Open AccessWork–related hand and lower–arm injuries in New Zealand, 1979 to 1988
Author(s) -
Burridge Julie D.,
Marshall Stephen W.,
Laing Raechel M.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.946
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1753-6405
pISSN - 1326-0200
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-842x.1997.tb01734.x
Subject(s) - occupational safety and health , human factors and ergonomics , injury prevention , poison control , suicide prevention , work (physics) , medicine , medical emergency , engineering , pathology , mechanical engineering
The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiology of work–related hand and lower–arm injuries in New Zealand. Nonfatal hand and lower–arm injuries were identified from New Zealand's national database of hospital admissions for the period 1979 to 1988. Thirty–seven per cent (9714) of all such injuries (26 228) were work–related. Piercing and cutting instruments (38.5 per cent) and machinery (37.2 per cent) were the two most common agents of work–related hand and lower–arm injury. Specific occupations in which the number of cases was high included meat workers ( n = 1020, 3.3 per 1000 employees), carpenters ( n = 548, 2.2 per 1000), machine operators ( n = 450, 11.9 per 1000) and sawmill workers ( n = 498, 7.7 per 1000). The injury rate for meat workers, carpenter–joiners, machine operators and sawmillers increased significantly over the 10–year study period. ( Aust N Z J Public Health 1997; 21: 451–4)