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Vehicle jack related injury (all ages)
July 2008
During the eight and a half year period from January 2000 to June 2007, there were at least 320 presentations to emergency departments in Victoria for injuries related to vehicle jacks, an average of 38 per year.
Age: As Figure 1 shows, most vehicle jack injuries were among adults of working age. Only 4% involved children aged less that 15 years while 5% involved adults 65 or older.
Gender: Males were strongly over-represented in vehicle jack related injuries, with 95% of individuals presented to emergency departments being male.
Injury type: Open wounds (22%) and fractures (20%) were the most common types of injury, followed by strains & sprains (16%) and crushing injuries (16%). Bruises and abrasions (9%) and injuries to muscles or tendons (7%) were also common. |
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Body region: The hands and fingers were the most affected body region, accounting for one third of all injuries (35%). Next-most commonly affected were the legs & feet (17%) and the arms and shoulders (15%). Also commonly were the head & neck (13%) and trunk (8%).
Source: VEMD January '00 – June ‘07
Figure 1: Vehicle-jack related ED presentations by age group
Cause: Being ‘struck by a collision with an object' was the greatest cause of vehicle jack related emergency department presentations, representing 60% of all cases. The next most common causes were being ‘struck by a collision with another person' and ‘machinery' at 8% each. Being cut by an object (6%) and falls up to one metre (3%) were also notable.
Source: VEMD January '00 – June ‘07
Figure 2: Activity when injured,
vehicle jack related injuries
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Place of occurrence: Over half of presentations were due to vehicle jack injuries that occurred in the home (53%). One fifth of cases happened in a trade/service area or an industrial/construction location (20%) while only one tenth occurred on a road or highway (11%). Other locations accounted for 7% while in 9% of cases a location was not specified.
Activity when injured: Of the 275 cases where an activity was specified, only one quarter noted that the incident occurred while the injured person was undertaking paid work (26%, see Figure 2). Non-employment activities such as leisure activities (36%), unpaid work (17%) and other specified activities (21%) accounted for most cases.
Outcome: 90% of cases were treated in the emergency department and sent home on the same day, while in 10% of cases further hospitalisation was required.
Injury prevention: The fact that most injuries occurred in the home, together with most cases being due to leisure activities, unpaid work or other non-work activities, suggests that people doing DIY vehicle maintenance or modification may be at a high level of risk. |
Further information: For further information, A MUARC monograph on the DIY activities includes some further information on injuries related to home vehicle maintenance can be accessed at: www.monash.edu.au/muarc/reports/Other/DHS01.pdf [3.8MB]
Data source: Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset (VEMD) January 2000 to June 2007 (8.5 years).
Restrictions: Any values less than 5 have been excluded from figures to protect patient confidentiality.
Search Strategy: Cases were selected if the word 'vehicle jack' appeared in the injury description.
Identified cases were then manually checked and irrelevant cases excluded.. |
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