EPIDEMIOLOGIC-STUDY OF OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES AMONG FOREIGN AND NATIVEWORKERS IN TAIWAN

This study was designed to compare the risk of occupational injuries i n foreign workers compared to native workers in Taiwan. The cohort of foreign workers under study was constructed by records of legally regi stered workers migrated from foreign counties to Taiwan from July 1, 1 991 to December 31, 1993. The native Taiwanese workers for comparison were labor-insured workers working in the same industries as foreign w orkers in 1992. The number of occupational injuries in the first year of employment were obtained by matching the cohort of foreign workers with the labor insurance payment records by name, birth date and passp ort number. The 1-year incidence rate of occupational injuries in the first year of employment was calculated and a standardized morbidity r atio (SMR) was used for comparison with adjustment for age distributio n and to accommodate the small sample size of foreign workers. The ris k to occupational injuries among total (SMR = 0.86) and male (SMR = 0. 58) foreign workers was not higher; indeed, it was even lower than tha t among native workers in Taiwan. However; the risk to female migrant workers, especially in the construction industry, Mas significantly hi gher than that of female Taiwanese workers (SMR = 1.60). Stratified by industry the incidence was high in the fabricated metal products manu facturing industry and in machinery and equipment manufacturing indust ry for male foreign workers, while a high incidence for the female for eign workers occurred in construction industry and rubber products man ufacturing industry. The risk of occupational injuries was greater for foreign workers who had been in Taiwan for only a short time. Most of the injuries occurred within the first 6 months of employment. Eighty -four out of the 394 occupational injuries among foreign workers resul ted in disabilities. None of the accidents was fatal, but most of the disabilities were severe. The most common disabling injuries were cut or crushed fingers. The finding of a similar distribution of occupatio nal injuries among foreign and native workers indicates that control m easures are needed to reduce occupational injuries for all foreign and native workers in Taiwan. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.