Background: Occupational accidents and work-related diseases cause over 2.3 million deaths annually; nearly 860,000 people are injured every day globally. There are limited studies that specifically determine the magnitude and associated factors of occupational injury in textile workers done in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of occupational injury in Arba Minch Textile Factory workers.

Methods: An institution based cross-sectional study design was implemented from March 3 to March 20, 2015 among selected 433 Arba Minch Textile Factory workers. An Amharic version pre-tested questionnaire and observation checklist were used to collect the data using trained six data collectors and two supervisors. Data was entered into Epi Info version 7 templates, cleaned and analyzed using SPSS Version 21 software. Bivariate logistic regression was used to explore the relation between the dependent and independent variables using crude odds ratio with 95% C.I. Finally, to determine the independent factors associated with occupational injury, multivariate logistic regression model with hierarchical entry of variables was done. Variables with P-value <0.05 in the final model were considered statistically significant.

Results: The one year prevalence of occupational injury was 31.4%. Lower monthly salary was associated with higher odds of injury among the socio-demographic factors [AOR (95%C.I): 3.5(1.7, 7.2)]. Work environment related factors like extra hour duty, health and safety training and workplace supervision had significant association after adjusting all factors [AOR (95%C.I): 2.5 (1.2, 5.4), 0.4 (0.17, 0.97), and 0.36 (0.17, 0.75) respectively]. Among the behavioral factors, Personal Protective Equipment use and job stress showed association with injury significantly.

Conclusion: The significant prevalence and associated factors of occupational injury in the factory workers should alert the factory, governmental and non-governmental organizations working on Occupational Health and Safety.