Report: Critical Thinking on Workplace Injuries and COPD Analysis

This report provides a critical analysis of work-related injuries and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD). It examines the causes and impact of workplace injuries, referencing the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) Labour Force Survey. The report further explores the prevalence of COPD in England, noting regional variations and potential contributing factors like smoking and deprivation. Data from various sources, including the British Lung Foundation and NHS Digital, are utilized to estimate disease prevalence and understand the demographic and geographic distribution of COPD cases. The analysis covers areas with high and low prevalence, linking them to factors such as age structure and socioeconomic conditions.

Critical Thinking

Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCE..................................................................................................................................5
Books and Journals..........................................................................................................................5

TASK 1
Work-related injury is a very common cause of non-fatal injury at workplace and industries.
Some of the causes includes exposure to harmful substances, bodily reaction, harmful
environments, trips and slips and falls. Health and Safety Executive is the department of
government responsible for the regulation of safety, health and welfare of workers in the
workplace. It conducted a Labour Force Survey to analyse the data of non-fatal injuries at
workplace. HSE mainly focus to provide and maintain safety facilities and appropriate working
conditions and assist in recognising that all workers and employees should hold responsibility for
their safe actions. HSE department works with the tendency to adopt appropriate technologies to
reduce the impact of activities in the environment (Brothers and et. al., 2021). It has been
analysed in survey in UK that approximately 1.7 million of working population suffering from
work-related problem anytime. Out of which 822,00o workers observed to be suffer from stress,
anxiety and depression due to their jobs and 470,000 employees observed to be suffer from
musculoskeletal disorder because of their work.
TASK 2
What is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder, 2018 available through;
<https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/what-is-chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease-and-
who-does-it-affect/#:~:text=Across%20England%20there%20are%20almost,as%20emphysema
%20and%20chronic%20bronchitis.>
Across England approximately 1.1 million of population has been diagnosed with Chronic
Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder, which is a medical condition of group of lung disorder that
may cause difficulty in breathing like, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. COPD comes in
category of degenerative disease which mainly affects older adults and middle age population
who prefer to smoke. This disease can remain undiagnosed for a long period of time which can
be recognised by the symptoms of persistent wheezing, breathlessness, chest infection and chesty
cough It has been analysed that almost one in every 50 people in England have used to visit
General Practitioner and NHS suffers the budget of more than euro 800 million per year. Across
England, COPD rates are comparatively higher in the North of the England in comparison to
South. Reason behind increase rate and prevalence can be considered by analysing the rate of
Smoking in North and other deprived area of England. Analysis of urban North area; provide

results for highest rate of COPD; the areas covers are Merseyside, West Yorkshire, Manchester
and South Yorkshire.
Age structure of the population is the major reason of COPD prevalence in Knowsley and
Liverpool as well areas around these places have higher prevalence of smoking and deprivation
(Cortázar and et. al., 2021). Statistically Blackpool is the highest among the rank of smoking
prevalence with the estimated rate of just over 26% for population of 15 years of age and above
while Knowsley placed on 6th position for the same. National prevalence GP-level data for
COPD registration for Scotland in 2015-16 estimated around 2.3%, same in Wales and Northern
Ireland seems to contribute around 2.0% at the same time. Statistically, in Barnsley and Bolsover
high level of deprivation can be found as these areas also have some of the highest level of
smoking in the country (Schulte and et. al., 2017). While taking Northeast coast into
consideration, South Shields and Easington have remarkable COPD prevalence in the nation.
Areas of Middlesbrough, Durham and Sunderland are also coming under the category of high
prevalence. Lower prevalence can be observed into London in comparison to other regions of
England. Higher rate of COPD generally observed in population of old age and London has
younger generation than average one. Based on the age structure of the population, in some areas
of London high COPD prevalence is reported. Dagenham, Islington, and Barking have 40%
higher prevalence than expected while Tower Hamlets has two-third higher prevalence than
expected.
An annual figure report has published by NHS Digital on the evaluation of number of
people at each GP practice with a diagnosis of COPD. Publication f data also covers information
regarding the area where GP patients live in, which assist in estimation of disease prevalence eve
in small areas (Doiron and et. al., 2019). Mainly, combination of these two sources helps to
estimate the prevalence of COPD. Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSOA) estimations have been
made on the basis of GP practices with which residents were registered. LSOAs involve
population registered with multiple practices, in that case weight has been measured according to
the average prevalence recorded at each practice. Constituted data is supposed to be collected
from LSOA-level data. British Lung Foundation in 2012, published age specific rates which
proved to be helpful in referencing age-standardised prevalence rates in above article. It is
important to consider that age distribution does not covers only the England but whole of the UK
has been taken into consideration (Fuertes and et. al., 2021).

REFERENCE
Books and Journals
Brothers, T.D., Padmanathan, P., Quint, J.K. and Arfeen, M.Q.U., 2021. Incidence of COPD and
quality of subsequent treatment among people with a history of using illicit opioids: a
matched cohort study in England (PROTOCOL).
Cortázar, C., Nussbaum, M., Harcha, J., Alvares, D., López, F., Goñi, J. and Cabezas, V., 2021.
Promoting critical thinking in an online, project-based course. Computers in Human
Behavior, 119, p.106705.
Doiron, D., de Hoogh, K., Probst-Hensch, N., Fortier, I., Cai, Y., De Matteis, S. and Hansell,
A.L., 2019. Air pollution, lung function and COPD: results from the population-based UK
Biobank study. European Respiratory Journal, 54(1).
Fuertes, E., Marcon, A., Potts, L., Pesce, G., Lhachimi, S.K., Jani, V., Calciano, L., Adamson,
A., Quint, J.K., Jarvis, D. and Janson, C., 2021. Health impact assessment to predict the
impact of tobacco price increases on COPD burden in Italy, England and
Sweden. Scientific reports, 11(1), pp.1-10.
Schulte, P.A., Pana-Cryan, R., Schnorr, T., Schill, A.L., Guerin, R., Felknor, S. and Wagner,
G.R., 2017. An approach to assess the burden of work-related injury, disease, and
distress. American journal of public health, 107(7), pp.1051-1057.