Occupational injuries- magnitude

© University of Bergen

Annually, occupational accidents and work-related diseases cause 2.9 million fatalities, out of which over 320,000 are caused by occupational accidents and 2.58 million by work-related diseases. There were also about 395 million non-fatal occupational accidents (requiring at least four days of absence from work) in 2019, meaning that, overall, occupational accidents provoke injury or ill health for approximately 1 090 000 people every day. In most countries vast numbers of workplace accidents, fatalities and diseases are not even reported or recorded. Global figures can therefore only be estimated.

Occurrence

Most work-related deaths and non-fatal occupational accidents occur in low- and middle-income countries in South-East Asia and the Western Pacific region. These countries have the highest proportion of the world’s working population, in addition to having a high proportion of workers in risky jobs, as is found in other developing countries. Nevertheless, high-income countries also present a significant number of work-related fatalities, though fatal accidents represent a smaller portion of their death toll.

^{The global map illustrates regional divisions by income categories used for estimating work-related accidents and fatal diseases. The regional codes are displayed in the upper part of the figure (Reproduced by permission from ILO).}

^{The figure shows that in 2019, 89% of occupational fatalities worldwide were due to occupational diseases, while 11% were caused by occupational accidents. (The figure is based on data from Scand J Work Environ Health, 2024).}

^{The figure shows that in 2019, work-related deaths were highest in low- and middle-income countries in the Western Pacific (WPRO) and South-East Asia (SEARO) regions. (The figure is based on data from Scand J Work Environ Health, 2024).}

As illustrated above the biggest component of occupational-related mortality, 2.58 million, is linked to work-related diseases with 0.32 million linked to occupational injuries. However, in industrialized countries the share of deaths caused by occupational injuries and work-related communicable diseases is very low compared to the share caused by non-communicable diseases. (Global Estimates of the Burden of Injury and Illness at Work in 2012, Takala).

ILO estimates show that the fatality rate in advanced industrialized economies is almost half that of Central and Eastern Europe, China and India. Selected hazardous jobs can be from 10 to 100 times riskier. Construction sites in developing countries are 10 times more dangerous than in industrialized countries.

High-risk sectors

Agriculture, construction, forestry, fishing and manufacturing are the most hazardous sectors, accounting for 200,000 fatal injuries, which represent about 60 percent of all fatal occupational injuries. One in three fatal occupational injuries worldwide occur among agricultural workers. Additionally, the mining, quarrying, construction, and utilities sectors have the highest fatal occupational injury rates globally. Within sectors, some jobs are more dangerous than others.
(International Labour Organization, 2023).(ILO; A call for safer and healthier working environments) (International Labour Organization, 2009).(ILO; Safety in numbers)

Agriculture

Agriculture is one of the three most hazardous sectors, in both industrialized and developing countries. Moreover, it currently employs an estimated 874 million workers worldwide, corresponding to 27.4 per cent of total global employment (ILO modelled estimates, November 2020). The ILO estimates that at least 210,000 agricultural workers are killed each year. This means that workers in agriculture run over three times the risk of dying on the job as compared with workers in other sectors. Millions more agricultural workers are seriously injured in workplace accidents with agricultural machinery or by being poisoned by pesticides and other agrochemicals. Furthermore, widespread under-reporting of deaths, injuries and occupational diseases in the agricultural sector means that the real picture of the occupational health and safety of farm workers is likely to be worse than official statistics indicate.

Mining

Mining accounts for only about 1 per cent of the global workforce, but it is responsible for up to 8 per cent of fatal accidents at work (about 25,000 per year, or over 70 each day. Despite considerable efforts in many parts of the industry to improve its safety record, in countries engaging in mining, it remains their most hazardous occupation , when the number of people exposed to risk is taken into account.

Construction industry

In the construction industry, at least 108,000 people are fatally injured on building sites every year, a figure which represents about 30 per cent of all occupational fatal injuries. Data from several industrialized countries indicate that construction workers are 3 to 4 times more likely to die from workplace accidents compared to other workers. In the developing world, the risks associated with construction work may be 3 to 6 times higher. The main causes of fatalities in the sector include falls, fatal crush injuries and the impact of falling objects, and electrocution. Many more workers suffer and die from occupational diseases caused by past exposure to hazardous substances, such as asbestos.

Fishing

Over 58 million people are engaged in the primary sector of capture fisheries and aquaculture. Fishing is among the most dangerous industries in many countries. In 1999, ILO estimated that up to 24,000 fishermen die every year in accidents on fishing vessels. In 2019, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released its own estimate of 32,000 deaths per year, based on the increase in the number of fishers and the earlier ILO estimate. Many developed countries still exceed the fatality rate in fishing, with more than 80 deaths per 100,000 fishers per year, as estimated by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1999. While the number of fishing accidents and fatalities in most developed countries is slowly declining, several developing countries have reported a rise in fishing accidents. Common accidents in fishing operations that result in injuries and fatalities include capsizing of vessels, onboard fires, man overboard incidents, entanglement in machinery or gear, tripping or falling, injuries from handling gear or caught fish, engine or steering system failures and collisions.

Ship breaking

Ship breaking is also particularly hazardous, not least at the Asian beachheads where much of the work is now done. Ninety percent of ship-breaking in the world is carried out in Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan and Turkey. Workers’ safety is jeopardized by the absence of basic precautions, work planning and training. Low reporting standards mean that the health and safety statistics for this sector are erratic and unreliable.

^{This photo of shipbreaking in Bangladesh highlights the hazardous working conditions in the industry. Photo: Naquib Hossain}

Informal sector

Workers in the informal sector face major safety and health problems. This covers a wide range of precarious jobs, mainly in developing countries, in which the worker does not have any formalized relationship with an employer. In general, informal workers tend to have a poor working environment and welfare facilities, and virtually non-existent occupational health services. According to a ILO report, the informal sector now accounts for about half of the workers in the world. In some countries, such as Bangladesh, Mali, Nepal and Pakistan, it represents 70 per cent of total employment. Over the past decade, it is estimated to have created over 90 per cent of the new jobs in Africa.

Other relevant information

The ILO has produced a series of International Hazard Data Sheets for specific occupations such as farmers, stone cutters, welders and scaffold workers.

ILO has established a statistics web-site on cases of injury with lost workdays, rates of occupational injuries and days lost by economic activity in a number of countries in all regions of the world. Figures from this statistics illustrate large differences in the rate of occupational fatalities between countries.

Competitiveness, safety and health go hand-in-hand; the lower the number of accidents the higher the competitiveness and Productivity (Takala et. al., 2014). Figure 4 in the link below illustrates the association between competitiveness as measured by the World Economic Forum in 2013, and total accident rates using data reported to the ILO.
Takala et.al., Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, 11: 326–337, 2014

Major incidents

Major industrial accidents are reminders of the unsafe conditions still faced by many. For example, the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh resulted in the death of 1,129 individuals and injured 2,500 more, mostly factory workers making garments for overseas retail chains (The Guardian, 2013).

Several catastrophic factory fires and explosions in the last few years have also caused much concern. These incidents are a reminder that fires and explosions can occur anywhere, not only in sectors usually regarded as “high risk”.

^{The table provides examples of major factory fires and explosions with high fatality numbers between 2012 and 2022.}