AUTHOR=Tian Tian , Lin Xiao , Huang Tingyuan , Zhang Kai , Shi Congxing , Wang Pengyu , Chen Shimin , Guo Tong , Li Zhiqiang , Qin Pengzhe , Liang Boheng , Zhang Wangjian , Hao Yuantao 

TITLE=The risk of injuries during work and its association with precipitation: New insight from a sentinel-based surveillance and a case-crossover design

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1117948

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2023.1117948

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Background: Injuries during work are often exogenous and can be easily influenced by environmental factors, especially weather conditions. Precipitation, a crucial weather factor, has been linked to unintentional injuries, yet evidence of its effect on work-related injuries is limited. Therefore, we aimed to clarify the impact of precipitation on injuries during work as well as its variation across numerous vulnerability features.
Methods: Records on the work-related injury during 2016-2020 were obtained from four sentinel hospitals in Guangzhou, China, and were matched with the daily weather data during the same period. We applied a time-stratified case-crossover design followed by a conditional logistic regression to evaluate the association between precipitation and work-related injuries. Covariates included wind speed, sunlight, temperature, SO2, NO2 and PM2.5. Results were also stratified by multiple factors to identify the most vulnerable subgroups.
Results: Daily precipitation was a positive predictor of work-related injuries, with each 10 mm increase in precipitation being associated with an increase of 1.57% in the rate of injuries on the same day and 1.47%-1.14% increase of injuries on subsequent three days. The results revealed that precipitation had a higher effect on work-related injuries in winter (4.92%; 95%CI: 1.77-8.17%). The elderly (2.07%; 95%CI: 0.64-3.51%), male (1.81%; 95%CI: 0.96-2.66%) workers or those with lower educational levels (2.58%; 95%CI: 1.59-3.54%) were more likely to suffer from injuries on rainy days. There was a higher risk for work-related injuries caused by falls (2.63%; 95%CI: 0.78-4.52%) or the use of glass products (1.75%; 95%CI: 0.49-3.02%) on rainy days.
Conclusions: Precipitation was a prominent risk factor for work-related injury, and its adverse effect might endure for three days. Certain sub-groups of workers were more vulnerable to injuries in the rain.