Injury rates and economic cycles in the Italian manufacturing sector

Corporate Characteristics and Occupational Injuries by Industry

Background

Recent research on occupational injuries in companies has faced difficulties in obtaining representative data, leading to studies relying on surveys or case studies. Moreover, it is difficult to find studies on how a company's industry characteristics affect occupational injuries. This study aims to address these limitations.

Methods

We collected 11 years of disclosure data from 1,247 listed companies in the Korean stock market and combined it with their occupational injury histories collected by the Republic of Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) to build a dataset. We attempted to analyze a linear panel model by dividing the dataset into manufacturing, construction, and other industries.

Results

The higher proportion of full-time employees and better job skills correlate with lower occupational injuries in other industries. The wage increase reduces occupational injuries in manufacturing and other industries, but the substitution effect produces the opposite outcome in construction. Also, foreign ownership and credit ratings increase effectively reduce occupational injuries mainly in the manufacturing industry.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that in explaining the relationship between corporate characteristics and occupational injuries, it is necessary to consider the nature of the industry more closely, and in particular, employment and labor policies for preventing occupational injuries need to be selectively applied according to industry. In addition, to improve the limitations and increase the usability of the research results, further detailed studies are needed in the future.

Analytical illustration of occupational injuries between 2019 and 2020 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: In recent times, Saudi Arabia has experienced growing industrialisation and more opportunities for business requires more human capital if it is to become one of the largest economies in the world and Such growth brings with it some health issues. OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to provide analytical illustration of occupational injuries among the workforce in Saudi Arabia. To accomplish the study purpose, four measurements were carried out, the occurrence of occupational injuries, the severity of occupational injuries, the patterns in occupational injuries, and the occupational injuries in relation to the demography of the injured employees. METHODS: A retrospective study was designed based on a secondary data of occupational injuries(OI) that was obtained from The General Organization for Social Insurance. Descriptive analysis was used to describe the occurrence and the outcome of OI. Multivariate regression was applied to the patterns in OI and to those injuries in relation to the demography of the injured employees. RESULTS: Within two years, Riyadh Province had the highest occurrence of OI (30.6%). Construction and Elementary occupations had the highest occurrence of OI (36.3%, and 45.7% respectively). Injuries’ occurrence differed significantly between months. Fridays significantly associated with low injuries. Among demography, injuries differed significantly in relation to the employees’ age. CONCLUSIONS: There was no noticeable decrease in death cases from an earlier local study while they were less compared to other nations (Turkey and South Korea). Compared to other nation, Islamic holidays that are characterized by heat waves were not associated with increased OI. Preventive measures are insufficient.

Analysis of the Correlation between Occupational Accidents and Economic Factors in China

One of the important factors affecting the production safety of a country or region is the level of economic development. Avoiding accidents under the condition of ensuring economic development is a problem that needs in-depth research. On the basis of collecting the data of occupational accidents and economic development indicators in China from 2000 to 2020, this paper studies the relationship between occupational accidents and five economic indicators, such as resident consumption, energy consumption, education funds, wage level and research input. The grey working accident model of Gaussian function is established, the occurrence trend of occupational accidents is quantitatively analyzed, and the accident reduction measures are suggested based on the relationship between accidents and economy. The results show that there is a strong correlation between accident and economic indicators, and the comprehensive correlation coefficient among scientific research investment, education funds and accident indicators is significantly higher than that of other economic indicators. Increasing investment in scientific research and education is conducive to improving the quality of workers and training safety professionals and can effectively reduce workplace accidents.

Trends in incidence and correlation between medical costs and lost workdays for work-related amputations in the State of California from 2007 to 2018

BACKGROUND

Detailed information regarding workers who experience an amputation in the workplace over the last decade is limited. To better understand the financial and functional impact of a work-related amputation, this study quantifies the incidence of work-related amputations in the California workforce from 2007 to 2018 as well as the relationship between medical costs and lost workdays as a function of amputation level.

METHODS

Workers' compensation claims data from California spanning the years 2007 to 2018 were evaluated to describe trends in amputation incidence (N = 16 931). Quartile values for medical costs, indemnity costs, and lost workdays were reported as a function of amputation level. Correlations were performed between medical costs and lost workdays to examine their relationship.

RESULTS

The average incidence from 2007 to 2018 was 8.9 (95% CI 8.5, 9.4) amputations per 100 000 workers. There was a significant spike in amputations in 2008. Partial-hand amputations were the most common with 73.3 (95% CI 69.2, 77.7) cases per 1 000 000 workers, and the industry with the highest incidence was construction with 26.0 (95% CI 22.4, 30.0) cases per 100 000 workers. Overall, medical costs were moderately correlated with lost workdays (Spearman's rho = 0.51), and that level of correlation remained relatively consistent across all levels of amputation (Spearman's rho = 0.48-0.62).

CONCLUSIONS

Amputations represent high medical costs and number of lost workdays. Considering the type of amputation and the industry the injury occurred in is important in order to work toward returning this population to work. Our results present the status of amputations in the California workplace and establish a basis for using medical costs to infer lost work productivity for this population.

Differences in work injury risk between immigrants and natives: changes since the economic recession in Italy

Background

It is known that occupational injury rates are higher for immigrant than for native workers, however the effects of the economic cycles on these differences has not been assessed to date. The aim of the paper is to test if the crisis has the same mechanism of selection in the two groups by comparing injury rates in 2005 (before the crisis) and in 2010 (after the crisis).

Methods

The Work History Italian Panel-Salute integrated database was interrogated to identify employment contracts in the metalworking and construction industries for the years 2005 and 2010 and the occupational injuries. A definition based on the type of injury, less likely to be biased by underreporting, was used to select serious events. Immigrants and natives were matched using the propensity score method and injury rates were calculated in the two years. Analyses were stratified by industry.

Results

In the metalworking industry injury rates slightly increased over time for both groups, and were higher among immigrant than native workers in both 2005 and 2010. In the construction industry the 2005 injury rate was the same in the two groups, and there was a negative trend over time in both groups. However the decline in the 2010 injury rate for Italian workers was much larger, which led to a considerable increase of the incidence rate ratio of immigrants with respect to native (IRR 3.83, 95% CI 2.52–5.75).

Conclusions

The economic recession had an impact on the risk of workplace injury. Though the main observed factors (18 variables) usually reported in literature to explain the higher injury rates of the immigrant workers were controlled through the matching, there were still differences between immigrants and natives. The main reason is that immigrants continue to be assigned to the more dangerous jobs and the more dangerous tasks within these job. Furthermore, also differences in the perception of workplace injury risks, linguistic barriers, and cultural factors may have a role in explaining this gap.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-7178-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.