FACTS
- Accident rates are lower where employees genuinely feel they have a say in H&S matters, compared with workplaces where employees don’t get involved.
- Workplaces with H&S committees where some members are selected by unions have significantly lower rates of work-related injury than workplaces with no co-operative H&S management.
- Certain work conditions can prove hazardous to workers and hence permit-to-work system should be followed to safeguard workers who do repair, cleaning or maintenance services in dangerous areas.
- The work involving electrical, mechanical or process isolation or handling hazardous materials can sometime prove fatal. Permit-to-work systems analyse the risks and provide proper risk control measures for workers’ safety.
STATS
- 1.6 million working people suffering from a work-related illness
- 2,369 mesothelioma deaths due to past asbestos exposures (2019)
- 142 workers killed at work (2020/21)
- 693,000 working people sustain an injury at work according to the Labour Force Survey
- 65,427 injuries to employees reported under RIDDOR
- 38.8 million working days lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury
- Workplace injuries are alarmingly common. According to the National Safety Council, in the United States, a worker is injured on the job every seven seconds. This equates to:
- 540 work injuries per hour
- 12,900 work injuries per day
- 90,400 work injuries per week
- 7 million work injuries per year
- Also according to the NSC, these injuries result in 99 million days of lost productivity on an annual basis. This means that, on average, each work injury results in 21 days of disability. As an average, this means that some workers are able to return to work fairly quickly (if they even miss any time at all); but, it also means that many workers experience long-term disabling effects from their job-related injuries.