Work-related fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes: Matching of 2010 data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and the Fatality Analysis Reporting System

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2016.02.004Get rights and content

Highlights

  • For the first time, highway fatality cases from CFOI were matched to FARS.

  • Matching joins data on risk factors, the crash, the worker, and the job.

  • 953 of 1044 CFOI Highway cases for 2010 were successfully matched to FARS.

  • CFOI identified 378 cases as “at-work” not identified as such in FARS.

  • Compared to all matches, these tended to be non-transport workers or light vehicles.

Abstract

Motor vehicle traffic crashes (MVTCs) remain the leading cause of work-related fatal injuries in the United States, with crashes on public roadways accounting for 25% of all work-related deaths in 2012. In the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) provides accurate counts of fatal work injuries based on confirmation of work relationship from multiple sources, while the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) provides detailed data on fatal MVTCs based on police reports. Characterization of fatal work-related MVTCs is currently limited by data sources that lack either data on potential risk factors (CFOI) or work-relatedness confirmation and employment characteristics (FARS).

BLS and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) collaborated to analyze a merged data file created by BLS using CFOI and FARS data. A matching algorithm was created to link 2010 data from CFOI and FARS using date of incident and other case characteristics, allowing for flexibility in variables to address coding discrepancies. Using the matching algorithm, 953 of the 1044 CFOI “Highway” cases (91%) for 2010 were successfully linked to FARS. Further analysis revealed systematic differences between cases identified as work-related by both systems and by CFOI alone. Among cases identified as work-related by CFOI alone, the fatally-injured worker was considerably more likely to have been employed outside the transportation and warehousing industry or transportation-related occupations, and to have been the occupant of a vehicle other than a heavy truck.

This study is the first step of a collaboration between BLS, NHTSA, and NIOSH to improve the completeness and quality of data on fatal work-related MVTCs. It has demonstrated the feasibility and value of matching data on fatal work-related traffic crashes from CFOI and FARS. The results will lead to improvements in CFOI and FARS case capture, while also providing researchers with a better description of fatal work-related MVTCs than would be available from the two data sources separately.

Introduction

Millions of workers in the United States (U.S.) and around the world are at risk of motor vehicle traffic crashes (MVTCs) associated with the operation of motor vehicles for work purposes on public trafficways. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) indicate that in 2012, roadway incidents (involving a motorized land vehicle, and not including pedestrian-vehicle crashes) alone accounted for 25% of all fatal work injuries, representing a 5% increase from the previous year (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014a). Across all industries, roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicles consistently rank as one of the leading causes of work-related fatalities, with the highest frequencies in 2012 in the transportation and warehousing (n = 408), construction (n = 124), and wholesale and retail trade (n = 123) industries (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014b).

Work-related MVTCs pose a significant burden to employers and society. It is estimated that for the 1998–2000 period, on- and off-the-job motor vehicle traffic crashes cost employers in the U.S. $60 billion annually for medical care, legal expenses, property damage and lost productivity (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2003). For crash-related injuries in 2010 requiring more than 6 days away from work, workers’ compensation costs alone were estimated to be nearly $2 billion (Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, 2012). Despite the large economic burden, no single database is able to identify fatal work-related MVTCs and provide sufficient detail about pre-crash circumstances, making it difficult to develop targeted prevention strategies (Pratt, 2003).

In the U.S., characterization of fatal work-related MVTCs is currently limited by data sources that lack either data on potential risk factors (BLS's CFOI), or work-relatedness confirmation and employment characteristics (the Fatality Analysis Reporting System [FARS], collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA]). Linkage of existing databases has the potential to overcome these limitations, maximize the strengths of each data system, and provide a more comprehensive and detailed picture of the circumstances of work-related traffic crashes (Newcomb 1998). To date, research linking data on work-related MVTCs has been performed mostly in Australia (Boufous and Williamson, 2006, Stuckey et al., 2010a, Stuckey et al., 2010b). In the U.S., data-linkage studies on work-related MVTCs have been limited to military personnel (Hooper et al., 2005) or a single state (Thygerson et al., 2011, Thomas et al., 2012).

The catalyst for the research reported in this paper was a data-sharing agreement implemented by BLS and NHTSA in recent years to improve case identification by CFOI. On average, an estimated 100 cases have been added to CFOI records annually since this program began. Under this agreement, no changes are made to the original FARS file, nor is the matching ever used to identify or obtain information on individual cases. Further, data-sharing agreements between BLS and individual states preclude the generation of publicly available datasets from any matching of CFOI with other data systems. This provision extends not only to the case-matching that has been used to identify potential new work-related cases for CFOI, but to any subsequent matching done for research purposes.

These limitations notwithstanding, matching of the CFOI and FARS databases also offers the opportunity to provide much richer detail on each work-related MVTC fatality than is available through each individual database, allowing detailed analysis of these events and development of improved prevention and policy recommendations. Crash prevention strategies can be developed for industry and occupational groups whose crash risks may have previously not been recognized. In addition, road safety actions by employers can have positive effects on driving behaviors among workers’ family member and in the larger community (Murray and Watson, 2010, Pratt et al., 2014).

In this paper we describe the process of matching data from FARS to CFOI for fatal work-related MVTCs, using 2010 data files; provide a detailed account of the methodology; compare and contrast matched cases identified as at-work by both systems with those identified as at-work only by CFOI; and provide a descriptive analysis of the FARS and CFOI cases that remained unmatched. Finally, we discuss strengths and limitations of using merged data in advancing current knowledge of fatal work-related MVTCs and discuss future directions in the analysis of these data.

Section snippets

The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI)

CFOI is a Federal-State cooperative program that produces comprehensive, accurate, and timely annual counts of all fatal work injuries occurring in the U.S. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). Information about each fatal injury—including demographic and employment characteristics of the decedent and detailed circumstances of the event—is obtained by cross-referencing multiple sources, such as death certificates, workers' compensation reports, and Federal and State agency administrative

Demographic characteristics

‘All Matches’ and its two subsets had similar distributions by sex, age, race, and Hispanic ethnicity (Table 2). Two differences were, however, noted between the two subsets. Subset #2 (cases in ‘All Matches’ identified as at-work by CFOI only) had higher percentages of females (15% compared with 6% in Subset #1) and workers aged 65 years and older (15% compared with 8% in Subset #1).

Employment characteristics

Examination of the results by industry and occupation revealed considerable differences between the two subsets

Discussion

This study successfully matched highway incident cases for 2010 in the BLS CFOI with the NHTSA FARS, leading to the most comprehensive dataset of fatal work-related MVTCs in the U.S. to date. Only one study in the U.S. has addressed work-related fatal MVTCs by linking existing databases, but this research was limited to examining those events among military personnel (Hooper et al., 2005). Additional data linkage studies have been conducted at the state level; in those studies work relationship

Conclusions

This study has demonstrated the feasibility and value of matching data on fatal work-related MVTCs from CFOI and FARS, verifying that there are systematic differences between cases captured in both systems and those captured by CFOI alone. Among cases captured by CFOI alone, the fatally-injured worker was considerably more likely to have been employed outside the transportation and warehousing industry, outside transportation and material moving occupations, and to have been the occupant of a

Disclaimers

The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

The findings and conclusions in this report were generated with restricted access to the CFOI research file and do not necessarily represent the views of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Joyce Northwood, Ph.D., formerly with BLS, for developing the internal program that was originally used to match CFOI and FARS cases for case capture during CFOI data collection.

The authors also thank Terry Shelton, PhD, Tom Bragan, and Dennis Flemons of the National Center for Statistics and Analysis, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for administrative support and technical input throughout this project and helpful comments on the manuscript.

References (20)

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Laura Kesy was employed at the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the time this research was conducted, but is now employed at the International Trade Administration, 1401 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20230 USA.

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