[Absenteeism among workers with long and frequent illnesses]

The aim of the study comprising 5197 textile industry workers chosen at random was an analysis of sickness absenteeism of employees ailing for a long time (i.e. giving more than 30 days of absence annually) and those who are frequently ill (i.e. giving more than 3 spells of absence) against the background of the absenteeism of the whole examined population. The analysis was performed using such absence parameters as percentage of persons absent from work, lost time rate mean duration of a particular absence, average number of days and cases of absenteeism per one ailing person. The analysis demonstrated differences in the length of spells of absence and frequency and seriousness of diseases between the two selected groups of workers. The group of long ailing patients constituted 22.3% of all workers and caused 75.6% of sickness, absenteeism in general, while the group of frequently ailing subjects--17.5% and 43.5%, respectively. Lost time rate of long ailing persons was three times higher than that in the whole group, while lost time rate among frequently ailing persons was 2.5 times higher that than for the whole group. An average length spells of absence caused by diseases was, among long ailing workers, 50% higher than in the whole examined group, while among frequently ailing employees it was 14% lower than in the general population.