Retrospective review of work-related injuries sustained by foreign workers: a single centre experience over 10 years

To investigate current patterns of work-related injuries sustained by foreign workers in Singapore and compare them to a decade ago. Secondary aim to analyse usefulness of selected trauma scores in this context.

Retrospective review of trauma registry of a single centre, from 1 April to 30 June 2015. Data compared with those from similar study performed at same centre in 2004.

Emergency department (ED) of 1500-bedded acute urban public hospital in Singapore.

1094 foreign workers with work-related injuries were included. Tourists, foreign students, non-work-related injuries, re-attendances for the same condition were excluded.

Mean age of participants was 32.8 years (SD 7.8), 90.0% were men. ED attendance was lowest on Sundays. Mechanism of injury: blunt (78.2%), penetrating (19.2%), burns (2.6%). Compared to 2004, 5% of foreign workers required admission (vs 19.6% in 2004, p≤0.0001), 8.0% underwent day or inpatient surgical procedures (vs 13.2% in 2004, p≤0.0001), 41.6% were referred to specialist outpatient clinics (vs 27.6% in 2004, p≤0.0001), 12.5% were referred to primary care follow-up (vs 29.9% in 2004, p≤0.0001). Mean duration of sick days was 4.3 (vs 5.1 in 2004, p≤0.0001). Of admitted patients, 49.1% had extremity injuries and 36.3% had head and neck injuries. Mean Injury Severity Score (ISS) for admitted patients was 3.64 (SD 3.1) (vs 4.3 (SD 5.5) in 2004, p=0.39). Mean Revised Trauma Score (RTS) for admitted patients was 7.74 (SD 0.39) (vs 7.8 (SD 0.2) in 2004, p=0.07). Of discharged patients, 48.9% had extremity injuries and 48.9% had external injuries. There was no death.

Compared to 2004, there were fewer major/fatal work-related injuries and an increased proportion of minor injuries. ISS and RTSs were of limited use in this setting.