31-10-2018 - The Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira releases a time series of accidents at work updated with the information for the year 2016

The Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira releases a time series of accidents at work updated with the information for the year 2016

The Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira (DREM) releases today on its website, a time series on accidents at work, updated with data for 2016. These data were provided to DREM by the Cabinet of Planning and Strategy of the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security and by the Regional Directorate of Labour and Inspection Action.

In 2016, there were 3,568 accidents at work in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, of which resulted two casualties. Compared to 2015, the total number of accidents at work went up by 80, representing an increase of 2.3%. The number of casualties in 2015 was the same (2). The sectors of “Hotels and restaurants”, “Trade” and “Construction” were the ones which concentrated a higher number of accidents at work, representing in 2016, 17.9%, 15.8% and 13.5% of the total, respectively. The number of accidents at work in “Public administration and defense; compulsory social security” dropped by 24.0%, representing only 7.0% of the total.

The majority of accidents happened with men (67.0%) and with persons aged between 35 and 54 years old (55.2%). The professional groups of “Cleaners and helpers” (362 accidents) and “Professional Service Workers” (337 accidents) were the ones with a higher number of accidents in 2016. Most accidents happened in a “Tertiary activity area, office, amusement area, miscellaneous” (1,165) and in industrial sites (564).

The main types of occurrence that caused injury were “Physical and mental stress” (33.8% of the total) and “Horizontal or vertical impact with or against a stationary object” (24.5%). “Wounds and superficial injuries” (42.7%) and “Dislocations, sprains and strains” (34.6%) were the most common types of injury. More than half of the accidents affected the upper or lower extremities of the body (33.7% and 25.9%, respectively).

36.6% of the non-deadly accidents at work did not imply absence from work. 7 to 13 days away from work were the consequence of 14.0% of the non-deadly accidents. In 2016, the highest number of days lost happened in “Construction” (17,172 days, 17.2% of the total).