Authors
Waehrer-GM; Dong-XS; Miller-T; Men-Y; Haile-E
Source
J Occup Environ Med 2007 Nov; 49(11):1218-1227
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To present the costs of fatal and non-fatal days-away-from-work injuries in 50 construction occupations. Our results also provide indirect evidence on the cost exposure of alternative construction workers such as independent contractors, on-call or day labor, contract workers, and temporary workers. METHODS: We combine data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on average annual incidence from 2000 to 2002 with updated per-case costs from an existing cost model for occupational injuries. The Current Population Survey provides data on the percentage of alternative construction workers. RESULTS: Construction laborers and carpenters were the two costliest occupations, with 40% of the industry's injury costs. The 10 costliest construction occupations also have a high percentage of alternative workers. CONCLUSIONS: The construction industry has both a high rate of alternative employment and high costs of work injury. Alternative workers, often lacking workers' compensation, are especially exposed to injury costs.
Keywords
Safety-measures; Safety-practices; Statistical-analysis; Construction; Construction-industry; Mathematical-models; Work-environment; Work-practices
Contact
Geetha Waehrer, PhD, Pacific Institute for Research & Evaluation (PIRE), 11720 Beltsville Drive, Suite 900, Calverton, MD 20705
Document Type
Journal Article
Email Address
waehrer@pire.org
Funding Type
Cooperative Agreement
Identifying No.
Cooperative-Agreement-Number-U54-OH-008307
Source Name
Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Performing Organization
Center to Protect Workers' Rights