Characterizing worker compensation claims in long-term care and examining the association between facility characteristics and severe injury: a repeated cross-sectional study from Alberta, Canada

BACKGROUND: Despite the physical demands and risks inherent to working in long-term care (LTC), little is known about workplace injuries and worker compensation claims in this setting. The purpose of this study was to characterize workplace injuries in LTC and to estimate the association between worker and organizational factors on severe injury. METHODS: We used a repeated cross-sectional design to examine worker compensation claims between September 1, 2014 and September 30, 2018 from 25 LTC homes. Worker compensation claim data came from The Workers Compensation Board of Alberta. LTC facility data came from the Translating Research in Elder Care program. We used descriptive statistics to characterize the sample and multivariable logistic regression to estimate the association between staff, organizational, and resident characteristics and severe injury, measured as 31+ days of disability. RESULTS: We examined 3337 compensation claims from 25 LTC facilities. Less than 10% of claims (5.1%, n = 170) resulted in severe injury and most claims did not result in any days of disability (70.9%, n = 2367). Most of the sample were women and over 40 years of age. Care aides were the largest occupational group (62.1%, n = 2072). The highest proportion of claims were made from staff working in voluntary not for profit facilities (41.9%, n = 1398) followed by public not for profit (32.9%, n = 1098), and private for profit (n = 25.2%, n = 841). Most claims identified the nature of injury as traumatic injuries to muscles, tendons, ligaments, or joints. In the multivariable logistic regression, higher staff age (50–59, aOR: 2.26, 95% CI 1.06–4.83; 60+, aOR: 2.70, 95% CI 1.20–6.08) was associated with more severe injury, controlling for resident acuity and other organizational staffing factors. CONCLUSIONS: Most claims were made by care aides and were due to musculoskeletal injuries. In LTC, few worker compensation claims were due to severe injury. More research is needed to delve into the specific features of the LTC setting that are related to worker injury. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12960-023-00850-4.