Some minimal but rewarding news came out of Singapore recently, as the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Department unveiled numbers on workplace fatalities for the first half of 2013.
According to the report from the WSH Institute, the first six months of the year witnessed 25 workplace fatal injuries, a minor drop from the 26 fatalities during the same period last year.
Minor workplace injuries also saw a drop, from 5,160 cases to 5,029, as compared to the same period last year. There was a slight uptick for the number of major workplace injuries to 257 from 255 the previous year. The total number of reported workplace injuries decreased by 2.4%, and the number of occupational disease cases fell by nearly half to 372 cases from 634 cases, compared to the same period last year.
Problems Still in Construction Sector
The Construction sector remained the top contributor of workplace fatal injuries, with an increase in the number of workplace fatal injuries as compared the same period last year.
On the other hand, the Marine and Manufacturing sectors saw lower numbers of workplace fatal injuries, from 3 cases to 1 and from 5 cases to 1 respectively. Together, the three traditional high risk sectors accounted for 52% of all workplace fatal injuries reported.
The most common incident types that led to workplace fatal injuries were falls, struck by moving objects, collapse/ failure of structure and equipment, and electrocution. These accounted for 80% of the total workplace fatal injuries. Injuries from falls were among the leading types of incidents, with 7 workplace fatal injuries in the first half of 2013, despite the decrease from 8 in the preceding year.
The number of workplace fatal injuries from being struck by moving objects increased from 2 cases to 7, compared to the same period last year. Workplace major injuries increased slightly from 255 cases in the first half of 2012 to 257 cases in the same period this year, even though the number of cases per 100,000 employed persons went down from 9.7 to 9.4.
The traditional high risk sectors account for 139 cases (54%) of the total workplace major injuries reported, lower than the 145 cases reported in the same period last year. The Construction sector remained the largest contributor, accounting for 63 (25%) workplace major injuries, a drop from the 77 cases seen in the same period last year.
Manufacturing Sector Still a Concern
The number of workplace minor injuries in the first half of 2013 declined. The traditional high risk sectors account for 2,419 (48%) of workplace minor injuries. The Manufacturing sector remained the highest contributor despite a decrease of 71 cases (5.4%) in workplace minor injuries compared to the same period last year, while the Construction and Marine sectors recorded an increase of 40 (4.2%) and 18 (10%) cases of workplace minor injuries respectively.
Commenting on the WSH statistics, Dr Jukka Takala, executive director of the WSH Institute, noted “Although we see a decrease in the number of workplace fatal and minor injuries in the first half of the year, it is timely that we track and take a closer look at work-related traffic injuries as it forms a significant proportion of the total workplace injuries.”
Author Michael B. Stack, CPA, Director of Operations, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in employer communication systems and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. He is a writer, speaker, and website publisher. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.
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