title: An impact evaluation of a federal mine safety training regulation on injury rates among US stone, sand, and gravel mine workers: an interrupted time-series analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We evaluated the impact of a safety training regulation, implemented by the US Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) in 1999, on injury rates at stone, sand, and gravel mining operations.
  
  
  METHODS
  We applied a time-series design and analyses with quarterly counts of nonfatal injuries and employment hours from 7998 surface aggregate mines from 1995 through 2006. Covariates included standard industrial classification codes, ownership, and injury severity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall crude rates of injuries declined over the 12-year period. Reductions in incident rates for medical treatment only, restricted duty, and lost-time injuries were consistent with temporal trends and provided no evidence of an intervention effect attributable to the MSHA regulation. Rates of permanently disabling injuries (PDIs) declined markedly. Regression analyses documented a statistically significant reduction in the risk rate in the postintervention time period (risk rate = 0.591; 95% confidence interval = 0.529, 0.661).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although a causal relationship between the regulatory intervention and the decline in the rate of PDIs is plausible, inconsistency in the results with the other injury-severity categories preclude attributing the observed outcome to the MSHA regulation. Further analyses of these data are needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health and Health Services, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA. celeste.monforton@gwumc.edu
authors.forename: Celeste
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Monforton
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Windsor
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008906:Mining / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D017751:Safety Management / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards; D018582:Sick Leave / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D012822:Silicon Dioxide
references.citation: Health Educ Q. 1985 Winter;12(4):315-31
references.pmid: 4077544
references.citation: Occup Med. 1994 Apr-Jun;9(2):127-34
references.pmid: 8085196
references.citation: Am J Ind Med. 2007 Dec;50(12):999-1009
references.pmid: 17918223
references.citation: J Appl Psychol. 2002 Jun;87(3):488-96
references.pmid: 12090606
references.citation: Occup Environ Med. 2004 Aug;61(8):651-60
references.pmid: 15258270
references.citation: Ergonomics. 1999 Jan;42(1):171-82
references.pmid: 9973879
references.citation: J Occup Rehabil. 2005 Dec;15(4):607-31
references.pmid: 16254759
references.citation: Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007 Oct 17;(4):CD006251
references.pmid: 17943901
references.citation: Occup Med. 1994 Apr-Jun;9(2):147-58
references.pmid: 8085198
references.citation: Eval Rev. 1996 Jun;20(3):291-312
references.pmid: 10182206
references.citation: Occup Med. 1994 Apr-Jun;9(2):171-88
references.pmid: 8085200
references.citation: Accid Anal Prev. 2000 Nov;32(6):761-9
references.pmid: 10994603
references.citation: Am J Public Health. 2008 Mar;98(3):416-23
references.pmid: 18235060
references.citation: Occup Med. 1994 Apr-Jun;9(2):211-40
references.pmid: 8085202
references.citation: Am J Public Health. 1988 Sep;78(9):1218-9
references.pmid: 3407825
references.citation: Am J Ind Med. 1996 Apr;29(4):289-94
references.pmid: 8728126
references.citation: Am J Ind Med. 1996 Mar;29(3):258-68
references.pmid: 8833778
references.citation: Am J Ind Med. 2005 Mar;47(3):227-36
references.pmid: 15712256
references.citation: Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2005 Aug;78(7):523-32
references.pmid: 15959740
references.citation: Am J Ind Med. 1993 Mar;23(3):391-406
references.pmid: 8503459
references.citation: Occup Med. 1998 Apr-Jun;13(2):357-79
references.pmid: 9589449
references.citation: Am J Ind Med. 2004 Apr;45(4):371-9
references.pmid: 15029570
references.citation: Am J Public Health. 2002 Sep;92(9):1421-9
references.pmid: 12197968
references.citation: J Occup Environ Med. 2007 Apr;49(4):401-10
references.pmid: 17426523
references.citation: Am J Ind Med. 1998 Aug;34(2):105-12
references.pmid: 9651619
references.citation: Occup Environ Med. 2004 Mar;61(3):239-46
references.pmid: 14985519
references.citation: Fam Pract. 2003 Jun;20(3):333-9
references.pmid: 12738704
references.citation: Fed Regist. 1999 Sep 13;64(176):49548-634
references.pmid: 11010710
references.citation: J Occup Environ Med. 2004 Jan;46(1):10-8
references.pmid: 14724473
references.citation: J Occup Environ Med. 2001 Dec;43(12):1001-10
references.pmid: 11765671