Occupational injury and illness profile of developmental center workers in New York.

Abstract

This study investigates the incidence of occupational injury and illess among developmental center employees, a relatively unstudied population. Most of these employees work for state-operated institutes that are exempted from OSHA regulations; thus, data on the occupational injuries and illnesses of these employees often are not readily available for study. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent or concern shown by the employers for the health and safety of these employees and the feasibility of improving their productivity through reduction of occupational incident. The overall 1980 disabling-injury-frequency rate for the workers surveyed was 107, about 2.5 times higher than that for workers in the private sector nationwide, whereas the disabling-injury-severity rate was 16,483.5, a shocking 50 times higher than that for private sector workers. The attendant category employees of state-operated institutes lost 25.8 out of 100 workdays on the job, due to job-related incidents as opposed to 0.3 for private sector workers. These incident-prone workers represent roughly 45% of the total population studied. Their incidents could have been prevented by meaningful safety measures. This study tends to support the argument that improvements in the work environment can reduce occupational injury and illness and lead to greater worker productivity.