Table 3 provides an analysis of the rate of occupational accidents
among the migrant contract workers and local workers,
based on the data gathered from the 240 respondent factories. It
was apparent that the permanent workers were more prone to
occupational accidents compared to migratory contractual workers.
The results of the study revealed that contrary to common
belief, contract workers suffered less occupational accidents compared
to their permanent counterparts, even in the risky workstations,
such as the machining centres and rough-milling section.
Further, the workers’ hands and wrists were the most common
anatomical sites for injury, while their eyes, ankle, feet and other
anatomical parts accounted for less than 12% of the injuries reported.
Almost all accidents occurred at machines centres operating
at high speeds (>18,000 rpm) such as at routers and shapers,
while in the rough mill the accidents were mainly at the cross
cut saw due to poor handling of wood stock, insufficient safety
gadgets i.e. safety boots, gloves. The machines also lack safety gadgets.
This observation is applicable to all countries in the study.
This finding was similar to the reports by Bazroy et al. (2003)
and Holcroft and Punnett (2009) who found that in labour intensive industries, the hands and wrists were easily injured
due to the manual nature of the job. Cuts and lacerations accounted
for almost 55% of the accidents/injuries reported, followed
by eye injuries (20%), sprains (12%) and other types of injuries
making up the rest, similar to the report borne out by Smith