Analyses of Occupational Injuries in School Workers Utilizing Workers' Compensation Data Público

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Occupational injuries continue to be a significant public health burden. School workers represent a unique sector that faces challenges in adequate implementation and upkeep of effective interventions to reduce costs and incidence of workplace injuries.

OBJECTIVE: We examined injury causations and associated costs from workers' compensation (WC) data, and assessed its utility as a surveillance tool.

METHODS: We analyzed accepted/settled WC claims (n=1,934) provided by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (OBWC) for injuries that occurred within a Midwestern public school district from 2004-2014. Along with descriptive statistics, we ran logistic and linear regression models to determine predictors of injury causations and total compensation costs (TCC), respectively.

RESULTS: The annual injury rate had a marginally significant (p-value=0.06) decrease (~4 to 2 cases per 100 staff) for total staff from 2008-2014; most of the decrease occurred after 2010. Injury rates were higher in support staff than teachers (p-value=0.04). Most injuries were caused by slips, trips, and falls (STF) (35.1%) or violence and other injuries by persons/animals (VIL) (28.9%). Adjusted odds of VIL were high for security, paraprofessionals, and teachers compared to other white collar (OWC) occupations, and males were more at odds than females; there was a significant negative trend (p-value=0.0002) with age. Adjusted odds of STF were high for females compared to males; there was a significant positive trend (p-value<0.0001) with age. Adjusted odds of injuries caused by contact with objects and equipment (COE) and overexertion and bodily reaction (OBR) were high for custodial, food services, and other blue collar compared to OWC. Medical compensation makes up the majority cost (71.4%) of overall claims cost, followed by lost-time (LT) payments (28.6%). Mean TCC was highest for injuries caused by OBR and STF, and for LT claims. TCC increased significantly with age (p-value=0.001) by about $40 per year.

CONCLUSION: These results may assist the school district, the OBWC, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in implementing and enhancing best practices for injury prevention and cost management in school workers. Using employer-specific WC data provides an opportunity to assess trends in occupational injuries and prioritize interventions that contribute the greatest impact.

Table of Contents

Introduction......................................................................................1

Background.......................................................................................1

Goals of Present Study........................................................................5

Methods............................................................................................6

Study Design & Population.................................................................6

Analysis...........................................................................................10

Results.............................................................................................13

Discussion........................................................................................19

Limitations.......................................................................................22

Conclusion........................................................................................24

Recommendations.............................................................................24

References.........................................................................................26

Tables...............................................................................................30

Figures..............................................................................................38

Appendices........................................................................................49

Appendix A: Abbreviations & Definitions.............................................49

Appendix B: Supplemental Tables........................................................52

About this Master's Thesis

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School	Rollins School of Public Health
Department	Environmental Health
Degree	MSPH
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Health Sciences, Public Health Health Sciences, Occupational Health and Safety Health Sciences, Epidemiology
Palabra Clave	Injury Surveillance Workers' Compensation Injury Prevention Occupational Injuries and Illnesses School Workers Environmental Epidemiology
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Steenland, Kyle, Emory University
Committee Members	Tolbert, Paige, Emory University
Partnering Agencies	State or local governmental agency (not a health department and not in Georgia) University, college or educational institution (other than Emory) CDC

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