Study identifies peak times for brain injuries in the construction industry

 
August may be the cruellest month for brain injuries in Ontario’s construction industry, but a new study shows October is not far behind.

"We thought it was important to track these injuries month by month," says Dr. Angela Colantonio, a senior scientist at Toronto Rehab and co-author of the study published this week in the journal Brain Injury.

Few academic studies have looked at brain injury among construction workers. Yet the construction industry ? with approximately 400,000 workers in Ontario alone?is known to have a high rate of serious brain injury.

The new study used data from the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board on 218 cases of non-fatal brain injury which resulted in days off work in 2004-05.

The authors weren’t surprised to find the highest number of brain injuries in the busy construction month of August, while December had the lowest number. But they didn’t expect to find a second peak of injuries in October. This may reflect a surge in work to complete projects prior to the winter months. Contributing factors, they speculate, could be shorter days to work, less light, and more adverse weather conditions.

Their study also begins to raise questions about the time of day when many construction-related brain injuries occur. It identifies two peaks during the day: the hour before and the hours after lunch.

Among other findings, younger workers were much more likely to experience brain injuries in the morning, while older workers were more likely to suffer such injuries in late afternoon.

Fatigue may also be contributing to injuries experienced by older workers in the afternoon. Falls were much more likely to be the cause of injury among older workers.