Summertime Leads to an Increase in Workplace Hand and Upper Extremity Injuries

Sonya Khurana, M.D.

According to a Bureau of Labor and Statistics study, there is an increase in work-related injuries and fatalities during the summer, with the peak month being July. With warmer weather just around the corner, employers and employees must remain vigilant to help prevent hand and upper extremity injuries.

Reasons for such increased work-related injuries include, but are not limited to: hot weather leading to increased fatigue and loss of focus, increased construction activities, summer storms, insect bites, gardening wounds, and inexperienced seasonal workers.

Working in extreme heat can cause workers to fatigue quicker and lose focus. This combined with sweaty hands that cause slippage of instruments can lead to lacerations, amputations, open fractures, sprains, and strains. Most superficial wounds can be treated with local wound care and sutures, if necessary. The worker should be evaluated if there is a concern for injury to any of the “white structures” of the upper extremity such as tendons, ligaments, or bones. Allowing employees to take breaks from the heat, utilizing cooling stations, and stressing the use of safety gloves when using sharp instruments or machinery can help prevent these injuries.

Increased construction activities are often accompanied by the expanded use of vibratory instruments. Frequent use of vibratory instruments can cause damage to nerves in the hand and upper extremity, trigger finger, and lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow). Employees need frequent breaks from the vibratory tool and varied upper extremity tasks to perform to help prevent these conditions from forming or becoming exacerbated. Heavy manual overhead labor during construction can cause shoulder and elbow pain.

Those who work outside during summer storms are at risk for hand and upper extremity fractures, sprains, strains from slipping and falling during the rain, and/or electrical burns from lightning storms. Employees need to seek shelter and cease outdoor work activities during summer storms.

Insects are more active in the summer and bee stings and insect bites to the hand and upper extremity are common. Some plants, like roses, have sharp thorns that can get lodged in the skin of the upper extremity. Most of these gardening wounds/bites may be treated with local wound care, but there is also a risk of a secondary infection. Employers and employees should seek care for these if there is a concern for infection, including redness, drainage, swelling, and increased pain. Wearing gloves while working, clean light-colored clothing, and using insecticides can help stave off insect bites and stings.

Inexperienced seasonal workers may not be familiar or comfortable with machinery around the workplace or protocols that are in place for the protection of the workers. The employer should review safety information with all workers, including the seasonal ones, and ensure they are properly trained on how to use the equipment.

Even though data shows an increase in worker injuries in the summer months, with the proper vigilance, training, and work equipment, the number of workplace injuries can be reduced or even prevented.

Sonya Khurana, M.D., is a hand, wrist, elbow, and shoulder surgeon at Perimeter Orthopedics in Atlanta and Woodstock. She is double fellowship-trained in hand and microvascular surgery as well as upper extremity and shoulder surgery. Dr. Khurana is a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, the American Association of Hand Surgery, and the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society for female orthopaedic surgeons.