Enhanced Surveillance of Work-Related Motor Vehicle Crash Injuries and Deaths in Massachusetts

What did we do?

• We used data sources in the Massachusetts Crash-Related Injury Surveillance System (MA CRISS) to identify fatal and nonfatal work-related MVC injuries among motorists and nonmotorists, including gig workers.

What did we find?

• We identified approximately 5,216 potential work-related motor vehicle crash injuries in 2019 and approximately 3,554 in 2020 in Massachusetts.

• Of the 2019 cases, 86.0% (4,486) were identified in crash reports, hospital records, or Trauma Registry data only and 14.2% (731) were identified in more than one data source.

• Of the 2020 cases, 85.4% (3,038) were identified in crash reports, hospital records, or MATRIS data only and 14.6% (516) were identified in more than one data source.

• Gig workers comprised 1.0% (32) of the 2019 crash report cases, 2.3% (38) of the 2020 crash report cases, and 2.0% (11) of the 2020 MATRIS cases.

• All data sources have some limitations. Police crash reports and hospital records identified the greatest number of cases, but police crash reports may include more false positive cases than hospital records. Police crash reports and ambulance trip records were the only data sources that could identify gig workers.

Why does it matter?

• Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among work-related injuries in the US and a top cause of nonfatal work-related injuries.
• We recommend advocacy for including work-associated injury variables in all data sources and performing outreach to data owners, law enforcement, and Emergency Medical Service providers on the value of occupation-specific data to better understand the impact of this issue on different types of workers.

***This presentation has updated data that will be shared at the EIS Conference.

Abstract Category: Occupational Safety and Health