Differences between expected and actual length of sick leave attributable to occupational accidents.

Abstract

For prevention of occupational accidents, the Labor Standards Inspection Offices evaluated the severity of the accidents based on the expected length of sick leave which was reported to the offices. Workers who met the accidents often take longer periods of sick leave than expected. We examined the excess of the length and their associations with the workers’ characteristics. The subjects were 1,672 workers (1,204 men and 468 women) who met occupational accidents. 71.2% of the men and 63.9% of the women took longer periods of sick leave than expected. Men had longer expected (median: 30 days for men, 28 days for women) and actual length of sick leave (median: 50 days for men, 39 days for women) than women. The median rates of the actual sick leave periods to the expected ones were 1.38 for the men and 1.20 for the women. In men, working for the transportation/port industry, a company size of 100-299 employees, and an age of less than 30, were significantly associated with taking longer periods of sick leave than expected. The severity of occupational accidents may be underestimated if it is estimated by the expected sick leave length.