injuries and Fatal Injuries to Workers on Highway Construction Projects.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1657(1), 42–47. https://doi.org/10.3141%2F1657-06.
Chomiak, J., Junge, A., Peterson, L., and Dvorak, J. (2000). “Severe Injuries in Football Players. Influencing Factors.” Am. J. Sports Med., 28(5), 58–67. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F28.suppl_5.s-58.
Copes, W. S., Champion, H. R., Sacco, W. J., Lawnick, M. M., Keast, S. L., and Bain, L. W. (1988) “The Injury Severity Score Revisited.” J. Trauma Acute Care Surg., 28(1), 69–77.
Copp, T., and Losey, S. (2019). “Aviation in crisis. DoD is rethinking what defines a major aviation accident.” https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/03/01/dod-is-rethinking-what-defines-a-major-aviation-accident/ (May 27, 2021).
Cornell Law School. (n.d.). Legal Information Institute. “18 U.S. Code § 2246 – Definitions for Chapter.” https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2246. (May 27, 2021).
CPC (Chief Parliamentary Council). (2020). Transport Accident Act 1986. Melbourne, Australia: CPC.
DMIRS (Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety). (2020). Safety performance in the Western Australian mineral industry – accident and injury statistics 2019-20. Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. East Perth, Australia: DMIRS.
DOD (Department of Defense). (2008). Implementation of Wounded, Ill and Injured-Related Standard Definitions. Washington, District of Columbia, United States: DOD.
ERSO (European Road Safety Observatory). (2018). Serious Injuries 2018. ERSO.
FBI. (2017). “2017 Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted.” https://ucr.fbi.gov/leoka/2017/resource-pages/leoka_definitions_-2017. (May 27, 2021).
FitzGerald, C., and Hurst, S. (2017). Implicit bias in healthcare professionals: a systematic review. BMC medical ethics, 18(1), 1–18.
Fuller, C. W., Ekstrand, J., Junge, A., Andersen T. E., Bahr, R., Dvorak, J., Hagglund, M., McCrory, P., and Meeuwisse, W. H. (2006). “Consensus statement on injury definitions and data collection procedures in studies of football (soccer) injuries.” Scand J Med Sci Sports, 16, 83–92. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2006.00528.x.
Gilboy, N., Tanabe, P., Travers, D. A., Rosenau, A. M., and Eitel, D. R. (2005). “Emergency Severity Index, Version 4: Implementation Handbook.” Chapter 2 in Triage Acuity Systems. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Gillen, M., Faucett, J. A., Beaumont, J. J., and McLoughlin, E. (1997). “Injury Severity Associated with Nonfatal Construction Falls.” Am. J. Ind. Med., 32, 647–655.
Gilpin, D., and Nelson, P. (1991). “Revised trauma score: a triage tool in the accident and emergency department.” Injury, 22(1), 35–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/0020-1383(91)90158-B.
Hinze, J., Devenport, J. N., and Giang, G. (2006). “Analysis of construction worker injuries that do not result in lost time.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 132(3): 321–326. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2006)132:3(321).
Jarret, G., Orwin, J., and Dick, R. W. (1998). “Injuries in Collegiate Wrestling.” Am. J. Sports Med., 26(5), 674–680. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F03635465980260051301.
Jones, C. (1979). “Glasgow Coma Scale.” Am. J. Nurs., 1551–1557.
Kim, Y.-J. (2012). “Injury severity scoring systems: a review of application to practice.” Nursing in Critical Care, 17(3), 138–150. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-5153.2012.00498.x.
Kines, P. (2002). “Construction worker’s falls through roofs: Fatal versus serious injuries.” J of Safety Res, 33, 195–208. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-4375(02)00019-1.
Manapragada, A., and Bruk-Lee, V. (2016). “Staying silent about safety issues: Conceptualizing and measuring safety silence motives.” Acc Anal Prev, 91, 144–156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2016.02.014.
Martin, D. K., and Black, A. (2015). “Preventing Serious Injuries & Fatalities. Study Reveals Precursors & Paradigms.” Professional Safety, 60(09), 35–43.
McDonald, G., Davie, G., and Langley, J. (2009). “Validity of Police-Reported Information on Injury Severity for Those Hospitalized from Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes.” Traffic Inj. Prev., 10(2), 184–190. https://doi.org/10.1080/15389580802593699.
NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board). (2012). CFR 830.2. Washington, DC: NTSB.
ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization). (1988). Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation. Annex 13. Montreal, Canada: ICAO.
SPD (Salisbury Police Department). (2018). Serious Injury/Death and OIS Incidents. Salisbury, North Carolina, United States: SPD.
Risberg, G., Johansson, E. E., and Hamberg, K. (2009). “A theoretical model for analysing gender bias in medicine.” Int J Equity Health, 8(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-9276-8-28.
Rondinelli, R. D., Genovese, E., Katz, R. T., Mayer, T. G., Mueller, K., and Ranavaya, M. (2008). Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, 6th ed. Chicago, IL.
Roy, S. P. (1979). “Intercollegiate wrestling injuries.” Physician Sportsmed, 7(11), 83–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913847.1979.11948524.
Shelkey, M., and Wallace, M. (1999). “Katz index of independence in activities of daily living.” J. Gerontol. Nurs., 8–9. https://doi.org/10.3928/0098-9134-19990301-05.
States, J. D., and Viano, D. C. (1990). “Injury impairment and disability scales to assess the permanent consequences of trauma.” Accid Anal Prev, 22(2), 151–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-4575(90)90066-T.
Sukhera, J., Wodzinski, M., Milne, A., Teunissen, P. W., Lingard, L., and Watling, C. (2019). “Implicit bias and the feedback paradox: Exploring how health professionals engage with feedback while questioning its credibility.” Acad. Med., 94(8), 1204–1210.
Tangirala, S., and Ramanujam, R. (2008). “Employee silence on critical work issues: The cross level effects of procedural justice climate.” Pers. Psychol., 61(1), 37–68.
TAC. (n.d.). Definition of severe injury. www.tac.vic.gov.au/clients/how-we-can-help/treatments-and-services/policies/supporting/definition-of-severe-injury (May 27, 2021).
NY Senate (The New York State Senate). (n.d.). “Comprehensive Motor Vehicle Insurance Reparations.” https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/ISC/5102#. (May 27, 2021).
VA (US Department of Veteran Affairs). 2020. “Traumatic Injury Protection (TSGLI).” https://www.va.gov/life-insurance/options-eligibility/tsgli/. (May 27, 2021).
USDOI (Department of Interior). (2003). Oil and Gas and Sulphur Operations in the Outer Continental Shelf - Incident Reporting Requirements. Herndon, Virginia, United States.
USDOT (US Department of Transportation). (2012). MMUCC Guideline Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria. Washington, D.C-: USDOT.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Construction Research Congress 2022
Pages: 294 - 303
History
Published online: Mar 7, 2022
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.