Page 36 - Occupational Health & Safety, July 2017

HEAD PROTECTION
Preventing Traumatic Brain Injury: Protective Measures from Head to Toe
Your first line of defense is using your head to eliminate hazards and implement engineering and administrative controls.
BY GREG LAROCHELLE
36 Occupational Health & Safety | JULY 2017
www.ohsonline.com
You’ve been warned. You’ve seen the statis- tics: Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) contrib- ute to approximately 30 percent of all injury deaths. So we all just need to wear a hard hat whenever there is the slightest chance of risk, which is all the time. Problem solved.
But we live and work in the real world. People don’t wear a hard hat all the time; protecting your head takes more than that. It takes using your head and being aware of your surroundings. So, while the more obvious means of preventing traumatic brain injury is through head protection in the form of
helmets and other protective headgear, let’s explore each of the three leading causes of TBI with regard to preventative measures employers and employees need to take.
When considering TBI-related emergency depart- ment visits, hospitalizations, and deaths in the United States, you might think being struck by or against an object would be the leading cause, but it’s only 15 per- cent of TBI. The leading cause, at a whopping 47 per- cent, is falls. Motor vehicle crashes come in at third with 14 percent.
Falls, as the leading cause of TBI, also represent
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