Hypothesis

Evidence

Individual characteritics

Age

Proxy for expertise and/or experience. Younger workers tend have higher propensity to suffer labor accidents.

workers under 30 y. o. have higher labor risks [21] .

Sex

Men are more exposed than women to occupational risks.

Women working in informal position have higher probability of suffering an accident in workplace [14] .

Men experience more occupational risks [21] .

Individual risk fators

Stress

Stressed workers exhibit more losses of attention and failures in working routines.

Confirmed by [21]

Job satisfaction

Dissatisfaction with job.

[7] Finds supportive evidence for coal workers in Ethiopia.

[9] Finds supportive evidence in non fatal injuries for petrochemical workers in Taiwan.

Sleeping disorders

Workers that do not sleep sufficient time pay less attention to every day routines and expose more to risks.

Confirmed by [21] [16] .

Find supportive evidence in transportation workers in Argentina.

Contracting practices

Term (temporary- fixed vs. endless)

Temporary contracts reduce incentives to invest in specific skills increasing occupational injuries.

Also, wages based on performance encourage labor intensity and working hours increasing the time of exposure.

[10] Finds that workers with short-term contract have higher probability of experience accidents in work.

[11] Finds that temporary workers increases the incidence of non fatal injuries and that fixed term contracting rises occupational diseases.

Formal hiring

Companies hiring non formal workers invest less in safety working places.

[14] Finds support in non fatal occupational injuries.

Subcontracting

Subcontracting increases the incidence of occupational accidents and sickness as the number of agents involved is higher, their responsibility is less clear and more difficult to control.

[22] Finds that subcontracting workers have a higher risk of work-related diseases and a higher absenteeism rate than parent firm workers.

Sector circumstances

Business cycle

Pro-cyclical; the number of accidents tend to increase during economic upwards and viceversa.

Counter-cyclical; in economic downturns firms are less willing to invest in safety workplaces and injuries incidence increase.

[23] Finds pro-cyclical relationship in minor injuries. No significant relationship was found in major injuries.

[24] Find pro-cyclical behavior in fatal and non fatal occupational accidents in 6 European countries.

Profitability

Negative; less profitable firms are willing to invest in injury prevention as short term benefits not exceed the costs of safety.

[25] Found an inverse relationship between profitability and non fatal injuries with los days and also with most serious occupational injuries in coal mines in US.