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This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2007.131409v1 99/8/1400    most recent Submit a response View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Loomis, D. Articles by Marshall, S. W. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Loomis, D. Articles by Marshall, S. W. Related Collections Epidemiology Injury/Emergency Care/Violence Occupational Health

Dana Loomis, PhD, Michael D. Schulman, PhD, A. John Bailer, PhD, Kevin Stainback, PhD, Matthew Wheeler, MS, David B. Richardson, PhD and Stephen W. Marshall, PhD

At the time of the study, Dana Loomis was with the School of Public Health, University of Nevada, Reno, and the Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Michael D. Schulman was with the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, and the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. A. John Bailer was with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Miami University, Oxford, OH. Kevin Stainback was with the Department of Sociology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg. Matthew Wheeler was with the Risk Evaluation Branch, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH. David B. Richardson was with the Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Stephen W. Marshall was with the Departments of Epidemiology and Orthopaedics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Correspondence: Correspondence should be sent to Dana Loomis, School of Public Health, MS–274, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557–0274 (e-mail: dploomis{at}unr.edu). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking on the "Reprints/Eprints" link.

Objectives. We investigated the extent to which the political economy of US states, including the relative power of organized labor, predicts rates of fatal occupational injury.

Methods. We described states’ political economies with 6 contextual variables measuring social and political conditions: "right-to-work" laws, union membership density, labor grievance rates, state government debt, unemployment rates, and social wage payments. We obtained data on fatal occupational injuries from the National Traumatic Occupational Fatality surveillance system and population data from the US national census. We used Poisson regression methods to analyze relationships for the years 1980 and 1995.

Results. States differed notably with respect to political–economic characteristics and occupational fatality rates, although these characteristics were more homogeneous within rather than between regions. Industry and workforce composition contributed significantly to differences in state injury rates, but political–economic characteristics of states were also significantly associated with injury rates, after adjustment accounting for those factors.

Conclusions. Higher rates of fatal occupational injury were associated with a state policy climate favoring business over labor, with distinct regional clustering of such state policies in the South and Northeast.