Foreign-born worker injuries less frequent, more severe: study

Jan 23, 2009

Foreign-born workers are less likely to be injured than U.S.-born workers, but their injuries are more severe, according to a study published in January in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

Researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH, examined nonfatal work-related injuries of foreign-born adults working in the United States between 1997 and 2005. Results showed foreign-born workers experienced a lower injury rate (50 per 100,000 workers) than U.S.-born workers (89 per 100,000). However, the injuries to foreign-born workers were more severe and more likely to result in hospitalization and six or more days of missed work than injuries to U.S.-born workers, according to a Nationwide Children's Hospital news release.

Researchers said they hope to use the data to develop occupational safety guidelines specifically geared toward foreign-born workers.