Documents Breslin, Curtis 4 results

"Aims: This study examined the relation between months on the job and lost-time claim rates, with a particular focus on age related differences.
Methods: Workers' compensation records and labour force survey data were used to compute claim rates per 1000 full time equivalents. To adjust for potential confounding, multivariate analyses included age, sex, occupation, and industry, as well job tenure as predictors of claim rates.
Results: At any age, the claim rates decline as time on the job increases. For example, workers in the first month on the job were over four times more likely to have a lost-time claim than workers with over one year in their current job. The job tenure injury associations were stronger among males, the goods industry, manual occupations, and older adult workers.
Conclusions: The present results suggest that all worker subgroups examined show increased risk when new on the job. Recommendations for improving this situation include earlier training, starting workers in low hazard conditions, reducing job turnover rates in firms, and improved monitoring of hazard exposures that new workers encounter."
(Authors' abstract)

"BACKGROUND: To systematically review the quantitative literature on factors associated with youth non-agricultural work injury. METHODS: Seven electronic databases were searched for studies published between 1980 and 2005. In addition, reference lists from each potentially eligible study were checked and experts in the field contacted for additional studies. Studies had to meet relevance and quality appraisal criteria. RESULTS: Nine cross-sectional studies using multivariate analyses met the inclusion and quality appraisal criteria. This best evidence synthesis found that work injury varied significantly with job and workplace factors such as hazard exposure and perceived work overload. Visible minority status was also associated with likelihood of a work injury. The lack of youth work injury studies assessing the following factors was also identified: physical and cognitive development, safety training, supervision, social environment of the workplace, and intervention studies. CONCLUSIONS: This review has potential implications for prevention of work injuries. First, interventions need to target modifiable risk factors. This systematic review pointed to two job/workplace factors that are potentially modifiable: hazard exposure and work pace pressure. Second, the multiple determinants of work injury highlight the need to develop interventions and policies that focus on multiple factors rather than one-dimensional approaches that target a specific factor."

"Objectives The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the earnings losses that young workers experience in the year after a work disability absence.Methods The sample consisted of workers aged 16 to 24 years from a longitudinal survey of a representative sample of Canadians. Young workers who lost =5 days of work due to work disability or illness (ie, work disability absence) were matched to uninjured controls on the basis of age, gender, preabsence earnings, and student status. This matching procedure resulted in 173 cases and 795 controls. The outcome measure was the difference in earnings the year after the work disability episode between injured cases and their uninjured controls. Results An analysis of variance indicated that young workers experiencing a work disability absence had significantly fewer earnings than their controls in the year after the absence (P<0.05). This earnings loss was not due to between-group differences in school activity or workhours in the year after the work absence.Conclusions No study to date has estimated the impact of work-related disability on earnings trajectories among young workers. The findings of the present study indicate that earnings losses can occur among young workers even during their transition into the labor market. Documenting the economic impacts of work injuries early in one's worklife can provide information for policy debates on the allocation of resources to control workplace hazards where teenagers and young adults work and debates on the determination of fair and adequate benefits for young workers."

"In many parts of the world, children work to help support themselves and their families. There continues to be controversy around the issue of children's work, with the International Labour Organization now distinguishing between harmful work, which should be eliminated, and work that does not affect children's health, personal development or participation in school. Some forms of work are being recognized as playing a positive role in children's lives. Using the case of Egypt, this paper explores issues around children and work with particular emphasis on occupational safety. The PPIC Work project, a CIDA-funded initiative in Egypt, has been developing tools which enable microfinance institutions to intervene in children's workplaces, improving working conditions and learning opportunities."