Seat Belt Use Among Adult Workers — 21 States, 2013

Abstract

© 2016, Department of Health and Human Services. All rights reserved. What is already known about this topic? Although motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of occupational fatalities, and seat belts have been shown to reduce injuries, previous reports on worker seat belt use have been narrowly focused on only a few occupations. What is added by this report? This is the first report on seat belt use among a broad range of occupational groups in a representative, population-based sample. For all occupational groups, the prevalence of not always using seat belts was higher in states with secondary seat belt laws (23.6% unadjusted) than in states with primary seat belt laws (10.4% unadjusted). After adjusting for age, sex, race/ ethnicity, education, marital status, body mass index, county urbanization, and state seat belt law type, there was substantial variability among occupational groups in self-reported seat belt use. The occupational groups with the highest adjusted prevalences included construction and extraction (14.1%); legal (14.0%); installation, maintenance, and repair (12.8%); protective service (12.7%); and farming, fishing, and forestry (12.7%). What are the implications for public health practice? Employers can establish comprehensive safety programs that require consistent seat belt use at all times. States that implement primary seat belt laws might see a substantial increase in seat belt use by currently employed workers. Seat belt safety advocates could focus interventions on the occupational groups with the lowest reported seat belt use.