Analysis of Thoroughbred horse farm workers’ compensation insurance claims in Kentucky: Injury frequency, cost, lost time, and associated occupational factors

Abstract

Background Thoroughbred horse farm workers self‐report a high frequency of work‐related injuries and pain. However, an analysis of Thoroughbred horse farm workers’ compensation injury claims is absent from the literature, yet may benefit worker safety. Methods We analyzed workers’ compensation insurance firm data containing 2276 claims filed between 2008 and 2015. Injury frequency, cost, and lost time per cause, nature, and body part injured were examined qualitatively and via univariate tests. Factors associated with high cost and high duration lost time claims were modeled via multivariable logistic regression. Results The average Thoroughbred worker claim cost $4,198 and accrued 10 days lost time, involving strikes (57% of total claims), sprains/strains (34%), and wrist/hand injuries (18%). Injuries primarily occurred on mornings (54%), weekdays (79%), and during the transition from breeding to sales (23%). Jobs with a high level of horse contact had significantly higher cost ($6,487) and higher duration lost time (16.8 days) claims, with significantly higher cost claims on the weekends ($6,471) and from the oldest workers ($7466), vs reference groups. Logistic models indicate significantly increased odds of a high‐cost injury among high horse contact jobs (OR = 1.87; 95% C.I. = 1.53‐2.29) and older age tertiles (1.38; 1.08‐1.75; 1.70, 1.32‐2.18). The odds of a high duration lost time injury are significantly increased among high horse contact jobs (1.91; 1.53‐2.39) and males (1.50, 1.13‐1.98), with significantly reduced odds among the most tenured workers (0.74; 0.56‐0.99). Conclusions Our findings elucidate factors to reduce injury frequency, cost, and lost time among Thoroughbred horse farm workers.

Workers′ compensation reported injuries among distillery industry workers, 2010–2019

“…Many studies have used workers′ compensation FROI in the context of injury cause and monetary impact 18–20 . However, no known study has used worker′s compensation FROI data to assess occupational injury in the distillery industry.…”

“…To our knowledge, there are no previous reports of work‐related injury among distillery workers in the literature. However, other studies have sought to examine the frequency of injury, cost of injury, lost time, task performed before injury, and percent of disability through the use of workers′ compensation data 16–20 . Such studies were conducted to identify factors associated with occupational injuries, determine the subsequent monetary and physical consequences, and put forth recommendations for prevention.…”

“…However, other studies have sought to examine the frequency of injury, cost of injury, lost time, task performed before injury, and percent of disability through the use of workers′ compensation data. [16][17][18][19][20] The variables job tenure, season of injury, month of injury, day of week injury occurred, and year of injury were created using the hire date, injury date, and last work date variables. The county of injury variable was excluded to protect worker confidentiality.…”

Epidemiology of horse trauma: a literature review

“…In a Swedish study (1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014), Meredith et al [4] gave a conservative calculation of 3.2 million Euro annually of 1800 Euro per injury event. A USA study which analyzed thoroughbred horse farm workers' compensation insurance claims (2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015) found that the total amount paid on claims were USD $11,181,268 and the total number of lost-time days was 18,412 [5]. When analyzing the costs for treatment at a USA Level 1 Trauma Centre for the period of 2010-2013, Adler et al [6] calculated the mean expenditure per injured patient at USD $29,737 with the total expenditure for all the patients (N = 222) more than USD $6.5 million.…”

Occupational Safety Climate in the Swedish Equine Sector

“…Heinrich’s triangle theory [ 15 ], as refined by Bird [ 16 ], postulates that there is a numerical relationship between near misses (i.e., events that could have resulted in an injury in different circumstances) and minor and major injuries, with the incidence of near-misses and minor injuries being significantly higher than that of major and fatal injuries. Several studies worldwide have identified the equine sector as a high-risk work environment [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Despite this, research focusing on the work environment and safety in the equine sector is limited.…”