Mortality Rates by Occupation Within the UK.

The relationship between occupation and population health is complex, but understanding their interrelationships is a policy priority. It is widely accepted that being in employment is associated with health benefits. However, there is a lack of detailed understanding about the relative mortality risks of specific occupations and whether health-related benefits of employment occur across all occupations.

Previous research has quantified the relative importance of specific causes of death by occupation by analysing unlinked death certificates. Such work helps identify the need for occupational health interventions to target those exposed to specific hazards within particular jobs. Existing studies do not allow denominators for the population at risk and therefore proportional mortality ratios, rather than mortality rates, have been calculated (which do not allow comparison between occupations).

The research aim is:

• To describe the standardised mortality rates by occupation and employment conditions in Northern Ireland in order to tie in with the UK wide figures. The objectives are:
• To calculate standardised mortality rates by occupation amongst those of working age (defined as 25-59 years at the time of the 1991, 2001 and 2011 Censuses) by sex in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK for the time periods 1991-2000, 2001-2010 and 2011 to present.
• To calculate comparable standardised mortality rates for different government office regions across the UK to allow geographical comparisons to be made.
• To investigate the causes of excess mortality in occupations with the greatest mortality rates.
• To compare the mortality among different types of employment status (e.g., part-time, full-time, self-employed.)