Testimony by Luz Stella Marin Ramirez, Sc.D . Greetings , Chairman Nelson and members of the Subcommittee on Worker Compensation and Worker Protection My name is Luz Stella Marin Ramirez I am an assistant professor at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the Department of Safety Sciences . I teach undergraduate , master ' s , and doctoral level classes . I teach the areas of safety and health management, occupational toxicology, occupational epidemiology , occupational ergonomics , and qualitative research . I am a chemical engineer by training, and I have three master ’s degrees in occupational safety and health , project management , and Work Environment . I obtained my doctoral degree in Occupational Ergonomics and Safety from the University of Massachusetts Lowell , and I have post - doctoral training from Northeastern University. I have 10 years of experience in the field of occupational safety and health as a safety engineer and consultant in the construction , manufacturing , and chemical industries . I also have 10 years of experience in researching the field of safety and health particularly focusing on gaining an understanding of the determinants of safety and health in industries such as construction , manufacturing, and mining industry. My research studies focus on the safety and health conditions of immigrant workers , vulnerable workers in low - income jobs , safety conditions in small companies , workplace sexual harassment as a hazard , perceptions of safety climate, and occupational exposure to whole- body vibration . My testimony today is oriented to present some trends identified during the statistical analysis of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers ’ Compensation database . We received a database from the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers ’ Compensation office which contained information about work - related injuries from workers in the state and local government as well as in the private industry . The databases contained information about the work- related injuries that occurred from 2015 to 2019, including variables at the employer and employee levels . At the employer level, the database contained information about the employer's North American Industry Classification System ( NAICS) code and location (city and postal code ) . As to the employee , it included genders, date of birth , date of the injury , date of returning to work, date of death ( for those events that resulted in a fatality) , and the injury cause and nature, as well as body part affected . With the information provided in the database , I conducted a descriptive analysis that is usually used to describe the basic features of the data in a study. This type of analysis provides summaries about the variables under study and gives an idea of the distribution of the data . Thus , the data were initially grouped into two groups: one corresponding to work - related injuries that resulted in a fatality and the second one to work- related events with more than 15 days away from work. In 2019 , a total of 101 work - related fatal events were reported. In terms of ownership, these events can be classified as 7 fatalities in the local government , 12 in the state government,
Transcript
Testimony by Luz Stella Marin Ramirez, Sc.D.
Greetings, Chairman Nelson and members of the Subcommittee on Worker Compensation andWorker Protection
My name is Luz Stella Marin Ramirez I am an assistant professor at the IndianaUniversity of Pennsylvania in the Department of Safety Sciences. I teach undergraduate,master's, and doctoral level classes. I teach the areas of safety and health management,occupational toxicology, occupational epidemiology, occupational ergonomics, and qualitativeresearch.
I am a chemical engineer by training, and I have three master’s degrees in occupationalsafety and health, project management, and Work Environment. I obtained my doctoral degree inOccupational Ergonomics and Safety from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and I havepost-doctoral training from Northeastern University.
I have 10 years of experience in the field of occupational safety and health as a safetyengineer and consultant in the construction, manufacturing, and chemical industries. I also have10 years of experience in researching the field of safety and health particularly focusing ongaining an understanding of the determinants of safety and health in industries such asconstruction, manufacturing, and mining industry. My research studies focus on the safety andhealth conditions of immigrant workers, vulnerable workers in low-income jobs, safetyconditions in small companies, workplace sexual harassment as a hazard, perceptions of safetyclimate, and occupational exposure to whole-body vibration.
My testimony today is oriented to present some trends identified during the statisticalanalysis of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation database.
We received a database from the Pennsylvania Bureau of Workers’ Compensation officewhich contained information about work-related injuries from workers in the state and localgovernment as well as in the private industry. The databases contained information about thework-related injuries that occurred from 2015 to 2019, including variables at the employer andemployee levels. At the employer level, the database contained information about the employer'sNorth American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code and location (city and postalcode). As to the employee, it included genders, date of birth, date of the injury, date of returningto work, date of death (for those events that resulted in a fatality), and the injury cause andnature, as well as body part affected.
With the information provided in the database, I conducted a descriptive analysis that isusually used to describe the basic features of the data in a study. This type of analysis providessummaries about the variables under study and gives an idea of the distribution of the data.
Thus, the data were initially grouped into two groups: one corresponding to work-relatedinjuries that resulted in a fatality and the second one to work-related events with more than 15days away from work.
In 2019, a total of 101 work-related fatal events were reported. In terms of ownership,these events can be classified as 7 fatalities in the local government, 12 in the state government,
60 in the private industry. In the database, there are 22 fatalities classified as "unknown" in termsof ownership (local, state, or private). These 22 fatalities correspond to 22% of the total fatalitiesin 2019 of which we have no information about the section to which they belonged. This is animportant limitation in the database since it reduces the accuracy of the fatality trends.
Although the private industry had a higher number of work-related fatalities, it isimportant to highlight that in order to compare or benchmark, the occupational injuries orfatalities between these groups, it is necessary to normalize the number of injuries. This requiresthe number of employees in each sector, or the number of hours worked during the period ofcomparison. A comparison between sectors based only on the number of events, fatalities, in thiscase, is not a true comparison.
In a second step in the analysis of this database, we put together the local and state levelfatal events to analyze the NAICS codes where these fatalities happened. We found that the topNAICS codes correspond to:
LocalGovernment
StateGovernmentNAICS Code Total
Residential intellectual and developmental6232 disability, mental health, and substance abuse
facilities3 3
9221 Justice, public order, and safety activities 2 64
2373 Highway, street, and bridge construction
Executive, Legislative, and Other GeneralGovernment Support
2 2
9211 2 1 3
To gain an understanding of the causal pathway of these work-related fatalities, thevariable Injury Cause was used to identify potential trends. As presented in the table, 4 out of the7 fatalities in the local government and 3 out of 12 fatalities were classified as“Other -Miscellaneous, No other causes (NOC)". This limitation in the database reduces theopportunities for in-depth analysis and a subsequent proposal for safety intervention to minimizethe likelihood of occurrence of these events.
StateGovernment Government
LocalInjury Cause
99. Other - Miscellaneous, NOC50. Motor Vehicle, NOC90. Other Than Physical Cause of Injury45. Collision or Sideswipe With Another Vehicle60. Strain or Injury By, NOC57. Pushing or Pulling
4 31
11 1
2
In a third step, the non-fatal events in the local and state government were analyzed toidentify trends that can be used to support the implementation of prevention strategies. The non-fatal events were clustered based on the number of days away from work and the main causes ofthese injuries that caused 15 or more days away from work are presented in the following table:
PercentageLocal Government State Government TotalInjury cause
1 1%247619971794151813621151
74. Fellow Worker, Patient or Other Person60. Strain or Injury By, NOC31. Fall, Slip or Trip, NOC56. Lifting99. Other - Miscellaneous, NOC29. On Same Level81. Struck or Injured, NOC57. Pushing or Pulling53. Twisting
It is important to highlight that the use of 15 days away from work as a cut-off point isarbitrary and the rationale is that an event that causes this many days away from work should beconsidered a severe event.
The five top NAICS codes with the highest number of events correspond to 6111Elementary and secondary schools; 9221 Justice, public order, and safety activities; 9211Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support; 2373 Highway, street, andbridge construction; and 4851 Urban transit systems.
StateGovernment
LocalGovernment
NAICS code Total Percentage
6111 Elementary and secondary schools9221 Justice, public order, and safety activities9211 Executive, Legislative, and Other General Gover2373 Highway, street, and bridge construction4851 Urban transit systems6113 Colleges, universities, and professional schools6232 Residential intellectual and developmental disc9241 Administration of Environmental Quality Progra6222 Psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals9231 Administratio of education programs6231 Nursing care facilities (skilled nursing facilities)2213 Water, sewage and other systems
A close look into the cause of injury of events with more than 15 days away from work inthe NAICS 6111elementary and secondary schools shows that the top causes of injuries in thissector correspond to “Fellow Worker, Patient or Other Person”, “Fall, Slip or Trip, NOC”,“Strain or Injury By, NOC”, “Lifting”, and “Struck or Injured, NOC”, as shown in the followingtable:
Count of Events for more 15 daysNAICS: 6111Elementary and secondary schools
LocalGovernmentInjury Cause Percentage
74. Fellow Worker, Patient or i
31. Fall,Slip orTrip,NOC60. Strain or Injury By,NOC56. Lifting81. Struck or Injured, NOC29. On Same Level75. Falling or Flying Object27. From Liquid orGrease Spill19. Cut, Puncture, Scrape, NOC32. On Ice or Snow
A close look at the cause of injury of events with more than 15 days away from work inthe NAICS code 2373 Highway, street, and bridge construction shows that the top causes ofinjuries in this sector correspond to “lifting”, “strain or injury by, NOC”, “twisting, NOC”, “onthe same level”, and “from different level elevation”, as shown in the following table:
NAICS: 2373 Highway, street, and bridge constructionState
Government GovernmentLocal
Injury Cause Total Percentage
56. Lifting60. Strain or Injury By, NOC53. Twisting29. On Same Level25. From Different Level (Elevation)45. Collision or Sideswipe With Another Veh57. Pushing or Pulling82. Absorption, Ingestion or Inhalation, NOC99. Other - Miscellaneous, NOC
Although there are limitations in the database provided by the PA Bureau of Workers’Compensation, the preliminary data analysis of the workers’ compensation database indicatesthat there are important areas of improvement through the design and implementation of injuryprevention interventions and awareness campaigns among local and state workers.
This testimony gives a snapshot of the workers' compensation data in terms of the injurycausality in the local and state government. Benchmarking with public industry is not possibledue to the lack of information about employees in each sector and/or the number of hoursworked, which is necessary information to provide a normalized metric.
Number of fatalities by sector - 2019
Number of fatalities by sector - 201970
60
50Ui<U-- 40
2 30(U
LL20
710
0Not classifiedPrivate IndustryLocal Government State Government
1
2019 Fatalities by NAICS CodeLocal and State Government
LocalGovernment
StateGovernmentNAICS Code Total
Residential intellectual and developmental6232 disability, mental health, and substance
abuse facilities
9221 Justice, public order, and safety activities
3 3
2 64
2373 Highway, street, and bridge construction
Executive, Legislative, and Other GeneralGovernment SupportColleges, universities, and professionalschoolsNursing care facilities (skilled nursingfacilities)
6243 Vocational rehabilitation servicesAdministration of Environmental QualityPrograms
2 2
9211 2 1 3
1 16113
1 16231
11
19241 1
Total 18
2
2019 Fatalities by NAICS CodePrivate Industry
NAICS Code Private IndustryGeneral freight truckingWaste collectionGrocery and related product merchant wholesalersUsed merchandise storesSpecialized freight truckingOther specialty trade contractorsWarehousing and storageArchitectural, engineering, and related servicesEmployment servicesResidential building constructionBuilding equipment contractorsAutomotive equipment rental and leasingInvestigation and security servicesAnimal slaughtering and processingCoal miningNonmetallic mineral mining and quarryingElectric power generation, transmission and distributionNonresidential building constructionFoundation, structure, and building exterior contractorsOthers
Fatalities injury cause, nature and body partaffected- State Government
NAICS BODY_PART_CODEOwnership r DEATHDT INJURY CAUSE CD INJURY NATURE CD•v
13. Caught In, Under orBetween, NOC
16. Hand Tool, Utensil; NotPowered
36 Fingers)20 State 2373 Highway, street, and bridge construction
Residential intellectual and developmental6232 disability, mental health, and substance
abuse facilities
8/22/2019 16. Dislocation
20 State 8/26/2019 40. Laceration 37 Thumb
45. Collision or Sideswipe WithAnother Vehicle
12/30/2019 55. Holding or Carrying
6243 Vocational rehabilitation services 11/19/2019 28. Fracture 44 Chest20 State
2373 Highway, street, and bridge constructionExecutive, Legislative, and Other GeneralGovernment SupportResidential intellectual and developmental
6232 disability, mental health, and substanceabuse facilities
9221 Justice, public order, and safety activitiesResidential intellectual and developmental
6232 disability, mental health, and substanceabuse facilities
49. Sprain or Tear20 State 31 Upper Arm
11/13/2019 56. Lifting 52. Strain or Tear20 State 42 Lower Back Area9211
2/26/2019 57. Pushing or Pulling 52. Strain or Tear 38 Shoulders)20 State
6/3/2019 57. Pushing or Pulling 49. Sprain or Tear20 State 30 Multiple Upper Extremities
2/19/2019 81. Struck or Injured, NOC 37. Inflammation 33 Lower Arm20 State
90. Other Than Physical Causeof Injury
10/15/2019 99. Other - Miscellaneous, NOC 10. Contusion
01. No Physical Injury 66 No Physical Injury9221 Justice, public order, and safety activities
Administration of Environmental QualityProgramsColleges, universities, and professionalschoolsNursing care facilities (skilled nursingfacilities)
5/18/201920 State
44 Chest20 State 9241
4/2/2019 99. Other - Miscellaneous, NOC 01. No Physical Injury 66 No Physical Injury20 State 6113
80. All Other Cumulative Injury,5/16/2019 99. Other - Miscellaneous, NOC 49 Heart20 State 6231NOC
4
Fatalities injury cause, nature and body partaffected- Local Government
DEATHDT INJURY CAUSE CD INJURY NATURE CD BODY_PART_CODEv — — v ^
Ownership^,
NAICS
9221 Justice, public order, and safety activities 12/15/2019 29. On Same Level 52. Strain or Tear 52 Upper Leg30 Local
45. Collision or Sideswipe With 90. Multiple Physical InjuriesAnother Vehicle
Insufficient Info to ProperlyIdentify - Unclassified6111 Elementary and secondary schools 1/26/201930 Local Only
Executive, Legislative, and Other GeneralGovernment SupportExecutive, Legislative, and Other GeneralGovernment Support
59. All Other Specific Injuries,30 Local 7/15/2019 50. Motor Vehicle, NOC 44 Chest9211
NOC
3/18/2019 99. Other - Miscellaneous, NOC 41. Myocardial Infarction30 Local 49 Heart9211
Multiple Body Parts90 (Including BodySystems &
Body Parts)
g1 Body Systems and MultipleBody SystemsBody Systems and MultipleBody Systems
90. Multiple Physical Injuries3/19/2019 99. Other - Miscellaneous, NOC30 Local 9221 Justice, public order, and safety activities Only
59. All Other Specific Injuries,7/16/2019 99. Other - Miscellaneous, NOC30 Local 9221 Justice, public order, and safety activitiesNOC
9221 Justice, public order, and safety activities 12/20/2019 99. Other - Miscellaneous, NOC 41. Myocardial Infarction30 Local
5
Fatalities injury cause, nature and body partaffected - Not classified
INJURY NATURE CD BODY _ PART. CODEOwnership NAICS1 DEATHDT INJURY_CAUSE_CD
59. All Other Specific Injuries, Multiple Body Parts (Including BodySystems &90 Body Parts)
Multiple Body Parts (Including BodySystems &90 Body Parts)
76. Hand Tool or Machine in Use NOC8/30/2019Unknown 11 2 179. Object Being Lifted orHandled
90. Multiple Physical InjuriesOnly59. All Other Specific Injuries,NOC59. All Other Specific Injuries,NOC54. Asphyxiation
3/18/2019Unknown 2131
91 Body Systems and Multiple Body SystemsInsufficient Info to Properly Identify —
65 Unclassified91 Body Systems and Multiple Body Systems
98. Cumulative, NOCUnknown 2213 10/3/2019
60. Strain or Injury By, NOC60. Strain or Injury By, NOC
UnknownUnknown
7/11/20197/11/2019
2371
2371
60. Strain or Injury By, NOC 41. Myocardial Infarction59. All Other Specific Injuries,NOC59. All Other Specific Injuries,NOC59. All Other Specific Injuries,NOC59. All Other Specific Injuries,NOC
49 HeartUnknown 2389 4/22/2019
26. From Ladder or Scaffolding74. Fellow Worker, Patient orOther Person
10 Multiple Head InjuryUnknown 2389 7/30/2019
26 Trachea6/13/2019Unknown 3116
89. Person in Act of a Crime 10 Multiple Head Injury8/21/2019Unknown 3116
10. Machine or Machinery 99 Whole BodyUnknown 3324 8/22/2019
13. Crushing59. All Other Specific Injuries,NOC90. Multiple Physical InjuriesOnly59. All Other Specific Injuries,NOC13. Crushing
10 Multiple Head InjuryInsufficient Info to Properly Identify —
65 Unclassified
46. Collision with a Fixed ObjectUnknown 3/15/20194841
99. Other - Miscellaneous, NOC1/10/2019Unknown 4853
50. Motor Vehicle, NOC 91 Body Systems and Multiple Body Systems8/23/2019Unknown 4854
31. Fall, Slip or Trip, NOC75. Falling or Flying Object
18 Soft Tissue40 Multiple Trunk
4/14/2019
2/4/2019UnknownUnknown
49315121
99. Other - Miscellaneous, NOC90. Other Than Physical Causeof Injury90. Other Than Physical Cause
99 Whole BodyMultiple Body Parts (Including BodySystems &
90 Body Parts)
53. Syncope59. All Other Specific Injuries,NOC
11/21/2019 of InjuryUnknown 5613
7/24/2019 48. Vehicle Upset90. Other Than Physical Cause
7/31/2019 of Injury
Unknown 5621
66 No Physical Injury01. No Physical InjuryUnknown 5621
41. Myocardial Infarction 49 Heart99. Other - Miscellaneous, NOC8/16/20198131Unknown
5417 1 2/18/2019 45. Collision or Sideswipe With A 41. Myocardial Infarction 49 HeartUnknown 6
2019 events with more that 15 DAW byInjury Cause - Local and State Government
Local Government TotalInjury Cause
74. Fellow Worker, Patient or Other Person60. Strain or Injury By, NOC31. Fall, Slip or Trip, NOC56. Lifting99. Other - Miscellaneous, NOC29. On Same Level81. Struck or Injured, NOC57. Pushing or Pulling53. Twisting45. Collision or Sideswipe With Another Vehicle32. On Ice or Snow19. Cut, Puncture, Scrape, NOC75. Falling or Flying Object25. From Different Level (Elevation)82. Absorption, Ingestion or Inhalation, NOC85. Animal or Insect13. Caught In, Under or Between, NOC27. From Liquid or Grease Spills68. Stationary Object79. Object Being Lifted or Handled17. Object Being Lifed or Handled77. Motor Vehicle87. Foreign Matter (Body) in Eye(s)
