Mater Hospital
Lvl 1 Whitty Building
Raymond Terrace
South Brisbane, QLD 4101
Date: 13 January 2012
Please find below summary of data analysis by QISU.
Purpose: Occupational injuries as a result of being a career firefighter in Queensland
QISU Report
Background: QISU Data:
QISU collects injury data from emergency departments (ED) at participating hospitals across
Queensland. The data is estimated to represent roughly one quarter to one fifth of all ED injury
presentations in the state. The QISU database contains injury data collected over a 12.5 year period
(1999- June 2011) from 29 collecting hospitals. Not all hospitals have collected for the full 12.5 year
period and there are currently 23 active collection hospitals in Queensland comprising four sample
regions: metropolitan (Brisbane), regional (Mackay and Moranbah Health Districts), tropical northern
coast (Atherton, Mareeba, Tully and Innisfail) and remote (Mt Isa). Data is coded for Injury Surveillance
by using the National Data Standards for Injury Surveillance (NDSIS v.2c).
•
•
•
Not all cases identified in the QISU database will have been admitted to hospital as the
majority of patients are discharged from the emergency department following treatment.
QISU data will miss cases that present at other non-participating EDs. These cases may be
severe and could be transferred directly to intensive care or other inpatient units at QISU
participating hospitals, without being registered by the ED based injury surveillance system.
Fatalities that occur at the scene of an injury or after admission to hospital will not be
captured in QISU data.
We analysed QISU data for the 12.5 year period from Jan 1999 to Jun 2011. A brief summary of the
search criteria and methodology is described.
Search Criteria: Year: 1999 – Jun 2011
Age: All Ages
and
External Cause: 14 (Fire, flames, smoke)
or
Mechanism of Injury: 62 (Open fire, flames)
or
Occupation: Like "*fire fighter*" Or Like "*fireman*" Or Like "*firefighter*" Or Like "*fire man*"
or
Injury Description: Like "*fire fighter*" Or Like "*fireman*" Or Like "*firefighter*" Or Like "*fire
man*" Or Like "*fighting fire*" Or Like "*putting out fire*" Or Like "*extinguishing fire*"
Methods:
In the QISU data, the “Injury Description” Field consists of the details entered by the Triage Nurse
initially attending to the person presenting with an injury to the Emergency Department (ED) of a
hospital. The entry in this field can be quite variable depending upon various clinical circumstances at
the time when the nurse is attending to the injured person. Therefore to understand the detailed
circumstances surrounding an injury presentation, the Injury description field is analyzed.
P: 07 3163 8569
F: 07 3163 1684
E: [email protected]
W: www.qisu.org.au
Mater Hospital
Lvl 1 Whitty Building
Raymond Terrace
South Brisbane, QLD 4101
The results of the above search strategy were further examined by reading the “free text description”
of the injuries and selecting only the cases specifically related to “fire-fighters” who were injured at
work or while on duty; and by excluding cases of “fire-fighters” who were injured outside workplace
and while not on duty and “non-fire-fighters” who were injured when trying to extinguish fires.
Results:
Table 1: Gender & age of injured firefighters
Gender
15 - 24 25 - 44 45 - 64 Total
Female
1
2
1
4
Male
2
41
14
57
Total
3
43
15
61
Firefighters Injury by year*
Number of injury
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1999
2000
45 - 64
4
1
25 - 44
6
6
2001
6
2002
5
15 - 24
2003
6
1
2004
2005
2006
2007
2
1
1
2
1
2
2
1
2008
2009
2010
2
2
5
4
1
*please note that because the number and location of collecting sites varies from year to year,
annual data cannot be used to interpret trend
Table 2: Firefighters Injury by hospitals*
Hospitals
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Total
Urban hospitals
4
4
3
3
2
3
1
2
3
2
3
30
Rural hospitals
6
3
3
2
5
1
1
2
2
2
1
3
31
Total
10
7
6
5
7
4
1
3
4
5
3
6
61
*please note that because the number and location of collecting sites varies from year to year,
annual data cannot be used to interpret trend
P: 07 3163 8569
F: 07 3163 1684
E: [email protected]
W: www.qisu.org.au
Mater Hospital
Lvl 1 Whitty Building
Raymond Terrace
South Brisbane, QLD 4101
Table 3: Type of injury by year*
Type of injury
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Total
Superficial (abrasion &
laceration)
3
2
3
1
1
1
11
Fall, stumbled, tripped, slipped 2
1
1
1
2
2
9
Exertion/extension
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
8
Burn
2
1
1
1
1
6
Foreign body
1
1
1
1
1
5
Crushed injury
1
2
1
4
Smoke inhalation
1
2
1
4
Struck on object
1
1
1
3
Heat stress/exhaustion
1
1
1
3
Asphyxia
2
2
Motor Vehicle Accident
1
1
Snake bite
1
1
Unspecified
1
1
1
1
4
Total
10
7
6
5
7
4
1
3
4
5
3
6
61
*please note that because the number and location of collecting sites varies from year to year, annual data
cannot be used to interpret trend
Table 4: Type of injury and Activities
Type of injury
Other
activities (at
work)*
On duty Fire cases
On duty Traffic
accident
1
Training Unspecified Total
Superficial (abrasion & laceration)
4
1
5
11
Fall, stumbled, tripped, slipped
2
1
6
9
Exertion/extension
2
2
1
3
8
Burn
1
4
1
6
Foreign body
2
3
5
Crushed injury
3
1
4
Smoke inhalation
3
1
4
Struck on object
1
2
3
Heat stress/exhaustion
3
3
Asphyxia
2
2
Motor vehicle accident
1
1
Snake bite
1
1
Unspecified
4
4
Grand Total
10
21
1
4
25
61
* Carrying table, Cutting a hedge, fall from fire truck, grinding metal, lifting fire extinguisher, moving hot water,
pulling fire hose, pump service, sitting in smoke room, working on hydraulic rescue equipment
P: 07 3163 8569
F: 07 3163 1684
E: [email protected]
W: www.qisu.org.au
Mater Hospital
Lvl 1 Whitty Building
Raymond Terrace
South Brisbane, QLD 4101
Table 5: Type of injury and Triage category
Emergency Urgent
(10 mins) (30 mins)
Type of injury
Superficial (abrasion &
laceration)
Fall, stumbled, tripped, slipped
Exertion/extension
Burn
Foreign body
Crushed injury
Smoke inhalation
Heat stress/exhaustion
Struck on object
Asphyxia
Motor vehicle accident
Snake bite
Unspecified
Grand Total
1
3
3
1
3
3
1
3
1
1
2
1
Semi
Non
urgent
urgent Unspecified Total
(60 mins) (120 mins)
4
5
7
2
2
3
1
3
1
11
9
8
6
5
4
4
3
3
2
1
1
4
61
1
1
2
1
1
3
22
3
29
1
6
1
Table 6: Type of injury and mode of separations
Type of injury
Superficial (abrasion &
laceration)
Fall, stumbled, tripped,
slipped
Exertion/extension
Burn
Foreign body
Crushed injury
Smoke inhalation
Heat stress/exhaustion
Struck on object
Asphyxia
Motor vehicle accident
Snake bite
Unspecified
Grand Total
P: 07 3163 8569
Admitted
Did
not
wait
2
1
1
3
1
F: 07 3163 1684
ED service
event
completed Discharged
Left after
treatment
commenced
Total
10
1
11
1
9
8
6
5
4
4
3
3
2
1
1
4
61
9
8
6
5
4
2
1
3
2
1
1
4
56
E: [email protected]
W: www.qisu.org.au
Mater Hospital
Lvl 1 Whitty Building
Raymond Terrace
South Brisbane, QLD 4101
We hope this summary report is useful to you. If you require any further assistance in this matter,
please do not hesitate to contact the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit.
Document prepared by:
Jesani Limbong
Research Assistant
Mater Hospital; Level 1 Whitty Building
Raymond Terrace; South Brisbane, Qld 4101
Ph: 07 3163 8569 Email: [email protected]
P: 07 3163 8569
F: 07 3163 1684
E: [email protected]
W: www.qisu.org.au