Within-Occupation and Industry Sex, Race, and Educational Differences in Exposures to Workplace Hazards

Julia A. Rivera Drew, University of Minnesota

In 2008, there were more than 5,000 work-related fatalities and 1.4 million nonfatal work-related illnesses and injuries (BLS 2011). Exposure to workplace conditions like handling hazardous chemicals and breathing toxic vapors and second-hand smoke in the workplace is significantly associated with a higher risk of occupationally-related illnesses. A small body of research examines whether there are group differences in the risk of exposure to workplace hazards. Group differences in exposure to hazardous workplace conditions have been ascribed to working in different occupations. However, previous research provides little insight into whether group differences would persist if we compared workers employed in the same types of workplaces. In this study, we use the occupational health supplement to the 2010 National Health Interview Surveys to investigate whether observed, sex, race, and educational differences in exposures to workplace hazards remain between workers employed within the same occupation-industry pairings.