Downward trend in number of workplace accidents

Chivu, Luminiţa

Overview

Article

Downward trend in number of workplace accidents

Published: 18 September 2006

Luminiţa Chivu

Health and well-being

Working conditions

The Ministry of Labour, Social Solidarity and Family (Ministerul Muncii, Solidaritatii Sociale si Familiei din România, MMSSF [1]), through its Directorate for Strategy and Analysis, publishes a quarterly Statistical Bulletin [2] in which data are presented in relation to trends in the total number of employees reporting accidents at work. The bulletin includes data on the total economy, specific sectors of the economy, as well as the location of workplaces.[1] http://www.mmssf.ro/website/ro/[2] http://www.mmssf.ro/website/ro/statistici.jsp

In 2005, the number of persons involved in workplace accidents in Romania totalled 4,714, which continues the downward trend recorded from 2002 to 2005. The highest incidence of accidents continues to occur in the mining industry. Nevertheless, despite declining trends, the number of collective accidents and of employees affected by these categories of accidents has tended to increase.

The Ministry of Labour, Social Solidarity and Family (Ministerul Muncii, Solidaritatii Sociale si Familiei din România, MMSSF), through its Directorate for Strategy and Analysis, publishes a quarterly Statistical Bulletin in which data are presented in relation to trends in the total number of employees reporting accidents at work. The bulletin includes data on the total economy, specific sectors of the economy, as well as the location of workplaces.

General trends

The analysis of annual data from 2002 to 2005 reveals the following developments:

the number of workers suffering work-related injuries has declined from 6,209 people in 2002 to 4,714 people in 2005;
the proportion of fatal accidents amounted to 399 in 2002 and 406 in 2005;
the total number of those involved in collective accidents (more than three persons injured by the same cause at the same time) has increased substantially from 130 people in 2002 to 193 people in 2005;
the number of fatally injured people as a result of collective accidents amounted to 41 people in 2002, 27 in 2004 and 43 in 2005 (Table 1).

**Table 1: Accidents at work, 2002–2005**
The trend for the total number of people injured at work decreased in Romania from 2000 to 2005. The number of persons involved in collective accidents and fatal accidents shows an increasing trend.
Number of injured people per 1,000 employees
	2002	2003	2004	2005
Numbers injured, of which:	6,209	5,799	5,543	4,714
– fatally injured	399	367	384	406
Employees involved in collective accidents, of which:	130	122	160	193
– fatally injured	89	93	133	150

Source: Statistical Bulletin (Buletin statistic, MMSSF), 2003–2006

Incidence of accidents

In terms of the total economy, the incidence index of workplace accidents, determined as the number of injured persons per 1,000 employees, shows a downward trend from 0.99 in 2002 to 0.80 in 2005.

By sector, the highest incidence index of workplace accidents for all years in the 2000–2005 period is in coal extraction and processing: the index identifies 27.5 injured persons per 1,000 employees in 2002, declining to 10.7 in 2005. The second highest index can be found in mining and processing of metal and iron ores, which had an index of 4.8 injured persons per 1,000 employees in 2002, declining to 2.9 in 2005.

Other particularly high risk sectors are wood and wood product manufacturing, pulp and paper manufacturing, manufacturing of metal and recycling of waste, all with indexes ranging between two to three injured persons per 1,000 employees (Table 2).

**Table 2: Top six sectors according to the accident incidence index, 2002–2005**
In Romania, according to the accidents incidence index, the highest index from 2000–2005 is found in the coal extraction and processing sector, followed by mining of metal and iron ores.
Number of injured persons per 1,000 employees
Sector	2002	2003	2004	2005
Total	0.99	0.95	0.93	0.80
Coal extraction and processing	27.47	22.65	15.33	10.73
Mining and processing of metal and iron ores	4.79	4.68	3.80	2.91
Recycling of waste	3.36	3.23	3.02	2.25
Metal manufacturing	2.91	2.47	2.68	2.49
Pulp, paper and cardboard manufacturing	2.62	3.47	3.29	2.60
Wood and wood product manufacturing, except furniture	2.57	3.02	3.33	2.73

Source: Statistical Bulletin (Buletin statistic, MMSSF), 2003–2006

At regional level, the highest incidence of accidents at work is in the Hunedoara county in the west of Romania, with an index of 7.1 injured persons per 1,000 employees in 2002, decreasing to 2.8 in 2005; in this county, the coal mines in the Petrosani basin had an index of 34 injured persons per 1,000 employees in 2002, 27 in 2003 and 9.5 in 2005.

In addition, the counties of Tulcea, Mehedinti and Maramures, where mining is also carried out, show a high incidence rate of injuries (one to two persons per 1,000 employees). Other regions in Romania have a much lower accident incidence index.

Commentary

During company inspections in 2005, the Labour Inspectorate (Inspectia Muncii, IM) identified several cases of hazardous risk of accidents and high levels of occupational sickness in many organisations. As a result, the inspectorate recommended the closure of up to 85 companies and decided to withdraw a total of 1,440 types of technical equipment.

Luminita Chivu, Institute of National Economy

Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.

Eurofound (2006), Downward trend in number of workplace accidents, article.