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Affiliation
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Burn Center, Department of General Surgery, Adana City Training and Research Hospital, Adana, Turkey. |
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Abstract
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OBJECTIVES: Occupational burns are among the important causes of work-related injuries. We aimed to investigate the epidemiology and reasons of occupational burns and thereby to emphasize preventive measures. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between January 2017 and December 2018, the data of major occupational burn injury patients admitted to our burn center were evaluated in this cross-sectional retrospective study.
RESULTS: During the study period 342 patients older than 16 years were admitted to the burn center. Among them 80 patients with occupational burns (23.4%) were identified. The mean age of the patients was 34.73±12.3 years. Seventy-eight patients (97.5%) were male. Electrical burns and flame burns were the two leading type of occupational burns. The most common occupation of our patients was construction work. Dangerous behavior, carelessness, lack of protective equipment and failure to follow instructions were causes of injury. Only 14 patients (17.5%) experienced unavoidable accident. Thirty-seven patients (46.3%) worked on temporary basis. Occupational experience was under 5 years in majority of the cases (62.5%). For the occupational burns the percentage of burned total body surface area (TBSA) was 17.08±14.5 (1-60) and the length of hospital stay was 23.94±21.9 days (2-106). There were no significant differences between occupational and non-occupational burn injuries considering TBSA, total length of hospital stay and complications (p>0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Occupational burn injuries are common in less experienced and younger workers. Therefore, recognition of the problem and maintaining awareness is important. In order to prevent occupational accidents and burns, occupational health and safety rules must be obeyed.
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Language: en |