Chapter 21 Accidents and Injuries

1. Chapter 21Accidents and Injuries

2. Accidents and Injuries • Learning Objectives • Define safety, accidents, and unintentional injuries. • Describe various strategies to prevent unintentional injuries. • Use the epidemiological triad to identify unintentional injury risk factors. • Describe the Haddon matrix and explain why it was developed.

3. Accidents and Injuries • Learning Objectives (continued) • Discuss various ways to prevent motor vehicle crashes, motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents, and pedestrian accidents. • Describe various strategies to improve home and work safety. • Describe ways to prevent firearm injuries. • List the major sports with the highest risk of injury for boys and girls. • Describe the three grades of a concussion.

4. Accidents and Injuries • Unintentional Injuries and Accidents • Motor Vehicle Safety • Motorcycle Safety • Pedestrian Safety • Bicycle Safety • Home and Community Safety • Work Safety • Sports and Recreational Injuries • First Aid and Emergencies • Taking Risks and Preventing Accidents

5. Accidents and Injuries

6. Accidents and Injuries • Among persons aged 1–34, unintentional injury is the leading cause of death. • Fifth leading cause of death of people of all ages. • Accidents are preventable!

7. Unintentional Injuries and Accidents • Safety: ever-changing condition; maintaining the condition of minimal risk of injury, illness, or property damage from the hazards to which people are exposed. • Accident: a sequence of events that produces unintended injury, death, or property damage. • Accident refers to the event, not the result of the event.

8. Unintentional Injuries and Accidents • Accidents • Each year, one in four Americans will sustain an accidental injury that requires medical attention. • Injuries are the leading cause of disability in young people today. • Cause more deaths in children than all the infectious diseases combined.

9. Unintentional Injuries and Accidents • Unintentional Injury • The result of an accident. • The five leading causes of death from unintentional injury are: • Motor vehicle accidents • Falls • Poisoning by solids and liquids • Fires and burns • Drowning • The causes of death from unintentional injury change with age.

10. Unintentional Injuries and Accidents

11. Unintentional Injuries and Accidents

12. Unintentional Injuries and Accidents • Reducing Your Risk of Accidents • Safety professionals have focused on two areas: • Accident mitigation: methods to reduce damage caused by unplanned events. • Accident prevention: ways to eliminate the occurrence of unintentional injuries.

13. Unintentional Injuries and Accidents

14. Unintentional Injuries and Accidents • Reducing Your Risk of Accidents (continued) • Factors involved: • Knowledge • Attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors • Economic and social conditions • Ability level of the performer of tasks (competence) • Environmental conditions • Alcohol and other drugs • Stress and fatigue

15. Unintentional Injuries and Accidents • Analysis of Unintentional Injury • Injury Epidemiology • Agent of source of energy exchange • Vehicle for transmission of mechanical energy • Host or object—person, school building, house

16. Unintentional Injuries and Accidents

17. Unintentional Injuries and Accidents • Analysis of Unintentional Injury (continued) • The Haddon matrix is used to analyze unintentional injuries. • Phase 1: pre-event phase • Includes factors that may determine whether an accident will happen. • Phase 2: event phase • Occurs when the host comes into contact with forces of energy. • Phase 3: post-event phase • Emergency procedures provided after the injury has occurred.

18. Unintentional Injuries and Accidents • Analysis of Unintentional Injury (continued) • Approaches to unintentional injury reduction: • Educational and prevention strategies • Stricter laws and regulations • Better product design and automatic protection devices

19. Motor Vehicle Safety • Motor vehicle travel is the primary means of transportation in the United States. • The NHTSA estimates alcohol was involved in 41% of fatal crashes and 7% of all traffic accidents.

20. Motor Vehicle Safety • Teenagers between the ages of 16 and 17 have more car accidents than any other group whether based on age or miles driven. • Do you think this would be different if the legal driving age was raised? • Does a graduated license program work?

21. Motor Vehicle Safety • Other factors besides alcohol that are involved in motor vehicle fatalities: • Condition of vehicle • Speed of vehicle • Rural versus urban area • Use of seat belts

22. Motor Vehicle Safety • Seat Belts • Seat belts are estimated to have reduced the risk of fatal injury to front seat occupants by almost 50% since 1980. • National average usage is 88%. • More than two-thirds of teenagers who died in crashes that occurred at night were not wearing seat belts. • Air bags are helpful, but the seat belt is needed as well.

23. Motor Vehicle Safety • Distracted driving is also a major contributor to automobile accidents. • 28% of all car crashes are directly attributable to talking or texting on cell phones.

24. Motorcycle Safety • An operator can ensure a safer ride by receiving proper training and wearing a helmet and protective clothing. • Less than 10% of all motorcycle operators have received any formal training. • In 1966, Congress passed a law that all motorcycle riders and passengers had to wear a helmet.

25. Motorcycle Safety • All-Terrain Vehicles • Can be driven by anyone off road and almost anywhere they can be made to go. • In 2011, there were 107,500 accidents reported. • Hard to police because they are driven on public lands and side roads.

26. Motorcycle Safety • Powered Two-Wheelers • Manufactured not to exceed 30 mph, but they can be modified to go up to 50 mph. • Carry a high injury risk. • Collisions with motor vehicles. • Faulty vehicles. • Many cities have few laws regarding PTWs.

27. Pedestrian Safety • Each year, traffic accidents injure 70,000 pedestrians and kill 4,500 pedestrians. • The majority of pedestrian deaths involve children ages 5–9 years. • Young children are unable to judge the speed and distance of approaching motor vehicles. • The elderly are also at risk because of failing eyesight, hearing, and mobility.

28. Bicycle Safety • Single most important factor in reducing bicycle deaths is well-designed and effective helmets. • In 2012, more than half a million bicyclists were injured seriously enough to require treatment; about 800 bicyclists died from accident injuries. • A common cause of accident is the cyclist’s “failure to yield right-of-way” to an automobile. • Bicycle riders are required to follow the same rules of the road as automobile operators. • Wear bright, reflective clothing and equip your bike with reflectors and lights.

29. Bicycle Safety

30. Home and Community Safety • Main categories of home accidents are: • Falls • Poisonings • Fires • Drowning • Suffocation • Disabling injuries are more numerous in the home than they are in the workplace and in motor vehicle accidents combined.

31. Home and Community Safety

32. Home and Community Safety • Falls • Each year, one in three Americans over age 65 and one in two over age 75 fall and suffer an injury. • Certain areas of the home are most hazardous for falls: kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, and stairs.

33. Home and Community Safety • Poisonings • Poison: any chemical substance that causes illness, injury, or death. • Poison can enter the body by: • Being ingested • Being inhaled • Being injected • Coming in contact with skin • Many cultivated plants, trees, and bushes contain poisons. • Young children are particularly susceptible.

34. Home and Community Safety • Drowning • Drowning accounts for many unintentional injuries and fatalities in the home; young children are especially vulnerable. • Laryngospasm:a spasm of the larynx caused by the inhalation of water. • Only 10% of people survive after being under water longer than 6 minutes. • Alcohol and other drugs may be the biggest predisposing factors in drowning for individuals aged 15 and older.

35. Home and Community Safety • Choking and Suffocation • Choking to death is caused by an object lodged in the airway. • When the airway is completely blocked, a choking victim is unable to speak, breathe, or cough. • If the object is not removed quickly, the person may lose consciousness and die from lack of oxygen.

36. Home and Community Safety • Fires • Elderly, minority, and low-income populations are at greatest risk. • May be caused by: • Space heaters • Faulty wiring • Fireplaces • Grease fires in the kitchen • Improper storage of combustible materials • Careless smokers

37. Home and Community Safety • Fires • Death rates caused by fires have decreased since the 1950s because of modern technology, fire detection devices, and education. • Education and prevention are the best strategies to eliminate unintentional injuries from fires. • Have an escape plan. • Place smoke and fire detectors strategically in the house. • Post emergency phone numbers.

38. Home and Community Safety • Firearms • There are three categories of firearm injuries: • Unintentional • Intentional • Undetermined • All firearms should be locked away.

39. Work Safety • During the past century, unintentional injury deaths in the workplace were reduced by 90%. • The agriculture industry has the second highest rate of occupational illnesses and injuries; manufacturing has the highest rate. • Common occupational illnesses include skin disorders, respiratory conditions, poisonings, and dust-related illness.

40. Work Safety • Repetitive motion disorders: caused by repeated stress to a body part resulting from repetitive motion for long periods of time; carpal tunnel syndrome is one type of cumulative motion disorder. • Symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome are burning, numbness, tingling, and stiffness of hand, fingers, or wrist.

41. Work Safety • Sick Building Syndrome • Characterized by a variety of symptoms reported by workers in modern office buildings. • Recent evidence has indicated a correlation among pollutants in or near the building, a poor ventilation system, and sick building syndrome. • Symptoms are asthma, lung infections, dizziness, nausea, throat and eye irritations, fatigue, cough, and shortness of breath.

42. Sports and Recreational Injuries • Very common among youth. • Most injuries occur in basketball, football, and cycling. • Coaches and parents have an obligation to protect youth from becoming injured in sports activities.

43. Sports and Recreational Injuries • Concussion • Comes from a head injury involving a temporary loss of conscious and a period of amnesia upon waking. • Grade 1: feeling dazed or confused for less than 15 minutes. • Grade 2: mental confusion persists for longer than 15 minutes. • Grade 3: involves any loss of consciousness.

44. First Aid and Emergencies • First aid and medical emergencies should be handled appropriately until a qualified professional arrives to take over. • First aid: the immediate care given to an injured or ill person (i.e., temporary assistance). • Knowledge about first aid and medical emergencies can literally mean the difference between life and death.

45. Taking Risks and Preventing Accidents • Self-Evaluation • What risks are necessary and acceptable for you to live the way you want to?

46. Accidents and Injuries • What is your opinion on the legal driving age? Should it change to reduce risks? • Do you wear a bicycle helmet even when you don’t “have to”? Why or why not?