Toxicology Testing in Fatally Injured Workers: A Review of Five Years of Iowa FACE Cases

Marizen Ramirez, Ronald Bedford, Ryan Sullivan, T. Renee Anthony, John Kraemer, Brett Faine and Corinne Peek-Asa
Additional contact information
Marizen Ramirez: Injury Prevention Research Center, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Iowa College of Public Health, 105 River St., Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Ronald Bedford: Injury Prevention Research Center, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Iowa College of Public Health, 105 River St., Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Ryan Sullivan: Injury Prevention Research Center, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Iowa College of Public Health, 105 River St., Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
T. Renee Anthony: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Iowa College of Public Health, 105 River St., Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
John Kraemer: Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner, 2250 S. Ankeny Blvd, Ankeny, IA 50023, USA
Brett Faine: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, 200 Hawkins Dr., Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Corinne Peek-Asa: Injury Prevention Research Center, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Iowa College of Public Health, 105 River St., Iowa City, IA 52242, USA

IJERPH, 2013, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-15

Abstract: Toxicology testing of fatally injured workers is not routinely conducted. We completed a case-series study of 2005–2009 occupational fatalities captured by Iowa’s Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program. The goals of our research were to: (1) measure the proportion of FACE cases that undergo toxicology testing, and describe the factors associated with being tested, and (2) measure the rate of positive toxicology tests, the substances identified and the demographics and occupations of victims who tested positive. Case documents and toxicology laboratory reports were reviewed. There were 427 occupational deaths from 2005 to 2009. Only 69% underwent toxicology testing. Younger workers had greater odds of being tested. Among occupational groups, workers in farming, fishing and forestry had half the odds of being tested compared to other occupational groups. Of the 280 cases with toxicology tests completed, 22% ( n = 61) were found to have positive toxicology testing. Commonly identified drug classes included cannabinoids and alcohols. Based on the small number of positive tests, older victims (65+ years) tested positive more frequently than younger workers. Management, business, science, arts, service and sales/office workers had proportionately more positive toxicology tests (almost 30%) compared with other workers (18–22%). These results identify an area in need of further research efforts and a potential target for injury prevention strategies.

Keywords: injury; occupational; fatality; drugs; alcohol (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/11/6154/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/11/6154/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:10:y:2013:i:11:p:6154-6168:d:30446

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().