218
Occup. Med. 1992, Vol. 42, No 4
followed up by a further test of colour vision. It was also disappointing to note how few of our 'failed' candidates knew of their problem beforehand. N. L. G. McElearney Occupational Health Centre The Wellcome Foundation Ltd Temple Hill Dartford Kent DAI 5AH UK
workers is as yet undetermined. However, Dr Fraser's advice that 'Good, sensitive management' is required to prevent occupational stress sounds eminently sensible. J. Tamin Occupational Health Department Ashworth Hospital 15/16 Parkbourn Maghull Merseyside L31 1HW
Accidents in the workplace
Sir, This series, started in the winter issue of the journal (Duckworth DH. Managing psychological trauma in the police service: from the Bradford fire to the Hillsborough crush disaster. J Soc Occup Med 1991; 41: 171—5), is a timely reminder of the occupational physician's role in such eventualities. The positive effect that adequate briefing and debriefing has on emergency service workers is well described in the management of the police officers involved in the Piper Alpha disaster. The thoughtful and sensitive management shown by the occupational health personnel seems to have prevented the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder in these police officers. From the humane point of view, this in itself is a worthy achievement. However, UK employers could also take note of the recent tendency from North America for compensation to be awarded to workers for mental stress, including post traumatic stress disorder situations(Earnshaw J and Cooper CL. Workmen's compensation in stressrelated claims: some thoughts for employers in the UK. Work and Stress 1991; 5: 253-7). What the British courts would expect the reasonable employer to do to prevent post traumatic stress in their
C. J. M. Poole Department of Occupational Health Rover Longbridge Birmingham B31 2TB
Downloaded from http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Birmingham on September 1, 2015
Disaster and the Occupational Physician
Sir, Harker et al. (J Soc Occup Med 1991; 41: 73) have attempted to compare accident rates in different industries on the basis of patients attending an Accident and Emergency Department. I agree that treatment of accidents by first aiders, nurses and doctors outside Aberdeen Royal Infirmary would have biased the accident rates that they have calculated. Our experience on this site is that over 98 per cent of accidents are treated in house. The accident rate here is 20 to 40 times greater than Harker et al's estimated rate for the manufacturing sector, but our figures include a large proportion of minor injuries. Our own data show that there is no significant variation in accident rates according to the months of the year, but rates do increase with the recruiting of new labour. I suggest that there is a need for Accident and Emergency Departments to be more proactive with industry by (a) keeping a registry of accidents to identify industries in their catchment area with apparently high accident rates and (b) liaison with the management or occupational health staff in industry on accident prevention programmes so as to bring about a reduction in accident rates. Provided the industry is approached with tact by Accident and Emergency staff with an interest in accident prevention, I can see no reason why this sort of collaboration should not be successful.
Occup. Med. 1992, Vol. 42, No 4
followed up by a further test of colour vision. It was also disappointing to note how few of our 'failed' candidates knew of their problem beforehand. N. L. G. McElearney Occupational Health Centre The Wellcome Foundation Ltd Temple Hill Dartford Kent DAI 5AH UK
workers is as yet undetermined. However, Dr Fraser's advice that 'Good, sensitive management' is required to prevent occupational stress sounds eminently sensible. J. Tamin Occupational Health Department Ashworth Hospital 15/16 Parkbourn Maghull Merseyside L31 1HW
Accidents in the workplace
Sir, This series, started in the winter issue of the journal (Duckworth DH. Managing psychological trauma in the police service: from the Bradford fire to the Hillsborough crush disaster. J Soc Occup Med 1991; 41: 171—5), is a timely reminder of the occupational physician's role in such eventualities. The positive effect that adequate briefing and debriefing has on emergency service workers is well described in the management of the police officers involved in the Piper Alpha disaster. The thoughtful and sensitive management shown by the occupational health personnel seems to have prevented the occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder in these police officers. From the humane point of view, this in itself is a worthy achievement. However, UK employers could also take note of the recent tendency from North America for compensation to be awarded to workers for mental stress, including post traumatic stress disorder situations(Earnshaw J and Cooper CL. Workmen's compensation in stressrelated claims: some thoughts for employers in the UK. Work and Stress 1991; 5: 253-7). What the British courts would expect the reasonable employer to do to prevent post traumatic stress in their
C. J. M. Poole Department of Occupational Health Rover Longbridge Birmingham B31 2TB
Downloaded from http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/ at University of Birmingham on September 1, 2015
Disaster and the Occupational Physician
Sir, Harker et al. (J Soc Occup Med 1991; 41: 73) have attempted to compare accident rates in different industries on the basis of patients attending an Accident and Emergency Department. I agree that treatment of accidents by first aiders, nurses and doctors outside Aberdeen Royal Infirmary would have biased the accident rates that they have calculated. Our experience on this site is that over 98 per cent of accidents are treated in house. The accident rate here is 20 to 40 times greater than Harker et al's estimated rate for the manufacturing sector, but our figures include a large proportion of minor injuries. Our own data show that there is no significant variation in accident rates according to the months of the year, but rates do increase with the recruiting of new labour. I suggest that there is a need for Accident and Emergency Departments to be more proactive with industry by (a) keeping a registry of accidents to identify industries in their catchment area with apparently high accident rates and (b) liaison with the management or occupational health staff in industry on accident prevention programmes so as to bring about a reduction in accident rates. Provided the industry is approached with tact by Accident and Emergency staff with an interest in accident prevention, I can see no reason why this sort of collaboration should not be successful.
