The Post Office occupational health service was established in 1855. Unique epidemiological records of sickness absence, medical retirements, and deaths for 90 years have been extracted from annual reports. The stability of the death rate is striking, but the male sickness absence series is consistent with three periods of roughly constant rates, viz 7-6, 10-0, and 13-1 calendar days a year with increases in level coinciding with the two world wars. By contrast with general experience, Post Office absence has not shown a rising trend in the past 30 years. An examination of the relation between medical retirement and sickness absence rates shows that a strongly negative correlation has reversed to a strongly positive one since the second world war. The major changes in diagnostic causes of absence, retirements, and deaths are described.

Abstract: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 lOOO), machine operators ( n = 450, 11.9 per 1000) and sawmill workers ( n = 498,7.7 per 1000). The injury rate for meat workers, carpenterjoiners, machine operators and sawmillers increased significantly over the 10-year study period. (Aust N ZJPublic Health 1997; 21: 451-4) NJURIES to workers that occur during workrelated activities continue to attract interest in I developed countries. New Zealand investigations fall into one of three general categories: those in which the focus is on the outcome of the injury (death,' or nonfatal injuries, with lacerations, sprains, and strains being the most i m p~r t a n t~~~) ; those in which the focus is identification of occupational groups with comparatively high injury rates (meat exporters, abattoirs, rural slaughter houses: 214 per 1000; coal mining: 210 per 1000; forestry: 171 per 1000;4 and commercial fishermen, 6 per 10005); and those in which the focus is on the demographic variables of the injured worker (injury rate for males higher than for females in all age groups; upper (55-64 years) and lower age groups (15-24 years) sustain highest rates3). The absence of a comprehensive data source for work-related nonfatal injuries means that a variety of sources is used, including information from compensation claims made to the Accident Compensation C~rporation.~The study examined one general body site, the hand, wrist and lower arm, reported to be commonly implicated in work-related injuries resulting in treatment in a New Zealand hospital. The problem of occupational injuries to this body site could be mitigated by the introduction of protective equipment, such as gloves and wrist protectors, into the workplace. This issue has received limited attention in the literature.6 MethodsUsing the morbidity database maintained by the Department of Health's Health Statistical Services, and approved confidentiality procedures, we examined relevant hospital discharge cases from 1979 to 1988. This national database records inpatient discharges from public hospitals in New Zealand. Readmissions after the original admission for treatment of the same injury were excluded. The data set may include a very small number of records generated as a result of patients being transferred between hospitals. In New Zealand, public hospitals provide most inpatient treatment for injury. For example, in 1988, 95 per cent of injury discharges were from publi...

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 lOOO), machine operators ( n = 450, 11.9 per 1000) and sawmill workers ( n = 498,7.7 per 1000). The injury rate for meat workers, carpenterjoiners, machine operators and sawmillers increased significantly over the 10year study period.