Black and Hispanic workers in California faced substantially higher rates of lost-time workplace injuries compared with White workers, according to a cross-sectional study.
Using 2.6 million workers’ compensation claims filed between 2005 and 2019, investigators reported injury rates of 1.90 per 100 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers for Hispanic workers and 1.74 per 100 FTE for Black workers, compared with 1.00 per 100 FTE for White workers. Asian/Pacific Islander workers had the lowest rate, with 0.63 per 100 FTE. Across all groups, the average rate was 1.32 per 100 FTE among 195 million FTE workers included in the analysis.
Lead author Michael Dworsky, PhD, and colleagues from RAND, Boston University School of Public Health, and the University of Southern California analyzed California Workers’ Compensation Information System records linked with American Community Survey data. Poisson regression models with multiple imputation were used to estimate risk differences across racial and ethnic groups.
Adjustment for occupation explained more than half the disparities. For Black workers, the difference in injury rates compared with White workers was 53% after accounting for occupational concentration, decreasing from 0.78 to 0.37 per 100 FTE. Among Hispanic workers, the disparity accounted for 71%, from 1.04 to 0.30 per 100 FTE. Sex-stratified models showed occupational concentration accounted for 70% of the Black-White disparity and 77% of the Hispanic-White disparity among men, and among women, 44%and 63% of the Black-White and Hispanic-White gaps, respectively.
Significant within-occupation differences persisted. Black women experienced nearly triple the excess risk of Black men after occupational adjustment, and Hispanic women had a 77% higher within-occupation risk than Hispanic men. Across 95 occupational groups, Black workers had significantly higher injury rates than White workers in 61 occupations, and Hispanic workers in 69.
“Disparities in workplace safety are a significant contributor to racial and ethnic health disparities,” the investigators concluded. “Addressing both occupational concentration and within-occupation disparities is essential for improving workplace safety and reducing health inequities among workers.”
Source: JAMA Health Forum
