CHCC: Work related injuries skyrocket

The number of people being hurt or injured in the line of work has been growing since 2015, according to official documents obtained by Saipan Tribune.

When asked about it, Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer Esther Muña said the growing number of employment related injuries are “alarming for CHCC.”

“[CHCC] is concerned because any increase in numbers in any category of diagnosis affects our health system, [CHCC] services, increases expenditures, and increases demand for resources such as staffing and medical supplies,” said Muña in an interview.

The report Saipan Tribune obtained did not indicate which and the type of companies that had employment related injuries.

Muña wishes to expand education into the workplace so as to inform employees of hazardous work environments.

“We need to have some kind of education. We are hoping that some agency would participate in making work environments safe for our workers,” she said. “It’s definitely necessary.”

Some construction sites display “Days Without Injury Signs” to indicate the number of days when a work site has had no injuries among its employees.

In the document Saipan Tribune obtained, it specified a 370-percent increase in employment related injuries in less than three years, from 2015 to 2017, coming in at a total of just 30 cases in 2015. In 2016, that number jumped to 141 cases.

On a month-by-month look at the 2015 numbers, October had the most number of injuries for the year, with 10 cases.

All other months had fewer than five cases, with January, February, and May having no cases of employment related injuries at all.

Twelve months later, the year 2016 paints a grimmer picture.

At first glance, employment related injuries were reported for each month.

Unlike in 2015, which featured single-digit cases all through the year except for October, the year 2016 had seven months with less than 10 cases; February and April led the cluster with eight cases each.

Statistics for 2016 also showed a sudden spike in the number of cases toward the end of the year. Beginning October 2016, employment related injuries grew, from September’s six cases to 26 in October. Employment related injuries were constantly well over 20 cases and peaked in November at 30 cases. December 2016 had 21 cases.

“I believe it is now time to make sure that there is a way to ensure that employees are safe in the workplace,” said Muña.