Keith Palmer, Editor INJURIES IN TEMPORARY WORKERS

Several previous investigations suggest that temporary workers are at higher risk of occupational injury. And it’s perhaps easy to imagine why this could be— possibilities include lack of job experience, inadequate induction and safety training, and deployment to the most hazardous jobs. Benavides et al1 hypothesise that a combination of these factors account for the excess risk. To investigate, they examined fatal and non-fatal occupational injuries for 2000–01, systematically collected by the Spanish Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, and classified by occupation, length of employment, and whether the contract of employment was permanent or temporary. The analysis included more than 1.8 million occupational injuries. Temporary workers were 2.5 times more likely to suffer a fatal injury at work and nearly three times more likely to incur a non-fatal one. After allowing for age, gender, occupation, and length of employment, all of the excess in temporary contract workers disappeared, a finding that tends to confirm the importance of knowledge and job experience in worker safety. HEALTHCARE AFTER WORKPLACE INJUR