Objective Evaluate the impact of a workplace program on occupational injury at a large U.S. transportation company.

Background PREVENT is a 2-day workshop that aims to help workers ages 18–29 make changes in their lives and improve their quality of life, with an emphasis on substance use and other risk behaviours. Early findings show a reduction in alcohol use among participants compared to non-participants. Given the relationship of alcohol use and other risk behaviours with injury, we evaluate the impact of PREVENT participation on occupational injury.

Methods Prospective matched intervention-control study. Occupational injuries among PREVENT participants (intervention group) pre- and postintervention will be compared to that of five matched controls. For each participant, five controls will be selected from 18 to 29 year-old non-participants employed at the same time, matched on job type. Worker and injury information will be compiled from company data. Conditional logistic regression will model the association of occupational injury with PREVENT participation, controlling for worker characteristics and exposure.

Results Between January 2004 and June 2009, 264 occupational injuries occurred among 18–29 year-olds at the study company; 48 injuries/year. Between February 2008 and December 2009, 111 workers participated in the PREVENT program. This case–control design is useful because both occupational injury and program participation are relatively rare events.

Discussion This study continues with final injury data retrieval in June 2010 in order to have a minimum 6 month post-participation period for each participant.