Interviewing immigrant poultry processing workers re carpal tunnel syndrome – comes up with simple belief – these workers knew that their work cause painful carpal tunnel but persevered to support their families. The repetitive cold working conditions fostered this condition. I have seen plently of cases where an injured worker will go back to a job that they know is harmful to their health just because they know nothing else and need to support themselves and family. Workman’s comp seems much more interested in getting them to return to their hostile work environment where their bosses demand them be 100% where I doubt the bosses are…
J Immigr Minor Health. 2013 Dec 21. [Epub ahead of print]
“…you earn money by suffering pain:” Beliefs About Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Among Latino Poultry Processing Workers.
Arcury TA, Mora DC, Quandt SA.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24363119
- they suggest line speed and break frequency changes might help
Comment – There are jobs that can only be endured for so long (look at life expectancy of professional sports players). People working on oil rigs for example will eventually suffer injury and have to terminate that line of work. It will take political will to plan ahead for certain jobs and make employers find scaled down alternatives as they get older. Otherwise people just keep getting injured and go back to a job they are no longer suited for… Having Workman’s Comp pretend they are all better (and hence terminate their coverage) only goes so far….