Objective: To examine substance use and other job-related problems as risk factors for occupational injury. Methods: Using company discipline records, a cohort of 27,295 employees at a national transportation company was sorted into 4 hierarchical groups in the following order: no discipline record, a substance-related discipline record, an absenteeism-related discipline record, and, finally, any other type of discipline record. Poisson regression modeled the association between discipline history and rates of occupational injury. Employee sex, age, type (management/hourly), and job injury risk level were tested for their role as confounders or effect modifiers. Results: The crude occupational injury rate per thousand employee-years was higher for employees with a record of disciplinary action (substance use: 59.1; absenteeism: 47.2; other: 72.8) than employees with no record (29.0). After adjusting for employee job type, job injury risk, sex and age, the injury rates among employees with discipline records were significantly greater than those of employees without a discipline record (substance use, RR=1.82; absenteeism, RR=1.66; other, RR=2.19.) The relative risk of injury among disciplined employees was particularly high for employees aged 16 to 29. Conclusion: Employees with any disciplinary history were at increased risk of occupational injury. However, this analysis provides inconclusive evidence that substance users are at greater risk for occupational injury than other types of problem employees. Employees disciplined for substance use were not more likely than employees with other problems to be injured. An important limitation of this study is the use of mutually exclusive categories to classify each employee.
Learning Objectives: By the end of the session, participants will be able to: 1. List potential risk factors for occupational injury 2. Discuss the evidence suggesting substance use is a risk factor for occupational injury 3. Discuss the limitations of using mutually exclusive categories to classify employees.
Keywords: Risk Factors, Occupational Injury and Death
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.