TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2020//
TI  - Decade of fatal injuries in workers in New Zealand: insights from a comprehensive national observational study
JO  - Injury prevention
A1  - Lilley, Rebbecca
A1  - Maclennan, Brett
A1  - McNoe, Bronwen M.
A1  - Davie, Gabrielle S.
A1  - Horsburgh, Simon
A1  - Driscoll, Tim
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - INTRODUCTION: Current priorities and strategies to prevent work-related fatal injury (WRFI) in New Zealand (NZ) are based on incomplete data capture. This paper provides an overview of key results from a comprehensive 10-year NZ study of worker fatalities using coronial records. <br><br>METHODS: A data set of workers, aged 15-84 years at the time of death who died in the period 2005-2014, was created using coronial records. Data collection involved: (1) identifying possible cases from mortality records using selected external cause of injury codes; (2) linking these to coronial records; (3) retrieving and reviewing records for work-relatedness; and (4) coding work-related cases. Frequencies, percentages and rates were calculated. Analyses were stratified into workplace and work-traffic settings. <br><br>RESULTS: Over the decade, 955 workers were fatally injured, giving a rate of 4.8 (95% CI 5.6 to 6.3) per 100 000 worker-years. High rates of worker fatalities were observed for workers aged 70-84 years, indigenous Māori and for males. Workers employed in mining had the highest rate in workplace settings while transport, postal and warehousing employees had the highest rate in work-traffic settings. Vehicle-related mechanisms dominated the mechanism and vehicles and environmental agents dominated the breakdown agencies contributing to worker fatalities. <br><br>DISCUSSION: This study shows the rates of worker fatalities vary widely by age, sex, ethnicity, occupation and industry and are a very serious problem for particular groups. Future efforts to address NZ's high rates of WRFI should use these findings to aid understanding where preventive actions should be prioritised.<br><br>© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1353-8047
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2020-043643
ID  - ref1
ER  -