Effects of Premium Discount on Workers’ Compensation Claims in Agriculture in Finland

Details

• Personal Author:
  Burmeister LF ; Donham KJ ; Ledolter J ; Ohsfeldt R ; Phillips K ; Rautiainen RH ; Reynolds SJ ; Sprince NL ; Zwerling C
• Description:
  The objective of this study was to measure changes in injury claim rates after a premium discount program was implemented in the Finnish farmers' workers' compensation insurance. We focused on measures that could indicate whether the changes occurred in the true underlying injury rate, or only in claims reporting. Monthly injury claim rates were constructed at seven disability duration levels from January 1990 to December 2003. We conducted interrupted time series analyses to measure changes in the injury claim rates after the premium discount was implemented on July 1, 1997. Three additional policy change indicators were included in the analyses. The overall injury claim rate decreased 10.2%. Decreases occurred at four severity levels (measured by compensated disability days): 0 days (16.3%), 1-6 days (14.1%), 7-13 days (19.5%), and 14-29 days (8.4%). No changes were observed at higher severity levels. Minor injuries had a seasonal pattern with higher rates in summer months while severe injuries did not have a seasonal pattern. The premium discount decreased the overall claim rate. Decreases were observed in all categories up to 29 disability days. This pattern suggests that under-reporting contributes to the decrease but may not be the only factor. The value of the premium discount is lower than the value of a lost-time claim, so there was no financial reason to under-report lost-time injuries. Under-reporting would be expected to be greatest in the 0 day category, but that was not the case. These observations suggest that in addition to under-reporting, the premium discount may also have some preventive effect. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Agriculture Farmers Occupational Health Occupational Injuries Safety
• Keywords:
  Accidents Agricultural-industry Agricultural-workers Disabled-workers Injuries Injury-prevention Occupational-accidents Occupational-health Worker-health Workers
• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Iowa ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  100-109
• Volume:
  48
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20028899
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2005 Aug; 48(2):100-109
• Contact Point Address:
  Risto H. Rautiainen, Assistant Professor, Deputy Director, Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health, The University of Iowa, 103 IREH, Oakdale Campus, Iowa City, IA 52242-5000
• Email:
  risto-rautiainen@uiowa.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2005
• Performing Organization:
  Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20000801
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20020731
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4669173c0b7fee1509a0068ccaee972460f483af65ec8e7b796ed6ff5c189114a61a58e745bb98deb863b9d83f1844cd062585f77dfbb0b179afc7b2309a8ef3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/189992/cdc_189992_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 198.56 KB ]