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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

David A. Lombardi, PhD¹, Simon Folkard, PhD, DSc (Lond)², Gordon S. Smith, MD, MPH¹, and Julie Flahive, MS¹. (1) Quantitative Analysis Unit, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, 71 Frankland Road, Hopkinton, MA 01748, 508-497-0210, david.lombardi@libertymutual.com, (2) Laboratoire d’Anthropolgie Appliquée, Université Paris Descartes, Faculté de Médecine, 45 rue des Saints Pères, Paris, France

Objectives: To estimate the impact of weekly working hours on the risk of being injured at work in the United States.

Methods: The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is an in-person household survey using a multistage, stratified, clustered sample design representing the US civilian, non-institutionalized population. For respondents, ages 18-74, working the week prior to the survey (N=219,103), weighted annualized incidence rates (per 100 workers and 2000 hours worked) for work-related injuries (and poisonings from 2000-2001) were estimated across a priori defined weekly working hour categories using combined 1997-2001 NHIS data. Weighted multiple logistic regression was used to estimate the risk of an injury as a function of weekly working hours controlling for age, sex, race, education, and industry.

Results: Among the estimated 123,711,007 workers at risk annually, there were 4,173,222 work-related injury episodes (IR=3.37 and 3.38 per 100 workers and 2000 worker hours, respectively). Estimated annualized incidence rates for persons working °Ü 20 hours per week was 2.02 per 100 workers, compared to 4.55 per 100 for those working 50+ hours. Increasing working hours significantly increased injury risk per 100 workers, after controlling for age, sex, education, race/ethnicity and industry. However, estimated crude injury rates per 2000 hours worked were higher among those working in the lowest working hour categories.

Discussion: Preliminary estimates of injuries per 100 workers and per 2000 work hours suggest very different trends. Differences in injury risks and rates across weekly working hours will be explored controlling for potential confounders (e.g., industry).

Learning Objectives:

• • Describe the incidence of work-related injury risk across weekly working hours using the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)
• • Understand the value of combining multiple years of NHIS injury data to study the impact of working hours on injury risk among the entire US workforce

Keywords: Injury, Workplace Safety

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation