August 5, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Meat packing plants have the
highest rate of repeated-trauma disorders
Workers in meat packing plants
experienced the highest incidence rate of disorders associated with repeated trauma in
1996. There were 921.6 cases per 10,000 full-time workers in meat packing plants, compared
to 33.5 cases per 10,000 workers in private industry as a whole.
[Chart data—TXT]
The knit underwear mills industry reported an incidence
rate of repeated-trauma disorders which was just below the top rate, at 910.4 cases per
10,000 workers. Others in the group of five industries with the highest incidence rates
were motor vehicles and car bodies (710.5), household laundry equipment manufacturing
(547.1), and poultry slaughtering and processing (535.0).
All 25 industries with the highest rates of repeated-trauma disorders in 1996 were in
the manufacturing sector. The average incidence rate for manufacturing was 144.0 cases per
10,000 workers.
These data are a product of the BLS Safety and Health Statistics
Program. Additional information is available from Occupational Injuries and
Illnesses: Counts, Rates, and Characteristics, 1996 (BLS Bulletin 2512). Examples of
disorders associated with repeated trauma are conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome,
noise-induced hearing loss, and bursitis.
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
.
Read more »