Expanded analysis of injury mortality among unionized construction workers.
BACKGROUND
To evaluate the utility of expanding the number and precision of injury categories used in previous occupational mortality studies, this study reanalyzed data from four previous studies of unionized construction workers (construction laborers, ironworkers, sheet metal workers, and operating engineers), by expanding the number of injury categories from 6 to 33.


METHODS
Proportionate mortality ratios (PMRs) were computed using the distribution of deaths from the National Occupational Mortality Surveillance System, a mortality surveillance system from 28 states, as a comparison. A blue collar comparison group was also used in additional analyses to adjust for socioeconomic and other factors.


RESULTS
This reanalysis identified significantly elevated PMRs in at least one of the four worker groups for falls, motor vehicle crashes, machinery incidents, electrocutions, being struck by falling objects, being struck by flying objects, explosions, suffocation, and water transport incidents. Limiting the comparison population to deaths among blue collar workers did not change the results substantially.


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates that increasing the precision of categories of death from injury routinely used in mortality studies will provide improved information to guide prevention. Am. J. Ind. Med. 37:364-373, 2000. Published 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Chen
G X
GX
Division of Safety Research, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morgantown, WV 26505-2888, USA.
Johnston
J J
JJ
Alterman
T
T
Burnett
C
C
Steenland
K
K
Stern
F
F
Halperin
W
W
D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000401:mortality; D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000401:mortality; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001237:Asphyxia / Q000401:mortality; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004332:Drowning / Q000401:mortality; D004556:Electric Injuries / Q000401:mortality; D004738:Engineering; D005107:Explosions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007750:Labor Unions; D008297:Male; D008669:Metallurgy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000401:mortality*