Fatal industrial accidents increase

Download article in original language : ES0209201NES.DOC

The number of fatal industrial accidents in Spain increased by 10% in the first half of 2002, compared with the same period in the previous year. The social partners and government disagree over the interpretation of the figures but are all concerned about the rise in fatal accidents at work. There is some debate over Spain's methodology for recording industrial accidents, compared with that used elsewhere in Europe.

Fatal accidents at work have been a major issue in Spanish industrial relations in summer 2002. There were 574 fatalities at work in the first half of the year, representing an increase of 9.96% over the same period in 2001. The total number of accidents fell to 472,104 in the first half of 2002, 4.36% less than the previous year, but the rate of fatal accidents increased, and every day there are between four and five deaths due to industrial accidents. Table 1 below indicates the changes in the number of fatal industrial accidents in the first half of 2001 and first half of 2002, by sector. It shows that fatal accidents have risen considerably in services and construction, but fallen in agriculture and industry. The construction and service sectors accounted for over 70% of the work-related deaths in the first half of 2002.

Source: Ministry of Labour.

Table 2 below showns the main causes of death in fatal industrial accidents in 2000 and 2001.

Source: Ministry of Labour.

The trend in industrial accidents in the first half of 2002 was the opposite of that in 2001, when the number of deaths fell by 9.08% whereas the number of accidents in general rose by 3.78% (ES0202213F). The overall decline in accidents and the increases in fatal accidents allows for two interpretations:

• the trade unions consider that the deterioration in the fatal accident figures is due to a lack of political will on the part of the government to control safety in companies, and to the high volume of temporary recruitment (ES0009106N). The unions also accuse companies of not implementing the Law on Prevention of Occupational Risks (ES9708216F). They believe that the fundamental problem is that this law requires the appointment of a risk prevention delegate (delegado de prevención de riesgos) only in companies with over six employees. It thus excludes many companies, due to the 'atomisation' of the industrial fabric and the abundance of small and very small companies; and
• the Ministry of Labour states that the decrease in the total number of accidents is an indicator of the greater effort that has been made in health and safety.

Despite the differences in the interpretation of the figures, none of the social partners are satisfied with the development of the industrial accident rate in Spain, which represents a very large proportion of the European Union total. In 2001, the EU Member States recorded 5,500 deaths at work, of which Spain accounted for 1,030 - practically one out of every five fatal accidents.

However, the European figures on industrial accidents are based on a different methodology, which has also led to controversy between the Ministry of Labour and the trade unions. The Ministry claims that the Spanish methodology is far more wide-ranging than that of other European countries. For example, most European countries exclude work-related road accidents and many exclude 'non-traumatic pathologies', whereas Spain includes them both .