Citation

Richardson D, Loomis DP. Am. J. Public Health 1997; 87(6): 1041-1043.

Affiliation

Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 27599-8050, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, American Public Health Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9224194

PMCID

PMC1380948

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the relationship between changes in employment in North Carolina in the 1980s and fatal occupational injury rates. METHODS: Unintentional fatal occupational injuries (n = 1989) in North Carolina between 1978 and 1991 were identified via the medical examiner's system. RESULTS: Overall fatal injury rates declined during the 1980s, but rates increased 9.6% per year among manufacturing industries that declined in employment size; rates fell among service sector and manufacturing industries that grew. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing occupational fatal injury rates accompanied the decline in workforce in North Carolina's traditional, labor-intensive manufacturing industries during the 1980s, while service sector and expanding manufacturing industries have experienced declining fatal injury rates.