Sprains and strains are by far the most frequent work-related injury, Rhode
Island Labor Market Information shows.
The percentage of sprain or strain injuries averaged about 40 percent from 1998 to 2002 – most commonly the back. Back injuries averaged 33 percent from 1998 to 2002.
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“Generally, most work-related injuries are spinal – the lower or upper back,” said Kathleen Sohar, director of patient care services at the Donley Center, a rehabilitation center in Providence for injured workers run by the Department of Labor and Training and funded by a portion of the workers’ compensation premiums assessed to each Rhode Island-based company.
“Most back injuries happen over time as a result of the daily activities we do, the way we turn, slouch, our weight and plain old age combined with a fall or lifting something the wrong way causes the majority of injuries,” Sohar said. “Most injuries on the job are true accidents where people get injured by not paying attention to what they are doing or how they are moving.”
Other body parts have much lower injury rates. Legs and toes get injured on the job an average of 17 percent of the time during that period. Injuries to the hands and fingers were about 15 percent, and the arms and wrists average 11 percent of indemnity injuries.
Many workers seek help at the Donley Center for carpal tunnel syndrome – an injury caused when a nerve that runs from the forearm into the hand is squeezed at the wrist from repetitive actions, causing pain, weakness, or numbness in the hand, wrist, and up the arm – but cases are on a decline, Sohar said.
“The industry has gotten good at deterring carpal tunnel by alternating workers’ tasks, allowing breaks. Automated equipment has also helped lower the occurrence,” Sohar said.
Bruises and crushing injuries averaged 11 percent between 1998 and 2002, and cuts, lacerations and puncture injuries were nearly as common, averaging 10.4 percent during that time, and fractures have steadily accounted for about 6 percent of injuries, Labor Market Information reports.
The rate of injuries per employment has declined steadily the past three years, dropping to 1.6 percent in 2003.
The rate of indemnity injuries per employment stayed around 2 percent from 1994 through 2000, but started to decline in 2001 and in 2003, the injury rate dropped to 1.6 percent, labor information shows.
An indemnity injury is a work-related injury or illness paid for by workers’ compensation benefits.
“There have been fewer worker injuries over the past decade. (The Donley Center) has seen a slight decrease these past two years, about 9 percent lower admission rates last year and this year,” Sohar said.
About 30 percent of indemnity injuries occur in the service sector and about 17.5 percent in manufacturing, down from 27 percent in 1992 when the manufacturing employment rate was higher.
The industries with the highest rate of indemnity injuries in 2002 were the service industry with 2,437, wholesale and retail trade with 1,419, and manufacturing with 1,324.
The employment sector with the highest rate of injury was transportation, communication and public utilities with 3.96 percent. The indemnity injuries in the agricultural sector have increased from 2.2 percent in 1998 to 3.3 percent in 2002. The injury rate for construction peaked at 4 percent in 1999 but declined to 3.1 percent in 2002, Rhode Island labor data shows.
