ISSUE 15

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   16 Dec 2014
Latest HSE Statistics YTD
  2013 2014
Workplace fatalities
Non-work related fatalities
Non-accidental deaths (NADs)
Lost Time Injuries (LTIs)
All injuries (excluding first aid cases)
Motor Vehicle Incidents (MVIs)
Roll over - MVIs
Serious MVIs
Lost Time Injury Frequency (LTIF)
Life Saving Rules Violations
YTD
Journey management
Speeding/GSM
Seatbelts
Overriding safety device
Working at heights
Permit
Confined space
Lock out tag out
Drugs and alcohol
Gas testing
Smoking
Suspended Load
Vehicle Class A/B Defect
YTD
Class A
Class B
HSE TIP
Exercising regularly, warming up at the start of training would help building up the strength of your thigh and leg muscles and prevent knee injury.
 

Important News
   
 

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) is a tough band of tissue joining the thigh bone (femur) to the shin bone (tibia) at the knee joint. It runs inside the knee and gives the knee joint stability by controlling the backward and forward movements of the knee and lower leg. ACL stops the tibia bone from moving forwards in front of the femur.  ACL injuries are the most common knee joint injury type and can occur during sports such as Football, Basketball, Volleyball and Tennis (accounts for around 40% of all sports injuries). Knee ligament injuries can be unpredictable and can affect anyone, including fit people who do a lot of sport.

    

You can tear your Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) if your lower leg extends forwards too much (Picture 1) and it can also be torn if your knee and lower leg are twisted (Picture 2). Common causes of an ACL injury include; landing incorrectly from a jump, stopping suddenly, changing direction suddenly or having a collision, such as during a football tackle. If the ACL is torn, your knee will become very unstable and lose its full range of movement. This can make it difficult to perform certain movements, such as turning on the spot. Some sports may be impossible to play.
 

What You Need to Know
 
 
ACL in PDO:

In PDO we have a number of employees suffering from non work related Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury, 31 PDO employees for example have been operated for ACL reconstruction from Dec’2013 till end of Nov’2014, at rate of 5 operations every 2 months. Each needs sickness absenteeism from work range between 1-3 months.
What you need to know:

What are the symptoms of a knee ligament injury?

  • A popping sound or a snapping feeling at the time of injury.
  • Knee swelling.
  • Pain in the knee.
  • Tenderness around the knee on touching.
  • Not being able to use or move the knee normally.
  • A feeling that the knee is unstable or perhaps giving way if you try to stand on it.
  • Bruising around the knee can sometimes appear.
Diagnosis of knee ligament injury:

You should report to the clinic or hospital if you experience a knee injury. The medical staff will usually start by asking questions about the injury. They may then examine the injured knee and may also move your leg into different positions to test your knee ligaments and the doctor may refer you for further tests such as X-ray, ultrasound or an MRI scan to confirm the diagnosis.
 
ISSUE 15

|

   16 Dec 2014
         

A torn ligament can't be repaired by stitching it back together. It is usually reconstructed by grafting tendons from your own body such as patellar and hamstring tendons or synthetic graft to replace the torn ligament.
 
ACL surgery will help improve the stability of the knee and stop it giving way. The decision to have knee surgery will depend on the extent of ACL damage and whether it's affecting the quality of life. If the injured knee is stable and the injured person does not have an active lifestyle, the Orthopeadic specialist may decide not to have ACL reconstruction surgery.

 

Commonly, the vast majorities of cases of ACL reconstruction surgery restore fully the functioning of the knee and patients are able to resume normal activities after six months. However, the knee may not be exactly like it was before the injury.  In some cases the repaired knee may still experience some pain and swelling and if other structures in the knee are also damaged, it may not be possible to fully repair them.

 

As with all types of surgery, there are some risks associated with knee surgery. They include: infection (less than 1%), blood clot (about 1 in 1,000), knee pain (up to 18%) and knee weakness and stiffness.
After ACL surgery, there's also a small chance (less than 10%) that the newly grafted ligament will fail.
If the first operation is unsuccessful, further surgery may be recommended. However, subsequent operations are often more difficult and don't usually have the same long-term success rate as a first tendon repair.