Three essays on occupational safety.
Published: 2006
Language: eng
Number of pages: 115
ISBN-13: 9780494218990
Description: The papers that comprise this thesis address two prominent issues affecting workplace safety. The first of the three studies looks specifically at the trucking industry, examining how wage schemes tied into delivery times affect the likelihood of a truck driver being involved in an accident. Using several estimation techniques including probit and path analysis on data collected from the Sloan Foundation Trucking Industry Program Driver Survey 1997-1999 a direct relationship was found between sleep depravation and the likelihood of an accident. In turn, the drivers that were most likely to fall asleep were those whose wages were either tied into their delivery schedules or who had financial incentives to deliver their loads on time.The remaining two papers investigate workplace violence. One paper examines the length of time away from work for victims of workplace violence. Hazard models were estimated using data from (non-fatal) work-related injuries that were the result of workplace violence between 1996 and 1999 in the Canadian province of Ontario drawn from the administrative records of the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB). The results of the study indicate that the greater the severity of the injury, as measured by total health care expenditures, the longer the absence from work. Furthermore, the most violent acts are associated with the largest decreases in the hazard rate and result in the longest absences. Finally, there were statistically significant differences in the duration of work absences by occupation, holding other factors constant.Whether it is the pressure of payment based on unreasonable performance, or working under the threat of violence, the information provided in these studies help to quantify some of the consequences of demanding and dangerous work-related experiences.The final workplace violence paper uses the same Ontario WSIB data to calculate some of the financial costs associated with acts of workplace violence. A descriptive summary of the total claim payments broken down wage benefits and healthcare payments indicate that for the most part the highest dollar amounts were associated with the most severe forms of physical violence, shootings, stabbings, and sexual assaults.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-01, Section: A, page: 0294.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Toronto, 2006.

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