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The relationship of unions to prevalence and claim filing for work‐related upper‐extremity musculoskeletal disorders
Author(s) -
Morse Tim,
Punnett Laura,
Warren Nicholas,
Dillon Charles,
Warren Andrew
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.10234
Subject(s) - salary , medicine , workers' compensation , odds , intervention (counseling) , work (physics) , moral hazard , musculoskeletal disorder , odds ratio , compensation (psychology) , demographic economics , hazard , population , demography , family medicine , environmental health , human factors and ergonomics , incentive , nursing , poison control , social psychology , law , logistic regression , psychology , economics , chemistry , sociology , engineering , microeconomics , political science , mechanical engineering , organic chemistry
Background Unionization has been found to be related to higher filing of workers' compensation (WC) claims, but the extent of the relationship and the relationships to other variables have not been previously reported. Methods Telephone interviews were conducted with both a population‐based and WC‐based samples of musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) cases. Results Workers at unionized facilities were 5.7 times (95% CI 2.5–13.1) more likely to file a claim for WC, despite a comparable rate of MSD cases. Higher filing was also associated with several measures of MSD severity (1.8–14.1 odds ratios), economic sector (OR = 10.1 for manufacturing), hourly (vs. salary) wages (OR = 2.6), and for having a personal physician (OR = 2.5). Unions appeared to have a protective effect on social effects of work‐related MSD. Conclusions Unions appear to improve filing of work‐related MSD, particularly for less severe conditions. The higher filing does not appear to be a case of “moral hazard,” but rather improved and earlier reporting, as is advocated by early intervention approaches to reducing MSD. Am. J. Ind. Med. 44:83–93, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.