Risk of Injury by Unionization: Survival Analysis of a Large Industrial Cohort.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of union status on injury risk among a large industrial cohort. METHODS: The cohort included hourly employees at 19 US plants between 2000 and 2007. Plants were classified by union status, and injuries were classified by severity. Cox-proportional hazard shared frailty model was used to determine time to first reportable injury. RESULTS: A total of 26,462 workers were included 18,955 (72%) unionized and 7507 (28%) non-unionized. Union workers incurred 3194 injuries (16.9%) compared with 618 injuries for non-union workers (8.2%). After adjusting for multiple covariates, union workers had a 51% higher risk of reportable injury. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide evidence for higher risk of reportable injuries in union workers; explanations for this increased risk remain unclear.