title: Targeting prevention programs for young and new healthcare workers: what is the association of age and job tenure with occupational injury in healthcare?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  previous evidence suggests young and new workers experience an increased risk of occupational injury. We sought to confirm this observation for healthcare workers.
  
  
  METHODS
  a retrospective cohort of 42,771 healthcare workers (88.2% women) was constructed from an active injury surveillance database. Over 2 years, incidence rates and crude and adjusted relative risks for occupational injury were compared between age groups and job tenures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  there were opposite trends in the two main types of injuries which cancelled each other: new workers and young workers had a decreased (not increased) risk of musculoskeletal sprain and strain injuries (adjusted RR [95% CI] for new hires was 0.60 [0.48, 0.73], and 0.85 [0.73, 0.98] for workers <25 years old); but an increased risk of cut and puncture injuries (1.25 [1.07, 1.45] for new hires, 1.28 [0.99, 1.67] for workers <25 years old).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  contrary to studies of other sectors, younger age and shorter tenure were not universal risk factors for occupational injuries in the female dominated healthcare sector. Young and new workers had increased risk of cuts and punctures, but a decreased risk of musculoskeletal injuries.
authors.affiliation: Occupational Health and Safety Agency for Healthcare (OHSAH) in British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Siow
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ngan
authors.forename: Shicheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guzman
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001955:British Columbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011314:Preventive Health Services; D016730:Program Development; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult