Significant Decreasing Trend in Back Injuries in a Multiemployer Environment: A Follow-Up Study.

Abstract

A significant decrease in back injury claims was observed in a single employer. The aim of this study was to validate whether back injury claims are decreasing in a multiemployer environment within a non-monopolistic state and quantify the risk of delayed return-to-work and adverse cost of injured workers with back injuries. Thirty-six thousand four hundred sixty-three claims from 1998 to 2015 were analyzed with descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic and Cox-Proportional Hazards models. Back injury claims decreased three-fold (5.02 to 1.60 per 1000 employees) and were more likely to have claim costs over $100,000 (odds ratio = 2.41) and delayed return-to-work (hazard ratio = 1.16). Back injury claims are decreasing in a multiemployer environment within a non-monopolistic state.