A Joint Report of Michigan State University and Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs and Michigan Department of Community Health
Prepared by: Joanna Kica, MPA, Martha Stanbury, MSPH, Doug Kalinowski, MS CIH, Kenneth Rosenman, MD
Michigan State University’s Occupational and Environmental Medicine Division compiles data on work-related burns in the State of Michigan. This report is the first annual report on occupational burns in Michigan. The key findings are as follows:
- In 2009, the number of work-related burns in Michigan based on the multiple reporting sources was 1,461 which is 3.25 times greater than the official estimate of 450, which is based on reports from employers to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Hospital/emergency department reports identified 1,248 work-related burns, Michigan Workers’ Compensation Agency identified 306, Michigan Poison Control Center identified 106, and the Michigan Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation program identified two deaths from work-related burns. Among the 1,662 reports received from the four reporting sources, 201 were reported by more than one source; thus the total number of work-related burns identified in 2009 was 1,461. Because eight individuals had two separate burn incidents, 1,453 individuals were burned at work in 2009.
- The most common type of medical encounter was an emergency department visit (75.6%).
- Sixty-one percent of all burns were in male workers and 85.3% in Caucasians.
- The most common part of the body burnt were wrists and hands (34.2%) and upper limbs (20.6%).
- Second degree (65.4%) and thermal (65.7%) burns were the most common types of work-related burn.
- Fifty percent of work-related burns occurred to workers in either the Accommodation and Food Services or Healthcare and Social Assistance industries.
Click Here to download the full report. Pretty interesting data on workplace burns.