Hand injuries are common, costly and largely preventable
Imagine life without the use of your hands.
Suddenly, basic tasks in the workplace and at home – from operating a torque drill to turning the ignition key in your vehicle – become major obstacles. Clearly, our hands are vital tools for performing a myriad of essential life and work functions, not to mention the fact that they are one of our primary points of contact with the world around us.
Yet the data suggests that too far many people are putting their hands at risk – and paying a steep price.
Injuries to the hand, wrist and fingers accounted for 10.3 percent of all U.S. emergency-room visits in 2009, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In numbers, that’s 4.7 million injuries.
In the workplace, only the back contributes to more days-away-from-work injuries than the hands. According to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers reported 140,460 hand injuries that led to lost workdays in 2011, at an incidence rate of 13.9.