Work injuries in internal migrants to Alberta, Canada. Do workers' compensation records provide an unbiased estimate of risk?

Abstract

Introduction It is not known whether out‐of‐province Canadians, who travel to Alberta for work, are at increased risk of occupational injury. Methods Workers' compensation board (WCB) claims in 2013 to 2015 for those injured in Alberta were extracted by home province. Denominator data, from Statistics Canada, indicated the numbers from Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) employed in Alberta in 2012. Both datasets were stratified by industry, age, and gender. Logistic regression estimated the risk of a worker from NL making a WCB claim in 2013 or 2014, stratified by time lost from work. Bias from under‐reporting was examined in responses to injury questions in a cohort of trades' workers across Canada and in a pilot study in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Results Injury reporting rate in workers from NL was lower than those from Alberta, with a marked deficit (odds ratio [OR] = 0.17; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.12‐0.27) for injuries resulting in 1 to 30 days off work. Among the 1520 from Alberta in the trades' cohort, 327 participants reported 444 work injuries: 34.5% were reported to the WCB, rising to 69.4% in those treated by a physician. A total of 52 injuries in Alberta were recorded by 151 workers in the Fort McMurray cohort. In logistic regression, very similar factors predicted WCB reporting in the trades and Fort McMurray cohorts, but those from out‐of‐province or recently settled in Alberta were much less likely to report (OR = 0.02; 95% CI, 0.00‐0.40). Conclusion Differential rates of under‐reporting explain in part the overall low estimates of injuries in interprovincial workers but not the deficit in time‐loss 1 to 30 days.

Considerable risk of work-related injury and illnesses among seasonal and migrant farm workers in Ethiopia: A Community-based Cross-sectional Study

“…Furthermore, a higher risk of mental health problems [9,13], acute and chronic pesticide poisoning [9,18] and heat-related illness [5,7,[19][20][21][22] were reported among migrant and seasonal farm workers. However, underreporting of medical conditions is significant due to limited access to health services, and fear of lost wages or jobs [23]. The occupational health and safety (OHS) of these migrant workers remains a fraught and neglected issue [24].…”

Occupational Health Problems among Seasonal and Migrant Farmworkers in Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…However, underreporting of medical conditions is significant due to limited access to health services, and fear of lost wages or jobs. 23 The occupational health and safety (OHS) of these migrant workers remains a fraught and neglected issue. 24 Factors that can impact the health and safety of migrant and seasonal farmworkers include low income, extreme temperatures, exposure to old and unsafe machinery, high workloads, long working hours, exposure to biting insects and animals, and allergies.…”

Differences in workers' compensation claim rates for within‐province and out‐of‐province workers in British Columbia, Canada, 2010–2017

“…4 A particular concern is the extent to which workers experience workrelated injuries and illnesses while conducting work in jurisdictions different from their typical place of residence, as with workers in countries where workers' compensation falls under different jurisdictions, such as the United States, Canada, and Australia. 5 In Canada, interjurisdictional workers represent between 2.5% and 3% of the total employed population. 6 Evidence suggests that there is an increasing dependence on interjurisdictional employment, shown in the growing proportions of provincial/territorial workforces engaged in interjurisdictional employment and the high proportions of earnings that outgoing interjurisdictional workers receive from that form of employment.…”

“…Little research has examined whether there is a differential risk of work-related injury or illness, or differential risk of having accepted workers' compensation claims, between resident and interjurisdictional workers. 5 This may be due to there being limited or no data available to identify such workers but also because they make up a small number of workers and therefore a small number of potential workers' compensation claims. Although there are studies examining differences in work disability duration by interjurisdictional status in Canada, 9,10 and the United States, 11 to date, the only research on the risk of work-related injury or illness is limited to a select groups of out-of-province workers to the province of Alberta, Canada, 5 and health behaviors of fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers in Australia.…”

“…5 This may be due to there being limited or no data available to identify such workers but also because they make up a small number of workers and therefore a small number of potential workers' compensation claims. Although there are studies examining differences in work disability duration by interjurisdictional status in Canada, 9,10 and the United States, 11 to date, the only research on the risk of work-related injury or illness is limited to a select groups of out-of-province workers to the province of Alberta, Canada, 5 and health behaviors of fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers in Australia. 12 In Alberta, Canada, a combination of workers' compensation data and survey data has been used to show how workers from outside of the province are less likely to report injuries to the workers' compensation board and less likely to have accepted claims, even after adjusting for various individual and work characteristics.…”