University of Sydney-led study shows heavy transport vehicle crashes are leading cause of transport-related spinal injuries
A study into the causes and effects of work-related traumatic spinal injuries (TSIs) across New South Wales over a three-year period finds the construction and transport industries experience the highest rates of TSIs, and points to “inefficient systems approaches or ineffective prevention policies”.
Led by Dr Lisa Sharwood of the University of Sydney School of Medicine, The Epidemiology, Cost, and Occupational Context of Spinal Injuries Sustained While ‘Working for Income’ in NSW: A Record-Linkage Study reports that, between 2013 and 2016, 824 people sustained work-related spinal injuries.
This led to more than 13,302 care bed days and a total cost of $19,500,000. Of these, 86.2 per cent of recipients were males with an average age of 46.6 years.
While falls (from buildings, structures, ladders, etc. predominantly in the construction industry) account for nearly half of all injuries, transport crashes follow on 30.8 per cent.
An occupant of a heavy vehicle is most likely to sustain spinal injuries (23.6 per cent), ahead of car occupants (18.9 per cent). Injuries occur mainly in the ‘transport and storage’ industry (51 per cent) or ‘agriculture/forestry’ (41.5 per cent), and half of all incidents happen off road.
The numbers may come as no surpise as, just months ago, a Linfox-funded Monash University study found transport workers are up to five times more likely to be injured at work than any other Australian worker.
Read about the National Transport Industry Health and Wellbeing Study, here
The TSI study references Safe Work Australia’s current Work Health and Safety Strategy – which sets one of its three national targets as a 30 per cent reduction in serious workplace injury compensation claims by 2022 – but finds TSIs in particular are “preventable” and require “a need for more effective policies, risk management strategies, and countermeasures for prevention”.
It additionally finds that off-road injuries are unlikely to addressed by ‘on-road’ prevention policies.
Read about the strategy’s aims to tackle accident sources and mental health, here
“Heavy transport vehicle crashes were the leading cause of transport-related spinal injuries in this study,” the study says.
“A heavy vehicle driving crash risk is known to be reduced by the consumption of caffeinated substances, however, increased with night shift driving, insufficient breaks, and lack of vehicle safety devices.
“Industry safety for heavy vehicle drivers has a long chain of responsibility that involves general practitioners in driver licensing, logistics managers, employers of various sizes, loading managers, goods consigners, and many others.
“Where multiple parties may be responsible at different stages in risk profiles, it is clear that all parties must work seamlessly together to reduce overall risk.”
Such efforts would be aided by further research required to better understand the factors (such as risk profiles, job design, work environment, culture, and leadership) contributing to TSIs.