Improving Occupational Safety & Health Interventions: A Comparison of Safety Self-Efficacy & Safety Stages of Change

For people aged 44 and under, the primary cause of loss of life in the U.S. is not due to heart disease or cancer, but to something as common as injuries (U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1998). As such, injuries kill an average of 142,000 Americans and require an estimated 62.5 billion dollars in medical attention each year (U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1998). This is close to three people dying and over 170 people sustaining a disabling injury every 10 minutes (National Safety Council, 1999). Every year more than 80,000 Americans are permanently disabled as a result of injury to the brain or spinal cord. Thus, unintentional injury represents a serious public health concern, and a theory-driven community, school, and organizational injury prevention technology is needed to improve the health and safety of individuals.