A staggering 83 per cent of local factory sewing machine operators claim to suffer some sort of pain, with 70 per cent resorting to painkillers to cope with their work.
More worrying is the fact that 57 per cent have never visited their doctor about any of the ills described.
These alarming figures emerged from a Eurosafe survey on repetitive strain injuries (RSI) carried out in the clothing industry in Malta, the UK and Italy, and released by the General Workers' Union yesterday.
Eurosafe is a transcontinental cooperation project funded by the European Commission under the Grundtvig/Socrates programme. The local partners of the survey include the GWU and the Workers' Development Centre.
RSI, which can sometimes be debilitating, occurs from repeated physical movements that damage tendons, nerves, muscles and other soft body tissues.
The quantitative survey in Malta involved interviewing 306 machine operators, 304 of whom were female, in eight factories between February and mid-April.
The highest number of workers, 40 per cent, who claimed to suffer from RSI fell in the 21-25 age bracket, while 20 per cent were as young as 16 to 20.
A high 57 per cent never visited their doctors about their pain and those who did were sometimes given medical advice to stay at home and rest.
However, Eurosafe project manager Norma Saliba said rest was often cut short because the company doctor sent to visit the patient did not recognise RSI, despite the other doctor's medical certificate.
Pills and creams, massage and physiotherapy, injections and surgical operations were also often prescribed as treatment to workers who complained of pain mostly in the back, shoulders, neck, wrists, arms and fingers.
Operators said they believed their pain could be induced by the fact that their work table was not large enough, chairs were not supportive and some complained they did not have adjustable chairs, forcing them to spend hours bent over to do their work.
When compared with the qualitative survey conducted in a factory in Grosseto, Italy, Maltese sewing machine operators reported identical rates as the Italians in repetitive movements of the wrists and hands.
However, while a high percentage of Maltese (90 per cent) and Italians (73 per cent) said their workmates complained of pain, only 24 per cent of Italians made use of painkillers as opposed to 70 per cent of Maltese.
No comparisons could be made with the British survey since this has not yet been completed.
Eurosafe coordinator Roberto Cristiano said the results would be seen in a wider dimension and there were plans to discuss what collective action could be taken at factories with the help of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority.
Job rotation could be one of the solutions to alleviate the pain but workers did not welcome this move since they were rewarded by bonuses according to their production levels - rotating would mean they suffered financial loss.
Ms Saliba said it was now vital to start an education campaign among workers to make them conscious of the hazards associated with their work.
A curriculum will also be formulated to serve as the basis for a study programme to disseminate more information on the subject.