文章基本信息

标题：Association Between the Decline in Workers’ Compensation Claims and Workforce Composition and Job Characteristics in Ontario, Canada
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作者：F. Curtis Breslin ; Emile Tompa ; Cameron Mustard 等
期刊名称：American journal of public health
印刷版ISSN：0090-0036
出版年度：2007
卷号：97
期号：3
页码：453-455
DOI：10.2105/AJPH.2005.083873
语种：English
出版社：American Public Health Association
摘要：We examined associations between workforce demographics and job characteristics, grouped by industrial sector, and declines in workers’ compensation claim rates in Ontario, Canada, between 1990 and 2003. Gender, age, occupation, and job tenure were predictors for claim rates in 12 industrial sectors. The decline in claims was significantly associated with a decline in the proportion of employment in occupations with high physical demands. These findings should generate interest in economic incentives and regulatory policies designed to encourage investment in safer production processes. Compensation claim rates for days of lost work as a result of work-related injury or illness have declined in North America and Europe. 1 ^– 5 Previous research regarding this general decline has examined the influence of disproportionate employment growth in the service sector relative to the goods-producing sector on the hypothesis that service sector development has resulted in proportionally fewer hazardous jobs. 5 ^, 6 Although important, these explanations do not account for the declines in claim rates experienced by high-hazard industries and observed by Conway and Svenson, 5 who did not examine actual numbers of hazardous jobs within these industries. Structural changes within industries, such as technological advances in production methods (reducing hazard exposure), changes in government regulatory practices, and improvement in safety management at the workplace level (to increase economic competitiveness), might help account for declines in claim rates within specific industries. 1 Changes in workforce demographic composition (e.g., age, gender) within industries also may influence claim trends. For example, the greater experience and skill that older workers possess compared with young workers would be expected to lead to lower injury risk as the workforce ages. 7 However, work-force compositional changes within an industry also may be correlated with structural changes. Shifts in the age distribution in an industry may be associated with changes in work arrangements (e.g., more temporary work for youths). We used workers’ compensation claims for days of lost work as a result of work-related injury or illness and employment patterns from Ontario during 1990 to 2003 to examine relations between claim rates and work-force composition and job characteristics within and across industrial sectors.