Objective: To describe time trends in fatal traumatic occupational injuries by economic activity, type of contract, age, and gender between 1992 and 2002 in Spain.
Methods: The number of fatal traumatic occupational injuries occurring during the study period in salaried workers was 8,510. The annual percentage of change in fatal occupational injury rates was calculated by economic activity, type of employment, age group, and gender assuming a Poisson distribution. The incidence in 2002 was standardized by economic activity to adjust for the potential effect of changes in the labor market from 1992. Economic activities were regrouped according to their percentages of change in employees during the study period.
Results: The incidence of fatal traumatic injuries decreased by an annual percentage of -4.3% (95% CI, -5.3 to -3.4%) from a rate of 9.8 per 100,000 in 1992 to 6.1 in 2002, representing an overall reduction of 38% (relative risk = 0.62), particularly in expanding employment industries (-4.4%), women (-7.6%) and permanent employment (-4.3%). In 2002 the incidence was 8.5 after adjusting by economic activity in 1992 (adjusted relative risk = 0.87).
Conclusions: The decreasing trend observed in fatal occupational injuries is similar to that observed in other developed countries. At least two thirds of this decrease can be explained by changes in productive structures. The results indicate the areas in which preventive activities should be concentrated.