The Haddon Matrix: Application to the Prevention of Airborne Injuries,

In the US, injuries kill more people age 1-34 than all diseases combined and are the leading cause of death up to the age of 44. Injuries also result in more lost working years of life than all forms of cancer and heart disease combined. In the US Army, injuries are the leading cause of hospitalization and outpatient visits. Injured soldiers are a tremendous drain on limited health care resources and have negative impact on combat readiness. For example, during Operation Just Cause, 11 of soldier parachuting into Panama sustained disabling jump injuries. Twice as many more soldiers were rendered ineffective due to the need to care for these injured soldiers. Injury control programs are by necessity multidisciplinary, drawing together the talents of specialists from many scientific fields including medicine, public health, safety, engineering, psychology, physics, sociology, and law. One area which has benefitted tremendously from this approach has been the field of transportation safety. The purpose of this presentation is to show how the same methodology can be applied to militarily relevant hazards. The late Dr William Haddon, Jr. was a pioneer in the field of transportation safety.