Injury rates, severity, and drug testing programs in small construction companies

Details

• Personal Author:
  Alexander BH ; Gerberich, Susan G. ; Ryan, Andrew D. ; Schofield KE
• Description:
  Problem: Construction work is hazardous and workers consistently rank in the top of all occupations and industries for illicit drug and heavy alcohol use. Methods: Drug-testing programs were classified into three categories: no program, pre-employment/post-accident, and pre-employment/post-accident/random/suspicion. We analyzed workers' compensation claims from 1,360 construction companies over a six-year period to assess the possible association of testing program with injury rate. Results: Compared to no program, results respectively were RR=0.85 (CI=0.72-1.0) and RR=0.97 (CI=0.86-1.10) for all injuries, and RR=0.78 (CI=0.60-1.03) and RR=1.01 (CI=0.86-1.19) for lost-time injuries. Variability of results was exhibited across trade and union status, among other categories. Summary: Drug-testing programs may be associated with lower, non-significant, injury rates in this population. Impact on Industry: Drug-testing programs may be associated with lower injury rates, but care should be exercised to ensure accurate injury reporting, characterize underlying safety practices of a company, and to determine quality and consistency of testing. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Alcoholic Beverages Construction Industry Diagnosis Occupational Health Quality Control Safety Safety Management Small Business Substance-Related Disorders
• Keywords:
  Alcoholic-beverages Author Keywords: Occupation Construction Construction-industry Construction-workers Diagnostic-tests Drug-abuse Drugs Drug Testing Injuries Injury Injury-prevention Preemployment-examinations Quality-control Safety-measures Small-businesses Statistical-analysis Worker-health Workers' Compensation

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• ISSN:
  0022-4375
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant ; Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Minnesota ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  97-104
• Volume:
  44
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042715
• Citation:
  J Safety Res 2013 Feb; 44(Special Issue):97-104
• Contact Point Address:
  Katherine Elizabeth Schofield, 2640 Salem Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55416, USA
• Email:
  kteschofield@hotmail.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Performing Organization:
  University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Safety Research
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0a1ce4dc93e628edab045a95cd1c3ac9415d0e60e417c0dc0bdc3f57c976006ef450a1c9f3c8f82c8581d155ceaa5c8ce46e7bee96333d9f2fd64ee05377b56a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194852/cdc_194852_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 199.94 KB ]