Assessment of Vocational Training and Workplace Safety from the Injured Worker Perspective

Abstract

Objective: To determine the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of occupational accident patients who admitted to a third level emergency unit and assess vocational training and workplace safety from the injured workers’ perspective.
Material and Method: A questionnaire was given to 506 patients, aged 15 years and older between April and May 2011.
Results: The average age of the patients was 33 years old. The sector with the highest numbers of injuries was the metal and metal-based products industry (29.1%). The hour in which accidents occurred most often was the sixth hour (16.8%). Most of the injuries were minor (85.8%). The most frequent cause of injury was penetrating wounds (35.6%). The most commonly affected area was the extremities (51.8%). Outpatients comprised 95.5% of the total number of patients.
High school patients were revealed to have had more training in comparison with primary and intermediate school graduates (p=0.001). The most common reasons for primary school graduates to experience occupational accidents were found to be the lack of necessary precautions inside the working environment, insufficient measures taken to prevent accidents, and a stressful workplace environment (p=0.016). The numbers of workers between the ages of 15 and 25 along with those who had worked for less than six months were exposed to more occupational accidents when compared with all other workers (p=0.002, p=0.001, respectively).
Conclusion: Our study suggested that unqualified workers with low level training do not receive sufficient vocational training and that they work in unsafe and stressful environments.