Workplace accidents kill nine last year

In 2022, nine people died as a result of workplace accidents, and over 4,200 workers were injured, according to the latest data from the Labour Affairs Bureau (DSAL).

According to the report released last week, one fatality was found allegedly to be related to violations of occupational safety and health law and regulations. Nonetheless, the bureau underlined that all fatality cases were set to be reviewed by the judiciary and adjustments to these numbers are a possibility once judicial rulings are available.

Of all injuries documented, 22 workers lost their ability to work permanently, while 4,243 lost ability temporarily. Of the latter group, 456 did not require leave of absence.

Compared to last year’s data, the overall injury figure has dropped 12%. As for injuries resulting in the permanent and temporary loss of occupational abilities, as well as of fatality, respectively 10.5%, 78.8% and 40% decreases were recorded compared to 2021.

In 2022, nearly all workplaces were called to suspend operations for at least a week due to Covid-19 lockdowns.

Categorizing injuries by type of profession, the gaming and other service industries logged the highest number of workplace injuries, reaching 959 or 22.4%. In the hotel and dining industry, 799 injuries or 18.7% were recorded. In real estate and industrial and commercial services, 507 injuries or 11.9% were recorded. All three professions had one fatal accident.

The construction industry, however, is the profession with the highest fatality record, reaching four. The other two fatalities happened in the manufacturing and the transport, storage and communication industries, with one fatality each.

In terms of accident rate per 1,000 workers, the transport, storage and communication, the manufacturing, as well as the hotel and dining industries were the top three, reaching 25.4%, 21.7% and 17.7% respectively.