Work-related injuries and occupational diseases among kitchen workers in healthcare services and social welfare

Abstract

Background: Only few data are available on work-related accidents and occupational diseases for kitchen workers in Germany. Routine data based on claims data from the Occupational Accident Insurance for Healthcare and Welfare Services (BGW) were used for a differentiated analysis. Methods: The analysis included BGW claims data between 2008 and 2017 for kitchen helpers and cooks with notification of a work-related accident or a suspected occupational disease. Descriptive statistics were used for occupational groups and group differences were evaluated using a χ2-test. Results: Around 70% of the accidents and notifications of suspected occupational diseases were from kitchen helpers and 30% from cooks. Kitchen helpers were more often injured by stumbling accidents and in the manual transport of objects than cooks. Almost half the accidents suffered by cooks were associated with handling knives and almost 17% with burns. In both groups more than 80% of the suspected occupational diseases were skin diseases and 5% were diseases associated with lumbar disc problems caused by the lifting and carrying heavy loads. Just under 3% were obstructive airway diseases. The occupational disease was confirmed in 78% of cases, which were mostly skin diseases caused by working with fluids, disinfectants or cleaning agents. Discussion: Incision wounds and stumbling accidents are also described by other authors as the most common accidents among kitchen workers. Most occupational diseases among kitchen workers in health services were skin diseases but similar prevalence rates have not been reported by other authors. In contrast, a high prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in the shoulders or hands have been reported for which no evidence was found in the present data.