Affiliations: [a] Health Studies Program, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Wilfrid Laurier University, Brantford, Ontario, Canada | [b] Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Tim Gawley, Health Studies Program, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Wilfrid Laurier University (Brantford Campus), 73 George Street, Brantford, Ontario, Canada, N3T 2Y3. Tel.: +1 519 756 8228 / ext. 5741; E-mail: tgawley@wlu.ca.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:News coverage in popular media can shape public perspectives on occupational issues. Few studies exist concerning how occupational injury and fatality are represented in the news. OBJECTIVES:This study examined how injuries, fatalities and worker characteristics were represented in newspapers compared with official government statistics. It also examined what individuals or organizations were most often included by reporters to provide interpretations of injuries and fatalities. METHODS:Quantitative content analysis was used to examine 304 newspaper articles from between 2007 and 2012 representing the nine most populous cities in the province of Ontario, Canada. Government data came from reports compiled by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) of Ontario. RESULTS:Compared to workers’ compensation board records, physical characteristics of injuries and fatalities were skewed toward the acute traumatic. Women were dramatically underrepresented in newspaper articles. Age distributions were represented. Goods-producing, transportation and resource extraction occupations were overrepresented while services were underrepresented. Worker voices were largely absent in newspaper accounts compared with law enforcement, the State and management. CONCLUSIONS:How workplace injury and fatality are framed, and who contributes to these frames, serves to shape public interpretations of occupational injury and fatality and how occupational health and safety issues might be addressed in the future.
Keywords: Occupational injury, health and safety, worker participation, media, content analysis
