NEWS | Wednesday, 04 February 2009

PRINT THIS ARTICLE

Claims to non-fatal accidents at work decreased by 17.5% in the last three months of 2008, when compared to the same period last year.
All claims of accidents at work were reported to the Department of Social Security (DSS) between October and December 2008. The claims are for injury benefits that are submitted to the DSS, irrespective of the number of days lost.
According to the National Statistics Office, the DSS records indicate that 820 persons had an accident in the course of their work in the period under review. The number of accidents in the fourth quarter in 2008 decreased by 174 (-17.5%) when compared to the last quarter of 2007.
Many of these accidents at work occurred in the economic sectors of manufacturing (25.7%); construction (16.6%); and transport, storage, and communications (10.8%).
The occupational categories that are mostly affected by accidents are the elementary and trades occupations, where 436 cases (53.2%) concerned people in elementary occupations, while 145 cases (17.7%) affected people in craft/trades work.
Persons under 35 years of age were the victims of 47% of accidents at work. 385 of these accidents occurred to this age cohort.
People at work are mostly affected by injuries in the upper extremities of their body. 45.2% of accidents at work concerned the upper extremities of the body, including hands and fingers. Wounds and superficial injuries are the most common types of injuries, which featured in 349 (42.6%) of these mishaps.
The Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA) reported that between October and December 2008 there were no fatalities at work, compared to three fatalities at work in 2007.

PRINT THIS ARTICLE

Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below.
Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.