Citation

Collie A. Occup. Environ. Med. 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/oemed-2023-109318

PMID

38191476

Abstract

Despite many advances in workplace health and safety globally, worker death at work or from work remains an unfortunately common occurrence, and an enormous public health challenge on a global scale. The most recent global estimates, produced jointly by the WHO and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), show that the number of worker fatalities from occupational traumatic injury has not shifted this century. The WHO and ILO estimate a total of 363 283 acute occupational injury fatalities in 2016.1 These are a subset of the total estimated 1.9 million annual worker deaths from occupational exposures.1 The main causes of these fatal injuries are road injury, poisoning, drowning, falls, fire and heat, firearms, animal contact and other unintentional injury. There have been large decreases since 2000 for some mechanisms, for example, in drowning (20.7%), carbon monoxide poisoning (49.1%), falls (4.9%) and pedestrian road injuries (8.4%). These have been offset by increases in road injury deaths, for example, motor vehicle (13.4%), cyclist deaths (10.1%) and motorcyclist (14.8%). However, the overall number of deaths has not substantially changed. At the turn of the century, other authors estimated a total of 360 000 fatal occupational injuries.2 This plateau in mortality …

Language: en

Keywords

Epidemiology; Wounds and Injuries; Mortality; Occupational Health