OCCUPATIONAL FATALITY TRENDS: A CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

自20世纪70年代以来，美国的致命职业伤害率一直在下降。与此同时，经济结构发生了深刻的变化，这可能对工人的健康和安全以及通过公共卫生干预措施监测和确保工人健康和安全的能力产生影响。我们建议在国家和地区层面对致命职业伤害的长期趋势与经济和劳动力因素的关系进行流行病学研究。这项研究的总体目标是研究致命伤害率趋势的背景。我们将考虑工业部门、工人群体和地理区域之间的差异，并研究它们的一些潜在原因，重点关注经济和劳动力的结构性变化。具体来说，我们试图回答以下研究问题：1)从1980年到1994年，美国、主要地理区域、特定工业部门、主要职业群体和按性别、年龄和种族定义的工人群体的致命职业伤害率的平均年变化是什么？2)国家和地区的特征，包括薪酬水平、人口流动性、妇女和少数民族在劳动力中的比例、受教育程度、相对于资本的劳动力力量和监管环境，是否可以预测1980年至1994年间职业死亡率趋势的差异？3)从1980年到1994年，致命职业伤害率的相对下降对于潜在的弱势工人群体和具有更大历史优势的其他工人群体是否相同？4)如果没有劳动力结构调整，到20世纪90年代中期观察到的致命职业伤害的总体比率是否与20世纪80年代初的比率相同？5)区域、行业和个人组织层面的因素相互作用如何改变趋势？为了解决这些问题，我们将使用美国政府机构收集的数据进行上下文分析。在评价区域格局时，我们将特别注意南方作为一个特别重要的区域，它引领了目前的一些趋势。该提案回应了NIOSH的两个优先领域：创伤性伤害和工作组织。这项研究有可能使人们更深入地了解工人安全与工作场所以外的更大趋势之间的关系，并确定在其他工作条件发生变化时可以采取的措施，以维持或改善安全。

The rate of fatal occupational injuries in the United States has been declining since the 1970s. At the same time, the structure of the economy has undergone profound changes that may have consequences for workers' health and safety, and for the ability to monitor and assure them through public health interventions. We propose an epidemiologic study of the relationship of long- term trends in fatal occupational injury to economic and labor- force factors at national and regional levels. The overall goal of the research is to examine the context of trends in fatal injury rates. We will consider differences among industrial sectors, worker groups, and geographic regions and examine some of their potential causes, focusing on structural changes in the economy and the workforce. Specifically, we seek to answer the following research questions: 1) What was the average annual change in the rate of fatal occupational injury from 1980 to 1994 for the nation, for its principal geographic regions, and for specific sectors of industry, major occupational groups and worker groups defined by sex, age, and race? 2) Do characteristics of states and regions, including compensation levels, population mobility, the proportion of women and minorities in the labor force, educational attainment, the power of labor relative to capital and regulatory climate, predict differences in occupational fatality trends between 1980 and 1994? 3) Was the relative decline in fatal occupational injury rates from 1980 to 1994 equal for potentially vulnerable groups of workers and for other worker groups with greater historical advantages? 4) Would the overall rate of fatal occupational injury observed toward the middle of the 1990s have been the same as the rate in the early 1980s if there had been no restructuring of the labor force? and 5) How are trends modified by the interplay of factors on regional, industry, and individual levels of organization? To address these questions we will conduct a contextual analysis using data collected by US governmental agencies. In evaluating regional patterns, we will devote attention to the South as a region of particular importance, which has led some current trends. This proposal responds to two NIOSH priority areas: traumatic injury, and organization of work. The research has the potential both to produce greater knowledge of the relationship of worker safety to larger trends beyond the workplace itself, and to identify steps that can be taken to maintain or improve safety as other conditions of work change.