According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) statistics, about 2.3 million people worldwide die due to occupational accidents or diseases every year, which means that over 6000 deaths occur every day. Statistics from the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) Malaysia show that 3670 occupational accidents happened from January 2022 to June 2022; within these numbers, 102 are death cases, and 113 of the workers suffer from permanent disability. In fact, poor workplace safety and health are costly in terms of money and manpower. Case studies show that good OSH management in a business is linked to improved performance and profitability (EU-OSHA, 2021).
Fall injury is one of the most common workplace injuries. According to Injury Facts®, 42,114 people died in falls at home and work in 2020. Working at height is a dangerous activity as the risk of falling can be fatal and can cause disability. Safety should be prioritized in any type of working area, especially working at height.
800,000 Eye Injuries Occur Annually, 90% are Preventable
Unfortunately, eye-related injuries are a very common incident. Averagely, 800,000 eye injuries happened on the job yearly, including 36,000 that occurred during time off from work. However, the eye health and safety organization Prevent Blindness America has stated that 90% of all eye injuries can be avoided by wearing appropriate eye protection. Some typical causes of workplace related eye injuries are chemical burns, cuts, lacerations, and punctures. Workers from the industries of production, transportation and service have a higher risk to be involved in eye injuries due to their nature of work.
Statistics on Occupational Injuries from Electrical Incidents
In 2021, the average number of electrical accidents in Malaysia is at 52 cases yearly. According to the Energy Commission (EC), the majority of these accidents were contributed by the usage and handling of uncertified and faulty electrical appliances. We feel sorrowful for the recent electrocuted incident that happened to a 21-year-old worker on Aug 5, 2022.
Head injury is one of the most common causes of fatal accidents at any industrial worksite. According to the data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2019, one worker died from work-related injury every 99 minutes. In 2007, 1066 workers from the field of construction and extraction experienced fatal injuries. Head injury can lead to devastating and traumatic changes to one in both mental and physical aspects. Apart from death, severe head injury may cause inability in performing day-to-day activities and further influence his/ her ability to work. This might lead to financial crisis for a family when the injured person is the breadwinner of their family.
Safety apparel, also known as protective clothing, is one of the needed personal protective equipment (PPE) in the workplace. The clothing is intended to provide protection and to reduce risk of accidents to the wearer when performing their tasks.
Safety is paramount. Paramount, which means important than anything else and why is that? Can you imagine one day, leaving your family for work in the morning, they are at home waiting and hoping you would return home safely but you didn’t make it to home but ended up in the hospital instead? Or worse maybe?
