Occupational eye injury and risk reduction: Kentucky workers' compensation claim analysis 1994-2003.

BACKGROUND: Occupational eye injuries are a significant source of injury in the workplace. Little population-based research in the area has been conducted, and is necessary for developing and prioritizing effective interventions. METHODS: Workers' compensation data from the state of Kentucky for the years 1994-2003 were analysed by demographics, injury nature and cause, cost, and occupational and industrial characteristics. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics' Current Population Survey was utilised to compute injury rates for demographic and occupational groups. RESULTS: There were 10,545 claims of ocular injury, representing 6.29 claims per 10,000 workers on average annually. A substantial drop in the claim rate was found after the state passed monetary penalties for injuries caused by employer negligence or OSHA violations. Claims by men were over three times more likely than those by women to have associated claim costs (OR 0.52; 95% CI 0.32 to 0.85; p = 0.009). The highest eye injury rates per 10,000 of 13.46 (95% CI 12.86 to 14.07) were found for the helpers/labourers occupation, and of 19.95 (95% CI 18.73 to 21.17) for the construction industry. The total cost of claim payments over the period was over $3,480,000, and average cost per claim approximated $331. CONCLUSIONS: Eye injuries remain a significant risk to worker health, especially among men in jobs requiring intensive manual labour. Evidence showed that increased legislative regulation led to a decline in eye injuries, which was consistent with other recent findings in the area. Additionally, targeting groups most at risk, increasing worker training, providing effective eye protection equipment, and developing workplace safety cultures may together reduce occupational eye injuries.

The impact of shift work on the risk and severity of injuries for hospital employees: an analysis using Oregon workers' compensation data.

BACKGROUND: While past research on health care workers has found that shift work can lead to negative physiological and psychological consequences, few studies have assessed the extent to which it increases the risk of specific work-related injuries, nor quantified and compared associated types, severity and costs. AIMS: This study aimed to derive and compare the rates, typologies, costs and disability time of injuries for various hospital worker occupations by day, evening and night shift. METHODS: This study used Oregon workers' compensation claim data from 1990 to 1997 to examine the differences in hospital employee claims (n = 7717) by shift and occupation. Oregon hospital employee claim data, hospital employment data from Oregon's Labor Market Information System and shift proportion estimates derived from the Current Population Survey (CPS) were used to calculate injury rate estimates. RESULTS: The injury rate for day shift per 10,000 employees was estimated to be 176 (95% CI 172-180), as compared with injury rate estimates of 324 (95% CI 311-337) for evening shift and 279 (95% CI 257-302), night shift workers. The average number of days taken off for injury disability was longer for injured night shift workers (46) than for day (38) or evening (39) shift workers. CONCLUSION: Evening and night shift hospital employees were found to be at greater risk of sustaining an occupational injury than day shift workers, with those on the night shift reporting injuries of the greatest severity as measured by disability leave. Staffing levels and task differences between shifts may also affect injury risk.

Assessing latex allergy among health care employees using workers' compensation data.

Latex allergies among health care workers have garnered considerable attention from medical researchers and practitioners. However, the majority of research on natural rubber latex allergy has focused on clinical methodologies and emphasized the quantification of employee sensitization rates as opposed to actual incidents of reactivity. Workers' compensation data provide information on the number and impact of reactions to latex use. This article presents an analysis of health care workers' compensation data from North Dakota to estimate the prevalence, costs, and nature of claims associated with latex allergic reaction. The results show an annual average claim rate of 1.52 per 10,000 health care workers employed in the state, and annual costs averaging about $.08 per health care worker. Skin disorders were the most commonly reported condition. These findings are compared with previous studies of Minnesota and Rhode Island and demonstrate similar results.

A sequential study of migration and job search.

"This paper designs a multiarmed bandit (MAB) sequential model for the analysis of the migration-job search process. The implications either are compatible with well-known migration behavior or, when novel, are also plausible. For example, regions with large wage variability attract migrants, and regions with large nonpecuniary returns increase both in migration and out migration. A major advantage of this approach is the relative ease with which martingale estimators can be derived from the martingale structure of the model. These martingale methods are exemplified for the return migration phenomenon."