Comparative analyses of workers' compensation claims of injury among temporary and permanent employed workers in Ohio

Prevalence and associated factors of occupational injuries in an industrial city in Ghana

BACKGROUND

Workers are exposed to workplace hazards which increase their risk of occupational injury. Data on occupational injuries and associated factors are important for planning and informing national policy regarding workplace health and safety. This study sought to estimate the prevalence and factors associated with occupational injuries among workers in an industrial city in Ghana.

METHODS

A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 459 workers in the Tema industrial enclave in Ghana from 22nd December 2020 to 27th February 2021. Participants were recruited using a two-stage sampling technique. Eight communities were randomly selected from twenty-five communities in the first stage while households in each community were randomly selected in the second stage. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, occupational health and safety and occupational injuries were collected. Logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between occupational injuries and associated factors.

RESULTS

The mean age of the workers was 33.9 (±6.8) years with a range of 21-53 while over 18.1% of them were working at the Port and Harbour. The prevalence of occupational injury among the workers in the preceding twelve months was 64.7%. The mechanism of injury was mainly the use of working tools (45.8%) and hot surfaces, substances or chemicals (14.1%). Being a casual staff (AOR: 2.26, 95%CI: 1.04-4.92), working at Port and Harbour (AOR: 3.77, 95%CI: 1.70-8.39), no health and safety training (AOR: 2.18, 95%CI: 1.08-4.39), dissatisfaction with health and safety measures (AOR: 4.31, 95%CI: 2.12-8.78) and tertiary education (AOR: 0.03, 95%CI: 0.01-0.10) were significantly associated with occupational injuries.

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of occupational injuries in this study was high. Promoting machine tools' safety, health and safety training, and satisfaction with health and safety measures through rewarding workers who do not sustain injuries could be key to employees' health and safety.

A staffing perspective on barriers to and facilitators of temporary worker safety and health

BACKGROUND

Research has documented occupational health disparities, including higher rates of work-related injuries, among temporary workers compared with workers in standard employment arrangements. According to guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), both staffing companies and host employers are responsible for protecting the occupational safety and health (OSH) of temporary workers. To date, there has been little qualitative research on temporary worker OSH in the United States and a lack of evidence-based OSH programs designed to meet the needs of temporary workers. The aim of this study was to better understand the barriers to and facilitators of temporary worker OSH from the perspective of US staffing companies.

METHODS

In-depth interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of representatives from 15 US staffing companies. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed through a three-step process.

RESULTS

Commonly mentioned barriers to temporary worker OSH include differential treatment of temporary workers by host employers; lack of understanding among host employers and staffing companies of joint OSH responsibilities; and workers' fear of job loss or other negative repercussions if they report an injury or illness or voice OSH concerns. Commonly mentioned facilitators of temporary worker OSH include conducting client assessments and site visits and fostering strong communication and relationships with both host employers and temporary workers.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings can help inform the tailoring of OSH programs to promote health equity in temporary workers.

Work-related fatigue: A hazard for workers experiencing disproportionate occupational risks

BACKGROUND

Long working hours and fatigue are significant occupational safety and health (OSH) hazards for working populations who experience disproportionate risks of injury and illness. These groups include young or new workers, aging workers, contingent and temporary workers, immigrant and nonnative workers, female workers, minority workers, workers with low levels of education and lower socioeconomic status, and small business employees. An increasing focus on newer determinants of health in the workplace, such as health equity and work-life conflict, in worker populations at greater risk for injury or illness, provides an opportunity for researchers to address the causes and consequences of work-related fatigue in high-risk populations.

METHODS

Articles in the OSH literature that addressed fatigue in higher-risk workers were identified by the authors or recommended by subject matter experts in workplace fatigue as part of a Working Hours, Sleep and Fatigue Forum. Additional articles were identified by searching for a combination of specific at-risk worker group titles (e.g., female workers, temporary workers) with fatigue or working hours.

RESULTS

There remains a paucity of research specifically addressing working hours and fatigue among disproportionately at-risk worker populations. The literature reviewed in this paper suggests that several of these populations are at increased risk of fatigue due to multiple factors, such as irregular shifts, lack of access to fatigue management resources, and socioeconomic barriers.

CONCLUSIONS

More research is needed to identify solutions to address fatigue in working populations who may be at greater risk for its consequences by virtue of adverse socioeconomic and related factors. Interventions to address work-related fatigue in specific at-risk worker groups should also consider the multiple and overlapping categories of risk within these populations.

Health Equity and Worker Justice in Temporary Staffing: The Illinois Case

Temporary staffing has an increasing role in world economies, contracting workers and dispatching them to work for leasing employers within countries and across borders. Using Illinois as a case study, co-authors have undertaken investigations to understand the occupational health, safety, and well-being challenges for workers hired through temporary staffing companies; to determine knowledge and attitudes of temp workers and temp staffing employers; and to assess temporary staffing at a community level. Temporary staffing workers in Illinois tend to be people of color who are employed in the most hazardous sectors of the economy. They have a higher rate of injury, are compensated less, and often lose their jobs when injured. Laws allow for ambiguity of responsibility for training, reporting, and compensation between the staffing agency and host employers. Our findings illustrate the ways in which principles of fairness and equity are violated in temporary staffing. Shared responsibility for reporting injuries, providing workers' compensation insurance, and training workers should be mandated in law and required in contractual language between temporary staffing and host/contracting employers. Monitoring, enforcement, and adjustment of the law based on experience are required to "promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all.

Comparative analyses of occupational injuries among temporary agency worker and direct contract workers: Findings from the Korea Health Panel 2009-2018

Objectives

Several studies have reported health or safety risk of temporary agency workers (TAW). Since most of the studies are just cross‐sectional studies, we intended to identify the risk of occupational injury in TAW, using longitudinal study design.

Methods

The Korea Health Panel 2009–2018 data were used in the study. For the statistical analysis of this study, we used a panel logit model to identify the risk of occupational injury in TAW compared to direct contract workers (DCW).

Results

There was no significant difference in risk of occupational injury between TAW and DCW among the overall population (adjusted OR 0.920, 95% CI 0.600–1.411). However, there was a significant increase in occupational injury in women (adjusted OR 2.134, 95% CI 1.092–4.170) and the “19–34” age group (adjusted OR 2.744, 95% CI 1.103–6.825) of TAW.

Conclusions

This study provides evidence for vulnerable groups such as women and younger age groups in the relationship between TAW and occupational injury.

Workers' compensation claim counts and rates by injury event/exposure among state-insured private employers in Ohio, 2007-2017

INTRODUCTION

This study analyzed workers' compensation (WC) claims among private employers insured by the Ohio state-based WC carrier to identify high-risk industries by detailed cause of injury.

METHODS

A machine learning algorithm was used to code each claim by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) event/exposure. The codes assigned to lost-time (LT) claims with lower algorithm probabilities of accurate classification or those LT claims with high costs were manually reviewed. WC data were linked with the state's unemployment insurance (UI) data to identify the employer's industry and number of employees. BLS data on hours worked per employee were used to estimate full-time equivalents (FTE) and calculate rates of WC claims per 100 FTE.

RESULTS

140,780 LT claims and 633,373 medical-only claims were analyzed. Although counts and rates of LT WC claims declined from 2007 to 2017, the shares of leading LT injury event/exposures remained largely unchanged. LT claims due to Overexertion and Bodily Reaction (33.0%) were most common, followed by Falls, Slips, and Trips (31.4%), Contact with Objects and Equipment (22.5%), Transportation Incidents (7.0%), Exposure to Harmful Substances or Environments (2.8%), Violence and Other Injuries by Persons or Animals (2.5%), and Fires and Explosions (0.4%). These findings are consistent with other reported data. The proportions of injury event/exposures varied by industry, and high-risk industries were identified.

CONCLUSIONS

Injuries have been reduced, but prevention challenges remain in certain industries. Available evidence on intervention effectiveness was summarized and mapped to the analysis results to demonstrate how the results can guide prevention efforts. Practical Applications: Employers, safety/health practitioners, researchers, WC insurers, and bureaus can use these data and machine learning methods to understand industry differences in the level and mix of risks, as well as industry trends, and to tailor safety, health, and disability prevention services and research.

Considering Work Arrangement as an "Exposure" in Occupational Health Research and Practice

Most occupational health research is conducted with the so-called “standard employment relationship” in mind, which entails ongoing, full-time employment for a single employer. Yet mounting evidence suggests the way work is organized is increasingly deviating from this standard model, and that work arrangements themselves—the terms and conditions of employment such as contract type and the extent of directive control over tasks—are important determinants of worker health and safety. However, a lack of clear conceptual definitions or taxonomic system defining the wide variety of economic work arrangements in the contemporary workplace hampers rigorous investigation of their relationship to health. The various forms of “non-standard” employment arrangements—also called non-traditional, alternative, flexible, fissured, precarious, contingent, temporary, atypical, or gig work—may have overlapping attributes, yet ambiguity regarding the character of these arrangements obscures mechanisms that lead to increased health and safety risks. Here, we attempt to clarify work arrangements as a workplace exposure, deserving of specific attention within occupational health and safety research, practice, and policy. We argue that, at minimum, three key features of work arrangements need to be considered: (1) whether an arrangement is permanent or temporary; (2) whether a worker is a contractor or an employee; and (3) whether an arrangement involves more than one firm. We further propose mechanisms linking work arrangements to increased work-related health risks to better inform strategies aimed at protecting the growing non-standard workforce.