RESUMO
He present study followed the 6 monthly reports of illnesses and accidents issued from 925 companies in Alexandria from the year 1990 to the end of 1994. The aim of this work is to test the presence of a relationship between illnesses and injury occurrence in different types of industries. The involved companies were categorized according to their main activity into 5 types: spinning and weaving, chemical, engineering, food processing and service companies. The illnesses were divided into acute [less than 7 days sick leave] and chronic illnesses. Simple and multiple regression analyses were utilized involving the frequency and severity of injuries as dependent factors and the number of workers, the frequency and severity of both acute and chronic diseases as independent factors. Results indicated that large companies showed a significantly higher frequency and severity of occupational injuries [P<0.001]. This holds true for all types of industries except the engineering category. All regression analyses revealed a significant positive relationship between frequency and severity of injuries and each of the number of workers, frequency and severity of acute and chronic illnesses. Stepwise regression showed that frequency of acute illnesses is the most important predictor of frequency of injuries while number of workers is the first predictor of severity of injuries. This can be useful as a preliminary tool for locating weak points in the preventive strategy to be adopted in different industries