Occupational injuries in a synthetic fibre factory in Iran.

BACKGROUND

A lack of information on the overall characteristics of work-related injuries in Iran holds back the development of effective injury prevention strategies.

AIM: To evaluate characteristics of work-related injuries in a synthetic fibre factory in Iran.

METHODS

This study reports a 16-year (1991-2007) experience of ongoing surveillance of work-related injuries in a large synthetic fibre factory. Descriptive statistics were used to show the overall characteristics of work-related injuries. Associations between external causes of injury and the odds of an accident occurring that led to hospital referral were examined using logistic regression analyses.

RESULTS

In total, 836 injury events were reported. Almost half of these (46%) involved injury to hand/wrist, while about a quarter (24%) of injuries were to the head and 10% to ankle/foot. Hospital referral after an injury was related mainly to falls [odds ratio (OR) 3.24, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.72-6.12, P < 0.001] and to work involving moving machinery (OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.12-3.55, P = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates that falls are a serious safety concern in the workplace. The results also show that 80% of injury events affected hand/wrist, ankle/foot or head; a finding which could be used in injury prevention efforts.