Date of Award

Spring 2018

Document Type

Master's Project

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

STEM Education & Professional Studies

Program/Concentration

Occupational and Technical Studies

Committee Director

Karina Arcaute

Abstract

The study focused on the correlation of injuries and time in service for workers in labor intensive, repetitive jobs. The population for this study comprised all hourly employees working at the Wal-Mart Distribution Center located in Mount Crawford, VA. In compliance with OSHA requirements, when an employee injury requiring medical attention occurs the data is collected and recorded. These data records were provided by the Safety Manager of the facility. The data was collected from February 2016 through January 2017 to coincide with fiscal year. During this time period there were 685 employees working within the warehouse.

A Chi-square statistical analysis was used on the collected data (February 2016 – January 2017) at a level of significance of 5%. The calculated p-value was <0.0001, indicating that there is a significant difference in the number of injuries occurring to employees who are employed for less than one year versus employees who are employed for more than a year and performing the same job tasks (28 vs. 6). The data analysis also revealed that the incidence of muscle injuries (41.1%) is larger than other injury types. The incidence of contusions is 20.5%, sprains 14.7%, and cuts, eye injuries or other types 23.5%. The results and conclusions of this study indicate that employees with one year or less of service have a higher accident rate. One consideration to reduce the higher incidence rate of accidents in new employees should focus on the training provided to new employees.

Comments

A Research Paper Submitted to the Faculty of Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE OCCUPATIONAL AND TECHNICAL STUDIES

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