In the first half of this year, 2,422 occupational accidents were registered in Estonia.

In these first 6 months, 2,802 workplace accidents occurred in Estonia, 2,422 of them qualifying as occupational accidents and the rest being either still investigated or not occupational accidents. So, adding the current year’s cases to the cases still being clarified, the result is that the number of occupational accidents has grown by ca 100 compared with the same period last year.More than 470 of the occupational accidents ended with severe and more than 1,900 with minor injuries. 20 reports were received of fatal accidents at work; 11 were classified as occupational accidents, the circumstances of 2 cases are still being clarified and 7 were not occupational accidents. All the 7 cases not classified as occupational accidents were cases of an employee’s illness during work time. In the same period last year, 10 fatal occupational accidents and 11 accidents not classified as occupational accidents occurred.Among the sectors with the most occupational accidents, the metal industry and the trade sector hold the first two positions. The number of occupational accidents has also grown somewhat in the transport sector and in public administration.The causes of occupational accidents that the Inspectorate has identified included unsafe work means, lacking training and instructions for employees, and employee violations of safety rules. Problems are repeatedly encountered with occupational health and safety management, i.e., the arrangement of internal inspection of work environment.According to the Labour Inspectorate’s General Director Maret Maripuu, the foregoing numbers indicate that the hiding of occupational accidents has decreased, yet the number of fatal occupational accidents and those leaving severe injuries has increased, too, showing that the safety of work environment is still not a priority in companies. “Incurring health damage or losing life at work is not just statistics. There is a person behind every number, with his or her family and close ones, and they are affected by the incident, some more, some less. This is why we need to do everything we can to get these statistics to decrease, so that there would be significantly fewer families suffering because of occupational accidents, already in the near future,” she said.The Labour Inspectorate collects data about occupational accidents with persons working under employment contracts. An occupational accident means health damage or death of an employee that occurred while performing a work task assigned by the employer or upon performing some other work with the employer’s consent, during a rest break accounted into work time, or during other activities in the interest of the employer.The Labour Inspectorate reminds that risk analysis of the work environment and proper work management help reduce and prevent occupational accidents. The Labour Inspectorate’s free information hotline +372 640 6000 is available for advice about work relations and occupational health and safety. Entrepreneurs can invite a work environment consultant to their company by writing to the Labour Inspectorate’s general address: ti|at|