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 injuries have continued to increase despite ergonomic interventions to control their frequency of occurrence. It has been speculated that this increase may be due primarily to enhanced awareness and better record-keeping. Many occupational safety and health professionals also presume that overexertion injuries and occupational illnesses are confined to heavy manufacturing industries. This paper reports occupational injury and illness data from a large telecommunication industry, collected over a 7-year period. Three observations were made from the statistical summary: (1) better record keeping may be a reason behind the reported increase in injuries; workday losses decline as a result of improved ergonomic and occupational health interventions; (2) serious injuries are not just limited to heavy manufacturing industries; and (3) reduction in workday losses may not translate in injury cost savings.