THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN HIGH-RISK AND PROBLEM DRINKING AND THE OCCURRENCE OF WORK INJURIES AND RELATED ABSENCES

A review of studies on the relationship between alcohol and work injur ies revealed that the evidence is contradictory and that many of the s tudies contain methodological flaws. The present study aimed to determ ine whether there are relationships between problem drinking and high alcohol consumption and outcomes such as work injuries and related abs ences. The sample consisted of 833 employees at an industrial worksite . Problem drinking was measured by the Mortimer-Filkins test, while al cohol consumption was measured by a 7-day retrospective diary. Work in jury data were obtained from medical reports completed at the worksite medical center, while absences data were obtained from company record s. Chi-square analyses revealed significant relationships between prob lem drinking and work injuries and injury-related absences, but not be tween high alcohol consumption and work injuries and related absences. Logistic regression analysis revealed that no variables were signific ant predictors of work injuries. However, when uninjured subjects were excluded, a second analysis revealed that Mortimer-Filkins test score s, recent stressful life events, age and job satisfaction were signifi cant predictors of two or more injuries. Injured subjects were almost twice as likely to have two or more injuries if they had high numbers of recent stressful life events and low levels of job satisfaction. Lo gistic regression analysis revealed that age, Mortimer-Filkins test ca tegories and job satisfaction significantly predicted injury-related a bsences. Problem drinkers were 2.7 times more likely to have injury-re lated absences than non-problem drinkers, and subjects with low levels of job satisfaction were 2.2 times more likely than others to have in jury-related absences. The implications of the results for workplace a lcohol policies and programs are discussed.