EMPLOYEE ACCIDENTS - INFLUENCES OF PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS, JOB CHARACTERISTICS, AND SUBSTANCE USE IN JOBS DIFFERING IN ACCIDENT POTENTIAL

Relationships between employee substance use and accidents (i.e., inju ry and noninjury accidents) at work were assessed in a sample of munic ipal employees in a large southwestern city in the United States. Empl oyees were classified into low- and high-risk job samples and discrimi nant function analyses were computed within job samples to classify em ployees into ''no accident'' and ''some accident'' classifications. Va riables from personal, job, and substance-use domains were used as dis criminators. Results indicated that employees likely to have accidents tended to have dysfunctional personal backgrounds and reported that t hey were dissatisfied and tense at work. Drug and alcohol use were maj or discriminators of accident groups for the high-risk job sample but not for the low-risk job sample.