2004 Volume 31 Issue 1 Pages 51-55
In Japan, the public service care system for the elderly began in 2000. In this service the role of welfare equipment has become important both for promoting the independence of disabled people and for reducing the workload of caseworkers. However, there have been an increasing number of small accidents caused by the use of welfare equipment which have been widespread. These are termed “hiyari-hatto” events.
The purpose of this study was to reveal what kinds of hiyari-hatto events have happened in care services for the elderly in Japan.
One hundred and sixteen care service providers in Inba Village (population c. 10,000; over 65's, 18.9%) were registered for this study.
In October 2001, we mailed questionnaires to the care service providers. The questionnaire consisted of 17 questions on hiyari-hatto events. The returned questionnaires were arranged for each item and hiyari-hatto events were classified as “human error”, “equipment risk factor”, and “not adjusted to environment” according to our definitions.
There were 56 valid answers. In these answers we found 28 cases of hiyari-hatto, and 28 cases of injury. Among the 56 cases, 28 cases were related to wheelchairs, 6 cases involved use of a bed, and there were 5 cases of shower to chair. Movement (27 cases) and transfer (23 cases) were the principal factors of accidents, and falls (29 cases) were the major result. The causes of hiyari-hatto events were, human error (75.6%), equipment risk factor (6.7%) and not adjusted to environment (11.9%).
The high risk of potential accident is accepted from there being 28 accidents among the approx. 2,000 elderly of Inba Village (Heinrich's Law). Our results revealed that safety education for care service workers is urgently needed, and also the necessity of safety management of welfare equipment.
