01-10-2021 - In 2019, the number of accidents at work increased by 6.6% in the Region compared to the previous year

In 2019

Number of accidents at work increased by 6.6.% in the Region compared to the previous year

The Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira (DREM) releases today on its website, a time series on accidents at work, updated with data for 2019.

According to the data provided to the Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira (DREM) by the Regional Directorate of Labour and Inspection Action, there were 3,778 accidents at work in the Autonomous Region of Madeira. In 2019, the number of accidents (+233) went up by 6.6% with 2 fatal casualties being recorded (1 in 2018).

The sectors of “Accommodation and food service activities” and “Construction” concentrated the higher number of accidents at work, representing, in 2019, 19.0% of the total in both sectors, followed by the sector of “Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles” with 14.2%. The “Public administration and defence; Compulsory Social Security” sector recorded the largest decrease, with fewer 58 accidents, meaning a 27.6% drop. It should be noted that accidents in this sector accounted for only 4.0% of the total.

By gender and age groups, in 2019, the majority of the accidents happened with men (69.2%) and with persons aged between 35 and 54 years old (54.8%). The professional groups of “Refuse Workers and Other Elementary Workers” (437 accidents; 11.6%) and “Building and Related Trades Workers (excluding Electricians)” (421 accidents; 11.1%) were the ones with the highest number of accidents.

With regard to the type of accident location, 21.6% of accidents occurred in the "Industrial site" (816 accidents) and 16.2% in "Tertiary activity area, office, amusement area, miscellaneous" (613 accidents). The cause of most accidents was "Body movement under or with physical stress" (26.0% of total accidents).

The main types of occurrence that caused injury were “Physical and mental stress” (22.9% of the total) and “Horizontal or vertical impact with or against a stationary object” (15.2%).

With regard to the consequences of accidents, “Wounds and superficial injuries” (44.7%) and “Dislocations, sprains and strains” (39.2%) were the most common types of injury, in 2019. More than half of the accidents affected the “Upper or lower extremities of the body”(34.6% and 26.2%, respectively).

Regarding the number of days away from work, 30.6% of the non-deadly accidents at work did not imply absence from work. Amongst the remaining, 7 to 13 days away from work were the consequence of 17.5% of the non-deadly accidents. In 2019, the highest number of days lost was recorded in the“Construction” sector (20,659 days; 20.7% of the total).