Occupational Safety and Health for Public Safety Employees: Assessing the Evidence and the Implications for Public Policy »

Tom LaTourette (Ph.D., California Institute of Technology) is an associate physical scientist at RAND.

David S. Loughran (Ph.D. Economics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD) ia an associate economist at RAND.

Police officers, firefighters, and other public safety workers face exceptionally high rates of injury and fatality relative to the general workforce. This document provides an analysis of the risk factors associated with different aspects of public safety occupations, to help policymakers in their efforts to improve the health and safety of these employees.

Preface

Figures

Tables

Summary

Abbreviations

Ch. 1 Introduction 1

Ch. 2 Description of Injury and Disability Compensation for Public Safety Employees 7

Ch. 3 What Is Known About the Safety and Health of Public Safety Employees? 15

Ch. 4 Characterizing Current Strategies for Reducing Occupational Injuries and Illnesses Among Public Safety Employees 41

Ch. 5 The Health of Public Safety Workers Relative to That of Other Workers 61

Ch. 6 Work-Related Disability Benefit Receipt and Disability Retirement Among Public Safety Employees 87

Ch. 7 Conclusions and Policy Implications 103

Appendixes

A Roundtable Discussion Protocol 109

B Assessing the Quality of the Match Between the Workers' Compensation and Disability Retirement Data 113

References 115