Work Related Injury/Illness & Type

We asked the flight attendants about the number of work-related injuries or illnesses (e.g. 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or more) they experienced over the past year.  Close to half of flight attendants (47%) told us they experienced one or more work-related injuries/illnesses in the past year and 29% said they had more than one injury in the last year. (n = 3,667)

Distribution of the frequency of the work injury or illness number of work related illness

    Of the 47% of flight attendants who experienced one or more injuries, we asked them to describe their injuries.  If the flight attendant had more than one injury, he/she could choose a description for up to the first 3 injuries. In addition, more than one description could be selected if the injury/illness involved multiple health effects. The choices for the description of the injury included the following:

    • Musculoskeletal: strain or sprain, joint aches and pains or fracture, contusion, laceration
    • Respiratory: trouble breathing, infection
    • Neurological: dizziness, headaches, numbness and tingling, fatigue
    • Psychological: anxiety, stress, depression
    • Cardiac: chest pain or tightness, high blood pressure, clots
    • Other

    We found that the large majority of problems were:

    • musculoskeletal in nature (35%)
    • respiratory (21%)
    • neurological problems (17%)
    • psychological problems (14%)
    types of work related illness


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