Fatal occupational injuries in Taiwan - Relationship between fatality rate and age

Accident reports from the 1230 work-related single fatalities in the years 1989, 1990, and 1992 were collected and analyzed to reveal the significant factors contributing to such fatalities. The aggregated and disaggregated fatality rates of twelve accident types were standardized using the total number of workers of the same age, gender, and industry. The standardized fatality rates were subjected to the analysis of variance using age, gender, industry, worker's experience, source of injury, and size of the company as the independent variables. It was discovered that industry and age were the main significant factors, and the interaction effect between industry and age was significant for the fatality rates of almost all accident types. The relationship between age and mean fatality rate differed depending upon the industry and accident type. Fatality rate has a significant rising trend with age for falls, collapse, being struck by and against, falling objects, explosion, drowning, and slipping and tripping accidents. Fatality rate of electric shock declined significantly with age. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.