THE INJURY PROFILE OF A LARGE TELECOMMUNICATION COMPANY - A STATISTICAL SUMMARY

Overexertion injuries have been a major concern to occupational safety and health professionals for quite some time. Over the years, these i njuries have continued to increase despite ergonomic interventions to control their frequency of occurrence. It has been speculated that thi s increase may be due primarily to enhanced awareness and better recor d-keeping. Many occupational safety and health professionals also pres ume that overexertion injuries and occupational illnesses are confined to heavy manufacturing industries. This paper reports occupational in jury and illness data from a large telecommunication industry, collect ed over a 7-year period. Three observations were made from the statist ical summary: (1) better record keeping may be a reason behind the rep orted increase in injuries; workday losses decline as a result of impr oved ergonomic and occupational health interventions; (2) serious inju ries are not just limited to heavy manufacturing industries; and (3) r eduction in workday losses may not translate in injury cost savings.