ENVIRONMENT

Queensland miners suffer common eye and hand injuries

WHILE serious injuries in the Queensland mining industry are few and far between, the frequency of minor injuries remains high, according to the latest bulletin from the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit.

Staff Reporter
Queensland miners suffer common eye and hand injuries

In the seven years from 1998 to 2005, 5772 miners attending the surveillance unit were treated for an injury sustained at their workplace.

QISU said 97% of the injured were males and the majority suffered an eye or hand injury.

Dr Dirken Krahn, paediatric emergency fellow for Mater Children's Hospital, said eye injuries generally occurred as a result of foreign material contact or being lodged in the eye or as a result of welding flash or exposure to heat or noxious substances.

Dr Krahn said males and females suffer similar injury patterns and despite progressive safety efforts in the industry, mining fatality rates have not dropped in the past decade.

QISU encouraged regular safety training and the standardisation of safety practices for all personnel in a bid to reduce the severity and frequency of injuries at minesites.

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