The "accident prone" worker: an example from heavy industry.

A study of workers in a heavy industry shows that the proportion of workers with excessive injuries in two successive time periods did not exceed that expected by chance. While accident repeaters may exist, they were not a stable component of this workforce. Removing individuals with excessive injuries in a given time would not appreciably reduce the number of injuries in succeeding periods. Unlike earlier studies, this analysis was based on medically attended injuries only and controlled for job hazards, exposure, age, and changes in job and location.