Early return to work of injured workers: multidimensional patterns of individual and organizational factors

The research reported here, part of a larger exploratory project about the factors that may play a role in the implementation of corporate return to work measures, characterized workers having suffered an occupational injury. These workers constitute the target population of a governmental policy designed to favour early return to work. The study population was composed of 13 728 cases of occupational injury. The characteristics of workers, characteristics of injuries and structural characteristics of companies in cases in which return to work measures were present were compared with these same characteristics in cases in which such measures were absent. Using correspondence and ascending hierarchical classification analyses, homogenous groups were identified. Bivariate analysis revealed that the following eight variables were associated with the presence of early return to work measures (i.e. the proportion of cases benefiting from early return to work measures was significantly higher than expected): nature of the injury (inflammation); site of injury (upper limbs and shoulder); CSST assessment category (= 100%, i.e. large company); duration of absence (0-44 days and 183-365 days); gender (female); sector (rubber and plastics); relapse (present); and age (30-39 years). The presence or absence of return to work measures was a defining characteristic of five of the seven classes identified by multivariate analysis. The composition of these classes reflects the complex interaction between return to work measures on the one hand and the socio-demographic characteristics of workers, characteristics of injuries, and structural characteristics of companies on the other. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.