Health hazards and traffic accidents during the operations of emergency vehicle drivers.

Abstract

Emergency vehicle drivers were at risk of exposure to health hazards as well as the risk of traffic accidents during the operations. In order to understand the risks during their operations in terms of general health information, exposure to occupational hazards and traffic accidents. The objective of this cross-sectional analytic study was to survey health hazards and traffic accidents during their operations. The survey was conducted from 1 February 2016 - 31 March 2016. Direct interviews were performed in 199 emergency vehicle drivers from 1 hospital and 3 rescue foundations located in Chonburi province. Most of all participants were male, the average age was 36.7 years, married, and graduated from high schools or vocational education institutes. Participants were smoking cigarette 27.6%, drinking alcohols 33.2%, and regularly exercising 56.8%. They were exposed to many occupational hazards such as contacting with patients’ blood 49.3% and heavy lifting 46.2%. Fifty-six traffic accidents were reported from 42 participants during their operation. A major cause of these accidents was collisions with another vehicle or others (67.8% of total accidents), during 20.01-24.00 o’clock (33.9%), at speed of 81-100 kilometers/hour (42.9%), and cause to minor injuries to the drivers (80.4%). The recommendations from this study should provide health education, knowledge of occupational hazards, using personal protective equipment properly and health promotion activities. They were able to promote healthy for emergency vehicle drivers.