Employment status and the frequency and causes of burn injuries in New England

Article Abstract:

The fourth-leading cause of death by injury in the US is burns, which annually claims approximately 6,000 lives. Of the 100,000 individuals who are hospitalized each year, an estimated 50 percent experience some form of disability, often permanent. The causes of work-related burns were examined within a well-defined New England population, in order to establish risk factors for age, sex, race, locale, and type of occupation. The study was undertaken by the New England Regional Burn Program Demonstration Project, which collected data during a 26-month interval between May, 1978 and June, 1980. Information on new burn cases of individuals 20 or more years old was obtained from 240 of New England's 256 acute-care hospitals. During the study, 1,614 burn injuries were identified and of these, 485, or 30 percent, were classified as work-related. Of the 1,133 burns to men, 40 percent were work-related, whereas only seven percent of the burns among women were work-related. The data reveal an increased rate of occurrence for blacks. Black individuals suffered a burn rate that was 2.5 times greater than the rate for whites. The burn rate was also higher for younger males and lowest for individuals 55 year or more year of age. Differences in burn rates as a function of geographic region also became apparent in the data. The area of highest risk of burns was Maine, while lowest risk was in Rhode Island. Burns were also seen to be more numerous among food preparation workers and individuals classified as operators, laborers or individuals involved in service industries such as automobile repair.

Health aspects, Medical research, New England

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Predictive criteria for burns from brief thermal exposures

Article Abstract:

In an industrial or military environment, personnel are often exposed to brief, intense, thermal events such as explosions and rapid conflagrations. Even if the person exposed has no direct contact with flame, the intense heat in the environment can cause serious burns. A study was performed to establish guidelines for predicting burns caused by environmental convective and radiative heat transfer to the skin following brief, intense heat lasting ten seconds or less. Although the capacity of skin to withstand heat varies from individual to individual, in general it was determined that a heat transfer of a 16.4 joules (J) per centimeter squared is necessary to cause second degree burns to bare skin. A less reliable predictor is the free-air temperature measured over a period of time. Using this measurement, the threshold for causing a second-degree burn to bare skin is 2,400 degrees F-second above body temperature. Clothing provides some protection and increases these burn thresholds. Most clothing will increase the threshold by 6.3 J, however, this varies according to the fabric. For example, standard army fabric of 50 percent cotton and 50 percent nylon increases the threshold by 7.6 J. Clothing allowing air space between it and the skin, or wearing a T-shirt underneath the outer layer increases the threshold by 24.4 J. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Fires, Heat, Medicine, Military, Military medicine

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Nonauditory injury threshold for repeated intense freefield impulse noise

Article Abstract:

Exposure to excessive noise levels can damage the auditory system, resulting in hearing loss. This has long been known, and protective devices have been introduced to protect workers from this hazard. However, excessive noise levels can cause nonauditory damage as well, particularly to gas-containing structures of the body, such as the upper respiratory tract, the lungs, and the gastrointestinal tract. Minor damage consists of the formation of small petechiae (blood spots) in the tissues. In more severe cases, tissue disruption and hemorrhage can result. The extent of nonauditory injury depends upon peak pressure, number of exposures, and positive phase duration. This study determined the critical impulse noise thresholds causing trivial laryngeal petechiae to sheep at 5, 25 and 100 repetitions of different levels of impulse noise. The study demonstrated that the trivial petechiae were precursors to more serious nonauditory damage that would be produced by further exposure to excessive noise. The results also suggest that the limits for human exposure should be set at levels below the threshold levels that cause sheep upper respiratory tract petechiae. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Noise, Noise (Sound), Medicine, Industrial, Industrial medicine, Acoustic trauma

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