Fatal Car Occupant Injuries after Car Lorry Collisions

All deaths from road accidents in certain areas and periods were studied. Analysis of 224 deaths to car occupants from collisions between cars and lorries showed that such accidents were the commonest cause of death for car occupants on motorways and link roads. The impacts were such that relatively poor protection could be given by occupant restraint systems. Collisions of cars into the rear of lorries caused the most severe injuries; most of these accidents occurred at night.The traffic characteristics of cars and lorries are largely incompatible and increase the likelihood of collisions and of extremely severe injuries to car occupants. Some reduction in deaths may be expected from making lorries more conspicuous and eliminating the rear overhang. More fundamental measures are segregation of lorries from cars and return of traffic to railways.     

Injuries to Hip Joint in Car Occupants

Four varieties of fracture, of dislocation, or of fracture dislocation of the hip are described that occur in car occupants after road accidents. It is suggested that, whereas most hip injuries to car occupants are produced by application of force to the knee, one important variety (central fracture dislocation) is the result of the direct application of force to the great trochanter. Central fracture dislocations might be prevented, or their severity minimized, by strengthening the sides of cars and of car doors and by improving the energy absorption characteristics of the facia panel.     

Fatal myelotoxicity after azathioprine treatment

Azathioprine and 6-mercaptopurine have been used for many years in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. Approximately 0.3% of the population are homozygous for variant alleles associated with extremely low thiopurine S-methyltransferase enzyme activity. We describe the case of a young patient with ulcerative colitis, homozygous for TPMT*3A alleles, who suffered fatal azathioprine-induced myelotoxicity after standard dosing with azathioprine. Screening for decreased activity of TPMT in patients prior to azathioprine treatment is advised to minimize the risk of drug-induced toxicity.     

Fatal Occupational Injuries among Hispanic Construction Workers of Texas, 1997 to 1999

Hispanic construction workers, particularly those born outside of the United States, are a growing segment of the Texas workforce and are increasingly the victims of on-the-job fatalities. This study examines occupational fatality characteristics among Hispanic construction workers utilizing records collected by the Texas Workers' Compensation Commission for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census of Occupational Fatal Injuries program. Of the 370 fatalities recorded from 1997 to 1999, 179 cases (46.5%) involved Hispanic workers — 109 of who were born in a foreign country. The fatality rate for Hispanic construction workers was 23.5 per 100,000 workers compared to 21.2 for non-Hispanic workers. Many fatally injured Hispanic construction workers shared similar characteristics including: low skill level, young age and foreign birthplace. Hispanic workers employed as construction laborers, helpers, and roofers had the highest number of fatalities. Businesses with fewer than 10 workers employed forty-two % of all Hispanic decedents, and businesses with more than 100 employees comprised twenty % of fatalities. The leading causes of Hispanic fatalities were: transportation incidents, falls, and exposure to harmful substances.     

Lifetime Risk of Fatal Occupational Injuries within Industries,by Occupation,Gender, and Race

Estimates of risk accumulated over a working lifetime are used to assess the significance of many workplace health hazards. Most studies which have estimated this risk have focused on a worker's lifetime risk of dying of a stated illness based on exposure to a hazard in a specific job. The concept, however, has not been widely applied to occupational injury deaths. This study examines the use of lifetime risk based on national fatal injury data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI). Lifetime risks are defined by specific causal events for those groups identified as having the highest general lifetime risks. The lifetime risk model for injury used in this work can be compared with risk assessments for occupational illnesses. Fatal injury lifetime risk estimates will be useful in defining traumatic injury exposures that are appropriate for targeting research and prevention efforts needed to reduce the burden of work-related death within the United States. These estimates also provide a means of prioritizing traumatic injury research with fatal illness research, while providing the additional benefit of providing a means of informing workers of their fatal injury risks.