title: Injury rates, severity, and drug testing programs in small construction companies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Construction work is hazardous and workers consistently rank in the top of all occupations and industries for illicit drug and heavy alcohol use.
  
  
  METHODS
  Drug-testing programs were classified into three categories: no program, pre-employment/post-accident, and pre-employment/post-accident/random/suspicion. We analyzed workers' compensation claims from 1,360 construction companies over a six-year period to assess the possible association of testing program with injury rate.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to no program, results respectively were RR=0.85 (CI=0.72-1.0) and RR=0.97 (CI=0.86-1.10) for all injuries, and RR=0.78 (CI=0.60-1.03) and RR=1.01 (CI=0.86-1.19) for lost-time injuries. Variability of results was exhibited across trade and union status, among other categories.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Drug-testing programs may be associated with lower, non-significant, injury rates in this population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Drug-testing programs may be associated with lower injury rates, but care should be exercised to ensure accurate injury reporting, characterize underlying safety practices of a company, and to determine quality and consistency of testing.
authors: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA. kteschofield@hotmail.com
authors: Katherine Elizabeth
authors: KE
authors: Schofield
authors: Bruce H
authors: BH
authors: Alexander
authors: Susan Goodwin
authors: SG
authors: Gerberich
authors: Andrew D
authors: AD
authors: Ryan
mesh_terms: D060389:Construction Industry / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004651:Employment / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D060051:Occupational Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012449:Safety; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014942:Workers' Compensation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data