ABSTRACT

In this study, we aimed to analyze the demographic features of the victims of workplace accidents admitted to a teaching and research hospital. The life-threatening content of the forensic reports, the use of simple medical interventions and outcomes in the emergency department were evaluated.

This study retrospectively evaluated patients admitted to the emergency department who had been in a workplace accident from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2010. All workplace accidents were included in this study. Categorical measurements obtained were summarized as a number and numerical measurements were summarized as the mean and standard deviation. Data were statistically analyzed using SPSS version 16.0.

Of the 406 patients, 96.55% were male and 3.45% were female. The mean age of the patients was 32.80 years. Most of the workplace accidents occurred in December 2010. The most frequent injuries were limb injuries (62%). 73.65% of patients were discharged after evaluation in the emergency department. The forensic reports indicated that 14.53% of patients had lifethreatening injuries and 28.57% were not resolved with simple medical intervention.

Work-related accidents occur mostly in younger men. Most frequently, patients were discharged from the emergency department after evaluation. Clinicians often decide abolishing with simple medical intervention according to staying in hospital. Cases of injury to more than one organ system were often life-threatening.

Keywords: Emergency, occupational accidents, judicial case