[Back pain at the French National Electricity and Gas Company].

Frequency and severity of sickness absence due to back pain were studied among workers in the French National Electric and Gas Company. The results showed that the prevalence of back pain was less than 10% a year but the annual duration of absence that it involved was relatively important: 30 days in the average per disabled person. In a second part, the prevalence was studied according to individual and occupational variables. Differences according to occupational category are very important: between the occupations the most prone to absence, those of "switchboard operator", "mechanics driver" and "warehouseman" and the ones least exposed "managerial staff" and "skilled technician and upper management", the ratio for the prevalences was 10.