Top European countries with highest incidence of fatal work accidents
In 2014, 3,348 fatal accidents took place within the European Union at the workplace, according to a recent study of Eurostat. Great Britain is below the European Union average when it comes to the number of these incidents.
According to the Eurostat report, the incidence of fatal work accidents in the EU is of 2,3 for every 100,000 workers.
Regarding each member state, the lowest rates were found in The Netherlands (1 for every 100,000 workers), Greece (1,2 for every 100,000 workers), Finland (1,2 for every 100,000 workers), Germany (1,4 for every 100,000 workers) and Sweden (1,5 for every 100,000 workers). In Great Britain, the rate is of 1,6 for every 100,000 workers.
At the opposite end, the front-runner in the ranking of the countries with most fatal workplace accidents is Romania:
1. Romania – 7,1 for every 100,000 workers
2. Norway – 6,89 for every 100,000 workers
3. Latvia – 5,96 for every 100,000 workers
4. Lithuania – 5,56 for every 100,000 workers
5. Bulgaria – 5,43 for every 100,000 workers
6. Portugal – 4,72 for every 100,000 workers
7. Malta – 4,63 for every 100,000 workers
8. Slovenia – 3,97 for every 100,000 workers
9. Austria – 3,96 for every 100,000 workers
10. France – 3,74 for every 100,000 workers
According to Eurostat, men suffered more accidents at the workplace than women. The main explanation is that most accidents took place in activity sectors that are dominated by men.
Therefore, 67,2% of the fatal work accidents happened in sectors such as constructions, transportation and storage, agriculture, silviculture and fishing.