Risks of fracture from same-level falls among workers in the transportation service: A cross-sectional study of the national open database of occupational injuries in Japan

Abstract Background: To prevent falls, individual worker factors and work environment factors should be considered. Purpose: This study aimed to determine the risks of fracture from same level falls for occupational accidents in the transport industry, provide necessary interventions. Methods: This study used the national open database of worker deaths and injury reports that was constructed from injury cases requiring four or more days of absence from work due to industrial accidents. We selected all same-level fall injuries from the original database using NVivo software. Results: The average age of the population in the airline industry was 39.0 (standard deviation (SD; 11.6) years, and it was the youngest. In the hired taxi business, the average age of the population was 58.1 (SD; 9.1) years, which was the oldest in the transportation and traffic industry. The occurrence of fractures was 27.8% in hired taxi businesses, 23.0% in general cargo transportation, 21.9% in other road freight forwarding businesses, 18.3% in the railroad and track industry,16.5% in the bus line industry, and 7.5% in the airline industry. After adjusting for age, occurrence time, and number of employees, hired taxi businesses had 1.761 times greater risk of fracture (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.049-2.956) compared to the railroad and track industry. Conclusion: Taxi drivers were found to be at high risk of serious outcome such as fractures after same-level falls. The present study suggests that not only environmental interventions to prevent falls, but also lifestyle interventions to prevent fractures from occurring in the event of a fall might be needed.