Safety Science 18 ( 1994) 95- 112

Can safety risks of blue-collar jobs be compared by gender?

Karen Messing*, Julie Courville, Micheline Boucher, Lucie Dumais, Ana Maria Seifert

Centre pour f’&ude des interaction b~oIogi~ues entre ta santt et i~nvironne~ent ~CINB~O~~~, Universitt! du @&bee ri Montreal, C.P. 8888, Succursale Centre-ville,

Mom&al, Que. H3C 3P%, Canada

Received 1 January 1994; accepted 1 June 1994

Abstract

Studies of accident rates use denominators which vary in their precision and detail. These imprecisions may impact differentially on accident rates of men and women, given their distribution across the labour market. Difficulties in making male/female comparisons were illustrated by a study of accidents and health symptoms among blue collar workers. We examined occupational health claims presented to the Quebec Occupational Health and Safety Commission by male and female municipal workers in 1989- 1990, and inter- viewed 55 male and 58 female workers, asking questions on health symptoms and diffi- culties experienced on the job. No increase in accidents was found among permanent women workers compared with their male equivalents, and precipitating events and sites of injury were similar. However, the statistics were not strictly comparable. Four factors complexi- tied the male-female comparisons of accident rates: f 1) gender differences in hours worked, (2) gendered task assignments within industrial classi~cations, occupations and job titles, (3) gender differences in age/seniority, and (4) gender differences in the interaction be- tween equipment and tool dimensions and work activity. Women were less senior, worked fewer hours and were assigned to a small minority of job titles. Interviews revealed a gen- dered division of labour within many supposedly integrated jobs, and use of different methods to do the same tasks. Men and women reported different musculoskeletal symp- tom profiles, which could be attributed to differences in tasks, biology or work methods. In view of these results, we suggest that comparing male and female accident rates be done with extreme prudence, taking into account women’s and men’s specific situations in the workplace.

* Corresponding author. Tel: 514 987 3334. Fax: 514 987 6 183.

0925-7535/94/$07.00 0 1994 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved SSDI 0925-7535(94)00007-P

96 K. Messing et al. /Safety Science 18 (1994) 95-112

1. Introduction

Comparisons of occupational accidents by sex have generally shown that women have many fewer accidents than men (Robinson, 1989; Wagener and Winn, 199 1; Laurin, 199 1; Pines et al., 1992 ). However, when women and men have been compared within the same industry, women have sometimes been found to have a lesser (Watson and White 1984; Oleske et al., 1989; Tsai et al., 1989), greater (Lortie, 1987a; Wilkinson, 1987; Neuberger et al., 1988; McCurdy et al., 1989 ), or equal (Jensen and Sinkule, 1988; Tsai et al., 1992) likelihood of work-related injuries when compared to men. In order to explore this question further, the CISILO, NIOSHTIC, SOCIOFILE and Social Science Citations Index data bases for publications in English or French between 1980 and 1993 were searched using the key words “occupational accident” or “work accident” crossed with “sex fac- tors” or “sex-linked differences.” Fifteen studies were found which concerned occupational accidents and compared some aspect of accident rates of men and women workers (Table 1). However, it was impossible to generalize about these accident rates due to inconsistencies in the types of data which had been gath- ered. Numerators and denominators varied, and few of these studies took ac- count of all factors which might affect comparisons of women and men in the workplace.

For example, only six of the fifteen explicitly took into account the denomina- tor of the number of hours worked, although women hold three times as many part-time jobs as men (Motard and Tardieu, 1990). Some (but not all) of the authors explicitly recognized this limit to their results (for example, Watson and White, 1984, p. 285; Plawner, 1986, p. 211).

In the labour market, men and women are found in very different occupations (Armstrong and Armstrong, 1993 ). In fact, for men and women to be distributed equally across occupations, 60% of both sexes would have to change jobs (David, 1986). Even within the same job title, women and men may have different re- sponsibilities and different task assignments (Bradley, 1989; Dumais et al., 1993; Messing et al,, 1993 ). Of the studies in Table 1, only five compared accident rates within occupations or industries, of which one compared accident rates within a single job title. The differences by gender diminished when comparisons were made within a single industry or occupation.

Average age and seniority also differ by sex. In Quebec and Canada, men in the workplace average 8 years more seniority, probably due to different career paths (Motard and Tardieu, 1990; Messing, 1991; Kampeneers, 1992). Only three of the papers in Table 1 control for age/seniority in their analyses or correct for age differences while presenting data by sex. Two more report average age of workers by sex.

These differences in employment patterns by gender affected our ability to evaluate accident statistics in the present study, undertaken to examine the like- lihood that women entering nontraditional jobs would incur risks different from men’s. We compared rates and types of accidents among blue-collar workers in a Quebec municipality following an affirmative action program in which large

K. Messing et al. /Safety Science 18 (1994) 95-l 12 97

numbers of women were hired. To identify gender-specific exposure factors which might underlie the occupational accident statistics, we complemented the study by interviews permitting us to explore task distribution and content. We report several factors which illustrate pitfalls in presenting accident statistics by gender.

2. Methods

2.1. Study population

Subjects were blue collar employees of a large Quebec municipality, in jobs which respected the following criteria: ( 1) women had been hired under this job title; (2) the job was non-traditional as defined by the Canadian government, that is, fewer than 34.3% of workers in the given job were women (Hughes 1990)) ( 3 ) the job involved physical effort, and (4) there was at least one work accident in this job during the two-year period beginning on January 1, 1989.

There are a total of 201 job titles, of which women were employed in 22. One job (restaurant worker) was eliminated from consideration on the basis of the second criterion, two were eliminated by the third criterion, and live others, in- volving few workers, on the basis of the fourth criterion. The final sample con- sisted of 14 job titles.

The municipality organizes work in order to profit from a maximum of flexi- bility. Employees are first hired as temporary workers. They list a series of job titles for which they would like to be called to work and for which their qualifi- cations are accepted by the employer. They are called on the basis of seniority and may work from a few hours per year to full time. If a permanent job opens they may apply for it; access is on the basis of qualification and seniority. Most women have been hired since 1987 and have not yet become permanent. The permanent employee has a job title, but may be asked to do work corresponding to another job title. The temporary employee may be asked to do work corre- sponding to any job title for which he or she has qualified.

In addition to their job title, employees are assigned to a given activity. Thus, a “cleaner” may be assigned to “maintenance of arenas” or to “cleaning of mu- nicipal buildings”. The city’s budget is organized by activity.

2.2. Analysis of compensation claims

Accidents during 1989- 1990 were culled from the files of the municipality and the following data were entered into the analysis: job title occupied at the time of the accident; work activity at the time of the accident; age and sex of the em- ployee; site and nature of the injury according to the Quebec Commission for Occupational Health and Safety (CSST) classification; type of accident accord- ing to the CSST classification; duration of the absence.

Calculating denominators for accident claims posed problems, since no figures were available for the number of people who actually worked in a given job title

Tab

le I

Scie

ntif

ic

pape

rs

com

pari

ng

occu

patio

nal

acci

dent

ra

tes

for

wom

en

and

men

, 19

80-

1993

Ref

eren

ce

Num

erat

or

Den

omin

ator

R

ate,

men

R

ate,

wom

en

Rat

io M

/F

Wat

son

and

Whi

te,

1984

Plaw

ner,

19

86’

Lo&

e,

1987

a

Wilk

inso

n,

1 987

2

Los

t w

ork

days

suf

fere

d by

US

coal

w

orke

rs b

etw

een

1978

and

19

80

Num

ber

of l

ost-

time

acci

dent

s in

th

e B

ourg

ogne

-Fra

nche

-Com

te

re-

gion

of

Fran

ce

in o

ne o

f 6

age

or 4

so

ciop

rofe

ssio

nal

cate

gori

es

Num

ber

of a

ccid

ents

in

volv

ing

mus

cula

r ef

fort

to

reg

ular

ly

em-

ploy

ed w

orke

rs

in a

ger

iatr

ic

hosp

i-

tal

for

2 ye

ar p

erio

ds

betw

een

1973

an

d 19

82

Num

ber

of d

ays

abse

nt

for

acci

- de

nts

invo

lvin

g m

uscu

lar

effo

rt

to

regu

larl

y em

ploy

ed

wor

kers

in

a g

er-

iatr

ic h

ospi

tal

for

2 ye

ar p

erio

ds

be-

twee

n 19

73 a

nd

1982

Num

ber

of e

mpl

oyee

s w

ith a

n oc

cu-

patio

nal

inju

ry i

n a

heal

th

scie

nce

cent

erin

19

81-1

983

Num

ber

of c

oal

wor

kers

in

19

79 a

ccor

ding

to

the

US

Bur

eau

of L

abor

St

atis

tics

2.4

wor

k da

ys l

ost

1.1

wor

k da

ys l

ost

2.2

per

empl

oyee

pe

r em

ploy

ee

Num

ber

of e

mpl

oyee

s in

the

re

gion

bel

ongi

ng

to t

he a

ge

or s

ocio

prof

essi

onal

ca

te-

gory

, ex

trap

olat

ed

from

Fr

ench

N

atio

nal

Inst

itute

of

St

atis

tics

data

1.8

to 6

.4,

de-

pend

ing

on t

he

cate

gory

Num

ber

of p

erso

n-ye

ars

of

0.05

-0.2

0 0.

08-0

.2

1 0.

6-1.

0 re

gula

rly

empl

oyed

w

orke

rs

at t

he h

ospi

tal

0.1-

1.3

0.1-

4.5

0.1-

0.5

Pers

on-y

ears

ov

er

198 I -

19

83

11.6

per

lOO

per-

16

.4pe

r lO

Ope

r-

0.71

so

n-ye

ars

son-

year

s

Kra

us,

1988

Neu

berg

er

et a

l., 1

988’

Tsa

i et

al.,

198

9

Rob

inso

n.

1989

Num

ber

of h

omic

ides

in

197

9- 1

98 1

ac

cord

ing

to C

alif

orni

a M

aste

r M

or-

talit

y Fi

le a

nd d

eath

ce

rtif

icat

es

Hom

icid

es

wer

e al

so s

tudi

ed

by i

n-

dust

ry

and

occu

patio

n

Num

ber

of i

njur

ies

to e

mpl

oyee

s at

a

med

ical

ce

ntre

in

198

2-19

83

Ann

ual

days

los

t by

the

se e

mpl

oyee

s

Occ

upat

iona

l in

juri

es

resu

lting

in

a

clai

m

for

wor

kers

’ co

mpe

nsat

ion

amon

g ho

urly

em

ploy

ees

Occ

upat

iona

l in

juri

es

resu

lting

in

a

clai

m

for

wor

kers

’ co

mpe

nsat

ion

amon

g sa

lari

ed

empl

oyee

s

Wor

k-re

late

d in

juri

es

in t

he

US

re-

sulti

ng

in a

t le

ast

one

day’

s ab

senc

e du

ring

19

68,1

977

and

1986

by

race

, ac

cord

ing

to

the

bure

au

of

labo

ur

stat

istic

s (a

djus

ted

for

diff

eren

ces

in

educ

atio

n an

d ag

e)

Num

ber

of w

orke

rs

acco

rd-

ing

to C

alif

orni

a 19

80 c

ensu

s

Num

ber

of f

ull

time

equi

va-

lent

em

ploy

ees

at t

he c

entr

e in

198

5

Full-

time

empl

oyee

s of

2

man

ufac

turi

ng

divi

sion

s ha

ving

w

orke

d fo

r >

10

mon

ths

in 1

986

Hun

dred

s of

wor

kers

in

the

M

arch

19

68 U

S ce

nsus

Hun

dred

s of

wor

kers

in

the

M

arch

19

77 c

ensu

s

Hud

reds

of

w

orke

rs

in

the

Mar

ch

1986

cen

sus

2.2

per

100,

000

0.5

per

100,

000

4.4

0.79

(s

ervi

ce)-

6.

0 (f

arm

/fis

h-

ing/

fore

stry

) de

- th

e

17.5

per

10

0

pend

ing

on

cate

gory

20.3

per

10

0 0.

86

0.67

per

10

0 0.

28 p

er

100

2.4

17.8

per

100

12

.3 p

er

100

1.4

5.8

per

100

1.3

per

100

4.5

4.9

(bla

ck)

3.3

(whi

te)

2.1

(bla

ck)

1.5

(whi

te)

7.3

(bla

ck)

5.3

(whi

te)

2.6

(bla

ck)

2.3

(whi

te)

5.9

(bla

ck)

4.6

(whi

te)

3.3

(bla

ck)

2.2

(whi

te)

2.3

2.2

2.8

2.3

1.8

2.1

8 T

able

1

(con

tinue

d)

Ref

eren

ce

Num

erat

or

Den

omin

ator

R

ate,

men

R

ate,

wom

en

Rat

io M

/F

Ole

ske

et a

l., 1

989

Occ

upat

iona

l in

jury

or

illne

ss a

mon

g N

umbe

r of

fu

ll-tim

e ho

urly

52

.4 p

er

100

34.0

per

100

1.

5 ho

urly

pa

id

empl

oyee

s of

an

au

to-

paid

em

ploy

ees

mot

ive

part

s m

anuf

actu

ring

co

mpa

ny

Snie

zek

and

Hor

iago

n,

Dea

th

from

tra

uma

at c

ivili

an

wor

k,

7xnu

mbe

r of

ci

vilia

ns

em-

8.7

per

100

per-

0.

6 pe

r 10

0 pe

r-

14.5

19

89

Nor

th

Car

olin

a,

USA

in

1978

-198

4 pl

oyed

in

19

80

in

Nor

th

son-

year

s so

n-ye

ars

Rat

es

are

also

re

port

ed

by

sex

for

Car

olin

a

hom

icid

e an

d by

ind

ustr

y gr

oup

McC

urdy

et

al.,

198

9 O

ccup

atio

nal

inju

ry o

r ill

ness

in

1984

A

vera

ge

num

ber

of f

ull-

time

2.7

per

100

3.7

per

100

0.73

at

16

man

ufac

turi

ng

com

pani

es

par-

eq

uiva

lent

w

orke

rs

in

thes

e tic

ipat

ing

in t

he

US

Sem

icon

duct

or

com

pani

es

in 1

984

Indu

stry

A

ssoc

iatio

n

Wor

k-lo

ss

days

in

19

84

at

thes

e co

mpa

nies

3 4.

6 pe

r 10

0 13

.9 p

er

100

Rat

es a

re a

lso

repo

rted

by

sex

for

job

cate

gori

es

0.33

Bel

l et

al.,

1990

Fa

tal

occu

patio

nal

inju

ries

in

th

e A

vera

ge

num

ber

of

em-

11 .l

per

100,

000

0.9

per

100,

000

12.3

U

SA

1980

-198

5 ac

cord

ing

to

the

ploy

ed w

orke

rs i

n 19

80-1

985

wor

kers

w

orke

rs

Nat

iona

l T

raum

atic

O

ccup

atio

nal

acco

rdin

g to

the

U

S B

urea

u Fa

talit

y pr

ojec

t of

Lab

or S

tatis

tics

Wag

ener

an

d W

inn,

In

jury

or

illne

ss a

t w

ork

acco

rdin

g to

C

urre

ntly

em

ploy

ed

adul

ts

12.7

per

10

0 pe

r-

5.7

per

100

per-

2.

2 19

91

the

US

Nat

iona

l H

ealth

In

terv

iew

ac

cord

ing

to t

he s

urve

y so

ns/y

ear

sons

/yea

r Su

rvey

in

1983

-198

7,

duri

ng t

he t

wo

wee

ks p

rior

to

the

inte

rvie

w

Pine

s et

al.,

199

2

Zw

erlin

get

al.,

1993

4

Num

ber

of “

empl

oym

ent

inju

ries

” in

Is

rael

in 1

970

FJum

ber o

f “em

ploy

men

t in

juri

es”

in

Isra

el in

198

0

Num

ber

of

wor

k-re

late

d in

juri

es

(exc

ludi

ng

cum

ulat

ive

trau

ma

dis-

or

ders

) w

ith

lost

-tim

e or

m

edic

al

trea

tmen

t in

198

9- 1

990

( 1 S-

mon

th

peri

od)

amon

g le

tter

carr

iers

w

ith

less

than

2.3

yea

rs s

enio

rity

in

Janu

- ar

y 19

89

Num

ber

of

empl

oyee

s ac

- co

rdin

g to

Isr

aeli

Cen

tral

Bu-

re

au o

f St

atis

tics

for

1970

or

1980

Num

ber

of p

erso

n-ye

ars

of

lette

r ca

rrie

rs w

ith l

ess

than

2.

3 ye

ars

seni

ority

in

Jan

u-

ary

1989

103.

7 pe

r 10

00

33.3

per

100

0 3.

1

73.1

per

100

0 21

.3 p

er I

O00

3.

4

16.5

per

100

25

.2 p

er 1

00

0.45

??

R

’ Thi

s pa

per

exam

ines

in d

etai

l th

e di

stri

butio

n of

acc

iden

ts b

y ty

pe a

ccor

ding

to

sex,

as

wel

l as

seve

ral f

acta

rs a

ssoc

iate

d w

ith t

he p

roba

bilit

y of

hav

ing

2 an

acc

iden

t fo

r wom

en t

aken

sep

arat

ely.

fl

’ A

hhou

gh th

is p

aper

pre

sent

s ra

tes

by jo

b tit

le,

thes

e re

sults

are

not

bro

ken

dow

n by

sex

. %

Q

’

Wam

en w

ere

som

ewha

t old

er a

nd m

ore

seni

or t

han

men

. 0,

8.

4

Thi

s pa

per

com

pare

s ot

her

sub-

cate

gori

es o

f po

stal

wor

kers

by

sex,

with

sim

ilar

resu

lts.

An

anal

ysis

of

time-

to-i

njur

y by

sex

adj

uste

d fo

r ag

e, ra

ce,

3 sm

okin

g an

d dr

ug c

onsu

mpt

ion

foun

d a

high

er r

isk

for w

omen

. 8 2 ‘=

2 * 6

102 K. Messing et al. /Safety Science 18 (1994) 95- 112

or at a given activity in a given year. A rough estimate of the numbers of workers assigned to an activity was derived by dividing the dollar amount spent on salar- ies of blue-collar workers in that activity in the budget for the given year, divided by the average salary for blue-collar workers. Accident rates per activity could be calculated in this way for 43 activities assigned to people in the 14 job titles. A rough estimate of the number of permanent workers assigned to a job title can be obtained from the permanent list of workers. However, as has been mentioned, temporary workers (one-third of staff ) have no job title, and permanent workers may spend most of a given year in a job title other than their own. Accident rates were, therefore, not calculated by job title.

Accidents not involving bodily damage (broken glasses) or where the time lost was unknown or resulted from an earlier accident were excluded. The final sam- ple included all 1589 new accidents m the 14 job titles and 43 activities in 1989- 1990.

Precipitating event and site of injury were taken from accident records. These were classed according to the standard classifications of the Occupational Health and Safety Commission.

2.3. Interviews

Workers were selected from the lists of municipal workers holding the 14 job titles or having qualified for them (temporary workers ). Using a random number table, 30 women were selected from among permanent workers and 30 among temporary workers, They were paired with the 30 permanent and 30 temporary male workers hired at the date closest to the date at which the women had been hired, with the same job title. Workers were interviewed by one of three inter- viewers, all women, using a questionnaire covering various aspects of the work and of the domestic situation. Questions analyzed in the present paper were: “What aspects of your job do you find physically difficult? psychologically or socially difficult?“, “In the job you are doing now, do you do any tasks which your (opposite sex) colleagues do not do? Do they do any tasks which you do not do? (If so) how would you describe those differences?“. Workers were also asked to describe all tasks done during the previous work week and to indicate on an outline of the human body the sites of pain and fatigue felt at the end of the workday during the previous week. The interviews lasted about 90 minutes. In order to determine whether members of a pair did the same tasks, the task de- scriptions were compared. In order to decide which member of a pair had more physical diffl~ulty with the job, a person who had not pa~icipated in the inter- views compared blindly the number of difliculties reported by each member of a pair.

Seven workers were no longer employed by the city (3), on long-term leave (2 ), could not be contacted ( I ) or refused ( I); 58 women and 55 men comprised the final sample, 7 unpaired workers and 53 pairs. The average age for women was 34.5 years and for men, 34.6. The average height for women was 161 cm compared to 176 cm for men. No men were shorter than the average woman and no women were taller than the average man. The selected women represented

K. Messing et al. / Safety Science 18 (1994) 95- 1 I2 103

3 1% of permanent and 13% of temporary women employees assigned to the 14 jobs; the selected men represented 2% of permanent and 5% of temporary men in the 14 jobs.

3. Results

Accidents for women and men in the 14 job titles are presented in Table 2. (The term “accidents” includes all occupational health claims, of which over 99% were classed as accidents. ) Women had a slightly but insignificantly smaller pro- portion of accidents resulting in lost time (chi = 3.32, 0.1 O>p> 0.05 ). Women temporary workers were under-represented among accident victims.

The total hours of temporary work by activity were known, and accident rates could thus be calculated by temporary/permanent status for a number of com- mon activities, certain of which were associated with higher accident rates (Table 3). For most activities temporary workers had many more accidents than per- manent workers.

Neither the precipitating event nor the part of the body injured differed by sex overall (Tables 4a, 5a), although it is possible that differences existed within job titles (Tables 4b, 5b), the numbers being too small to demonstrate differences statistically.

Since the sex of employees who had had accidents was coded in the accident records we could compare the length of absences subsequent to occupational health claims (Table 6). Men’s absences were longer on average than women’s, except for garbage collection; overall, men averaged 29.4 days of absence per accident and women, 20.4 days. Length of absence was correlated with age among men (Spearman, r=0.20, p=O.OOOl ) although not among women (r=0.08, p=O.45),

Table 2 Accident claims filed for 14 jobs held by municipal workers by sex and employment status, 19X9- 1990

Permanent Temporary

Number (%) of accidents

Number (%) of employees

Women 40 97 (6.1) (4.9)

Men 619 1808 (93.9) (95.1)

Total 659 1905 (100.0) (lOO.0)

Number (W) of accidents

(Z.2)

156 (67.8)

230 ( 100.0)

Number (%) of employees’

239 (39.3)

369 (60.7)

608 (100.0)

’ Number of employees nominally assigned to the I4 job titles on November 11, 1990 (see Methods).

104 R Messing et al. /Safety Science I8 (I 994) 9.5-I I2

Table 3 Accident rates among temporary and permanent workers according to the activity being carried out at the time of the accident

Activity Rate’ (number) of accidents Rate (number) of accidents Permanent employees Temporary employees

Cleaning streets 26.2 (96) 53.9 (13) Maintenance of sidewalks and streets 25.4 (34) 25.2 (93) Spreading abrasives 23.3 (28) 35.7 f 1) Building maintenance 32.6 (8) 25.6 (3) Garbage collection 41.7 (77) 102.4 (89) Buildings and equipment 38.8 (31) 57.1 (2) Outside maintenance, summer 26.9 (84) 32.4 (56) Outside maintenance, winter 29.7 (46) 43.5 (4)

’ Per hundred employees nominally assigned to the 14 job titles on November 11,199O (see Methods.)

Table 4 Compensation claims classed by precipitating event

Effort Impact Other Total

(a,i Ail activities Women

Men

Total

Chi-square < I, n.s.

29 26 23 78 31% 33% 30% 100%

103 92 65 260 40% 35% 25% I 00%

132 118 88 338 39% 35% 26Oh I 000/o

(b) Gardening only Women

Men

Total

Chi-square=4.6,p=0.10

13 3 6 22 59% I 4% 27% I 00%

9 9 3 21 43% 43% 14% 100% 22 12 9 43 51% 28% 2 1 o/o 100%

and the average age of men with accidents was 6 years older than that of women (43 versus 37), in keeping with the more recent hiring of women workers.

3.2. Job assignments

Women were not distributed randomly over the 14 job categories. The most frequently-held permanent job title for men was “truck driver”, held by 628 men and 5 women in 1990; the most frequently-heId job for women was “general worker,” held by 449 men and 29 women. Women were 5% of pe~anent workers and 40% of temporary workers.

K. Messing et al. /Safety Science 18 (1994) 95-112 105

Table 5 Compensation claims classed by site of injury

Upper limb Lower limb Back Other Total

(a) Allactivities Women

Men

Total Chi-square < 1, n.s.

26 14 26 12 78 26.0% 20.9% 16.9% 16.9% 23.1% 74 53 74 59 260 74.0% 79.1% 83.1% 83.0% 16.9%

100 67 100 71 338

(b) Gardening only Women 3 3 12 4 22

33.3% 37.5% 63.2% 57.1% 51.2% Men 6 5 7 3 21

66.1% 62.5% 36.8% 42.9% 48.8% Total 9 8 19 7 43 Chi-square test impossible because of small numbers in cells

Table 6 Time lost and age among employees of a municipality during 1989-I 990, by activity and sex

Activity Sex Number of Mean days SD. Mean age of S.D. accidents lost workers with

lost time

Cleaning streets

Garbage collection

Gardening

Indoor cleaning

Horticulture

Outside maintenance, summer

Women 4 Men 105

Women 17 Men 149

Women 12 Men 25

Women 6 Men 27

Women 17 Men 27

Women 28 Men 110

23.5 32.6

28.6 20.8

8.3 24.4

23.5 52.6

17.4 52.6

21.3 27.6

26.7 30.7 4.0 47.0 43.1 Il.3

33.0 33.9 7.6 27.4 33.8 9.2

8.2 30.6 6.5 33.2 45.1 10.9

27.4 44.8 15.3 60.8 47.8 12.5

27.4 32.3 6.2 60.8 37.2 7.0

31.3 31.5 8.8 51.2 40.5 11.9

4. Interviews

4.1. Task assignments

Several indications led us to the conclusion that women and men with the same job titles and assigned to the same activities did not in fact accomplish the same tasks. First, paired workers’ responses were compared. At the time of the inter-

106 K. Messing et al. /Safety Science 18 (1994) 95-l 12

view, 19 of the 53 pairs of men and women were no longer assigned to the same title. (Males in the final sample were assigned to 20 jobs and females to 14. ) Even among the 34 “true” pairs still assigned to the same jobs, fewer than half gave similar descriptions when asked to describe their assigned tasks.

Workers were also specitically asked whether, in their teams, men and women were assigned to the same tasks. Second, workers were specifically asked whether men and women who worked with them were assigned to the same tasks. Only 33 of the 55 men answered the question (because the work force was overwhelm- ingly male, 6 men rarely or never worked with female colleagues and said they could not answer the question, while 12 others answered the question with state- ments about a specific woman’s capacities). Of those men who answered, 15 (45%) had observed a gendered division of labor. Of the women, over half (52%) reported that they did not do the same tasks as their male colleagues. The reasons given were varied: decision by the supervisor, the team or the individual, or lack of appropriate-sized equipment. The principle underlying the decision to consti- tute a gendered division of labour was characterized in two ways: 10 women (mostly cleaners) said women did work which required more care or which had to be done to a higher standard and 17 (mostly gardeners) said that men did the jobs requiring more physical strength.

We compared reports of job content among male and female gardeners, since they were the most highly represented group of women workers (25/58), and because their work teams were usually mixed, due to the large number of women gardeners. Of the 43 gardeners of both sexes, 44% reported a division of tasks by gender. According to interviews with both women and men, women were more likely to do weeding and planting and pruning bushes. Men were more likely to do “heavier” tasks such as pushing loaded wheelbarrows uphill, pruning trees and using forks and picks. Men were also more likely to use machines such as the cultivator.

4.2. Symptoms of pain and fatigue

Overall the 58 women reported 2 16 pain and fatigue sites after work compared to 160 for the 55 men (average of 3.7 sites/person cf. 2.9). Six women ( 10%) and 13 men (24%) reported no symptoms of pain or fatigue. Among the 18 pairs where both members had the same job title and were assigned to roughly similar tasks, the woman often reported more physical difficulties and pain and fatigue symptoms than the man (Table 7). Some of these symptoms were attributed to inappropriate equipment; for example, several women complained of sore feet from badly-fitting work boots and sore hands from too-large secateurs, while no men complained of sore hands or feet. The existence of a gendered division of labour in the work team did not appear to diminish women’s likelihood of re- porting pain.

In response to the body outline, all workers, including gardeners, showed a symptom profile which differed by sex (Table 8). Women had relatively more pain in the upper limbs and less in the lower limbs.

K. Messing et al. /Safety Science 18 (1994) 95-112 107

Table 7 Physical difficulties and number of sites of pain and fatigue reported by paired women and men doing the same tasks’

Number of pairs where...

..the woman reports ..the woman and the ..the man reports more problems or man report equal more problems symptoms numbers of or symptoms

problems or symptoms

Number, severity of physical 7 10 1 difftculties

Number of symptoms of pain and 11 4 2 fatigue

’ Rate=number of accidents in an activity per 100 workers employed in that activity, estimated according to the method presented in the Methods section. The date of reference for the number of employees was November 11, 1990.

Table 8 Pain sites reported by male and female blue collar workers

N Number (O/o’) Number (%) Number (%) Number (%) Number (O/o) reporting with pain in with pain in with pain in with pain in pain, any site upper limbs lower limbs back other sites

Gardeners Women 25 19 (76%) 8 (32%) 6 (24%) 13 (52%) 4 (16%) Men 18 12 (67%) I ( 6% ) 6 (33%) 8 (44%) 2 (I 1%)

Total sample Women 58 39 (67%) 15 (26%) 12 (21%) 28 (48%) 4 (7%) Men 55 27 (49%) 3 (5%) 10 (18%) 17 (31%) 9 (16%)

‘Percentages do not add to 100% because individuals reported multiple symptoms.

5. Discussion

5.1. Analysis of occupational accident rates by gender

Comparing accident rates by sex would be useful if differences in accident rates between men and women were due to aptitudes or attitudes which should be ex- plored further with relation to accident prevention . However, such comparisons would only be useful if we could assume that the denominators of accident rates were strictly comparable by sex. The present study illustrates some problems with that assumption.

Four factors were found which complexifed the male-female comparison of accident rates in the study of municipal workers: ( 1) gender differences in hours worked, (2 ) gendered task assignments within industrial classifications, occupa-

108 K. Messing et al. /Safety Science 18 (1994) YS- 112

tions and job titles, (3) gender differences in age/seniority, and (4) gender dif- ferences in the interaction between equipment and tool dimensions and work activity.

5.1.1. Huurs worked We found that women had the same types of accidents as men, but that their

proportion of accidents varied with their status as permanent or temporary em- ployees. The proportion of women among temporary workers was eight times higher than that among pe~anent employees. Temporary workers were called in by the city as the need arose, according to seniority. Since most women had been hired since 1987, the beginning of the afftirmative action program, women em- ployed by the city had on the average much less seniority than men. Temporary women workers probably worked many fewer hours than men. The fact that the municipality could not supply us with the dist~~ution of hours or activities worked by sex kept us from being able to test whether some of the male-female difference in accidents among temporary workers was due to a difference in hours worked.

The only meaningful comparison of accident rates in our study was,therefore,among permanent staff, who worked full time all year long. This comparison (Table 2) showed no significant male-female differences. Also, pre- cipitating event and type of injury did not appear to vary by sex (Tables 4a, 5a). However, the interviews showed that even this comparison was not fully ade- quate due to the fact that women and men with the same job title were not as- signed to the same tasks. There was a tendency for male and female gardeners to be injured in different parts of the body and with different types of lesions (Ta- bles 4b,Sb), but this also could have been due to differences in task assignment.

The fact that some women took time off for maternity leave may also have affected the denominator of the accident rates, although we were not able to ob- tain usable information on rates of absence or leave by sex.

5.1.2. Differences in task assignments within industrial classifications, occupations and job titles

Within the municipality, women were present in only 22 of 201 job titles, showing a high level of segregation. Even within the same job title, women and men have different responsibilities and different task assignments in about half of work teams. Since specific work activities had very different accident rates (Table 3), the fact that women and men did not do the same tasks is an important factor to consider when comparing accident rates.

5.1.3. Age/seniority Among the blue-collar workers, women accident victims were on the average

younger and less senior than men, due to their relatively recent entry into this workplace. There appears to be a relationship between seniority and accident fre- quency (Table 3) which has also been found by other researchers (Root, 198 1; Keyserling, 1983; Zwerling et al., 1993). Women did not appear to have more

K. Messing et al. /Safety Science 18 (1994) 9.5-l I2 109

severe accidents; they lost time slightly less often and the length of absence was shorter on average (Table 6 ) . The shorter absences are probably explained by the difference in age, since older male workers took longer to recover from work ac- cidents. The fact that age did not correlate with length of absence among women should be explored further, particularly with respect to the relationship between family responsibilities and time for recovery from injuries.

5.1.4. Differences in the interaction between the worker and the task Women in this study were shorter on average than the men. These male-female

differences in size apply generally and are accompanied by differences in propor- tion and shape (Pheasant, 1986; Ch. 1) . However, tools and equipment are not always available in the right dimensions for all individuals; even the same tasks do not necessarily interact the same ways with men’s and women’s bodies. Women workers in the present study reported difficulties with tools and equipment ill- adapted to their size, and symptoms which might be associated with these difficulties.

Thus, sexual dimorphism can also interact with equipment design to produce specific problems for women. This has been reported in a study of telephone line repairers; boot heel design forced women but not men to approach telephone pole pitons at a dangerous angle, because of the difference in the pelvic-femoral artic- ulation (Reilly, 1980).

Due to anthropometric and other factors, women may develop ways to do spe- cific tasks which are different from those of most men. This may influence the pattern of occupational accidents. Lortie (1987b) showed that female hospital orderlies lifted patients less often than men, finding ways to transform lifting tasks into pushing and pulling tasks. As a result, operations at risk for women were not the same as those for men.

5.1.5. Other possible gender-specific effects Some other results may be attributed to psychosocial or physical characteristics

of women and men. Women reported more pain and fatigue over all jobs and within specific job titles, and more sites of pain and fatigue (Table 8 ). It has been suggested that women generally report more pain and fatigue symptoms and more difficulties due to a greater readiness to express themselves (Julien et al., 1990). This explanation is supported by the fact that the male/female difference in num- ber of symptoms (almost two-fold) far exceeded the male-female difference in number of individuals reporting symptoms (about 20% ).

However, a biological explanation for some of the excess pain could also be supported by the data. There was a constant excess of pain symptoms in the upper limbs across job titles, consistent with the fact that sexual dimorphism is greater for upper limbs. Such “subjective” reports have been used to identify risk in mus- cular work (Plawner, 1986; Corlett, 1990; Kilbom, 1990). The male-female dif- ference in physical force is largest for the upper limbs and smallest for the lower limbs, with other muscles in between (Falkel et al., 1985 ). It has been suggested

110 K. Messing et al. /Safety Science 18 (1994) 95-112

that accidents are most likely when women workers use a high proportion of their strength (Zwerling et al., 1993 ).

Thus, the fact that women may have experienced more pain than men with the same job titles may be attributed to their psychosocial or physical characteristics. The results do not permit us to decide between such explanations and alternative hypotheses attributing women’s excess symptoms to workplace characteristics such as differential task assignments or tools and equipment of the wrong size. These explanations are not mutually exclusive.

5.2. Conclusions

Male-female comparisons are usually undertaken to identify situations which need attention and to monitor changes over time. For example, women might be more likely than men to have accidents because their tools, equipment and work stations were designed for the average man (Courville et al., 199 1, 1992), in which case an analysis of accidents would indicate a necessity to redesign some work- places. Women might also be less likely to have accidents due to better observ- ance of safety precautions (Wingard, 1984), in which case gender-based safety training might be envisaged.

In the present study of blue-collar workers in 14 jobs, pe~anent women and men appeared to have somewhat similar accident rates. However, several param- eters of exposure to risk differed by gender, so that we could not be certain that the rates were strictly comparable. Interviews permitted us to identify some risk factors specific to women and to smaller individuals.

These problems in analysis of the probability of occupational accidents among sub-populations are not limited to male-female comparisons. Analysis by age or seniority encounters similar problems, since job assignments also vary with ex- perience. Although analysis of accidents by industry, by employer or by job title is a useful way of identifying targets for prevention among large groups of work- ers, the actual job done may vary widely according to the age, race, gender and seniority of workers. Interview data can yield information which permits a more detailed analysis of job risks according to working conditions. Ideally, this would be complemented by observations of the tasks performed, in order to identify specific aspects which might cause problems for workers of different sizes.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank cupe local 301 and the City of Montreal for their very gen- erous collaboration. The authors have profited greatly from helpful comments by Drs. Pat and Hugh Armstrong, Nicole Vezina and Georges Toulouse. The authors gratefulIy acknowledge technical assistance from France Tissot, and support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and from Women’s Bureau, Labour Canada. LD thanks the Institut de recherche en Sante et en s&trite du travail du Quebec for a post-doctoral fellowship.

K. Messing et al. /Safety Science 18 (1994) 95-I 12 111

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