Gender differences in lost work days due to occupational accidents

Abstract

Objective: We report the relationship between duration of sick leave due to occupational injury and worker gender. We also examine the relationship between certain independent variables and duration of sick leave, including age, type of work, place of work, company size, day of the week and time of day. Data and method: We analyzed accident records (N = 4,188,714) that resulted in lost time from work in Spain during 2008 through 2014. Statistical differences were determined using Student’s t-test for independent samples. Results: Women were involved in accidents more often than men and had a longer duration of lost work time. The magnitude of this difference increased with age, and the duration of sick leave was higher among older workers. Regarding company size, the highest average length of injury-related time off from work occurred in firms with fewer than 5 workers. The duration of sick leave gradually increased throughout the week from Monday to Sunday among men and from Monday to Friday among women. The duration of injury-related sick leave was higher when traveling and while at venues other than the usual place of work. Moreover, the duration of injury-related sick leave was higher when workers were performing non-routine tasks.