[Occupational accidents at an Acute Care Hospital]

To obtain a better knowledge of the determining factors and circumstances giving rise to occupational accidents will foster the implementation of corrective measures. The aim of this study is that of describing the trend of occupational accidents (OA's) over the course of time and of determining the risk factors regarding workers being forced to take time off for sick leave at the "Dr. Peset" Hospital in Valencia.

Description and retrospective analysis of the occupational accidents having occurred at the "Dr. Peset" Hospital in Valencia throughout the 1992-1995 period. The trend and seasonality of the series (seasonal indexes, SI's) were estimated by deterministic methods. A logistic regression model was employed to identify the factors providing a prior indication workers being off on sick leave and to determine the probability of the occurrence thereof.

The highest OA rates were found among the kitchen and laundry workers (10.00 OA's per 100 workers/year). The OA's involving sick leave continued to show a trend of around zero, February being the months showing the highest SI (SI = 139.8). Those processed without sick leave showed an upward trend (r2 = 0.23, p < 0.0001), May being the month involving the largest number of casualties (SI = 134.2). The probability of an accident resulting in a worker being forced to take time of for sick leave increases significantly with age, when the accident in question takes place in the afternoon/evening, if it takes place in the kitchen/laundry, and if a sprain or tendinitis is involved.

The measures taken involving the number of casualties entailing OA's which result in temporary incapacity should revolve around the less-skilled positions and the kitchen and laundry departments.