Environmental and Geographic Patterns of Occupational Injuries

N/AActive Not RecruitingNCT07750782

Sergio Gabriel Susmallian350,000 enrolled

Overview

This study will determine whether extreme ambient temperatures increase the incidence and severity of occupational injuries in Israel, and we request Helsinki Committee approval to conduct the analysis using de-identified National Insurance and historical meteorological data, with a waiver of informed consent. The project will link the date, time, and geographic location of recognized occupational accidents with corresponding historical temperature and humidity measurements. The study is retrospective, observational, and involves no direct contact with participants, no intervention, and no alteration of medical care or benefit eligibility.

Occupational injuries represent an important source of preventable morbidity, permanent disability, loss of employment, and economic burden. Rising temperatures and increasingly frequent heatwaves may impair concentration, coordination, judgment, reaction time, hydration, and physical endurance, particularly among workers in construction, agriculture, transportation, manufacturing, and other outdoor or physically demanding occupations. However, the national relationship between ambient heat and work-related injury in Israel has not been adequately quantified. Without reliable population-level evidence, employers, occupational-health authorities, and policymakers cannot identify temperature thresholds at which preventive measures should be intensified or determine which workers and industries are at greatest risk.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

350,000

Conditions

Occupational Accidents Weather

Interventions

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Individuals aged 18 years or older with an occupational injury recognized by the National Insurance Institute. * Occupational injury occurring between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2024. * Injury occurring at the workplace, during occupational travel, or while commuting to or from work. * Valid injury date and geographic information sufficient to assign the accident to one of the seven predefined geographic-climatic regions and the nearest representative meteorological station. * Meteorological measurements available for the injury period and eligible matched control periods. For time-specific analyses, a valid recorded accident time permitting linkage to the closest preceding three-hour meteorological observation. Exclusion Criteria: * Occupational diseases, repetitive-exposure conditions, or gradual-onset disorders without a clearly defined accident date. * Rejected, withdrawn, or unconfirmed occupational-injury claims. * Missing or invalid accident date or geographic information preventing linkage with meteorological data. * Accidents occurring outside the predefined geographic-climatic regions or beyond the prespecified maximum distance from an eligible meteorological station. * Duplicate or administratively repeated records referring to the same occupational-injury event. * Injury events for which no eligible matched control periods or corresponding meteorological measurements are available. * Individuals younger than 18 years.

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Occurrence of Recognized Occupational Injury During Case Versus Matched Control Periods

The number of accepted occupational-injury events occurring during predefined case periods will be evaluated in relation to ambient temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed obtained from the nearest representative meteorological station. Each injury period will be compared with control periods matched by geographic-climatic region, calendar year and month, day of the week, and three-hour time interval. The association between environmental exposure and occupational-injury occurrence will be estimated using time-stratified case-crossover analysis with conditional logistic regression.

Time frame: At the index injury date and matched control dates, January 1, 2020-December 31, 2024.