25% of fatal work accidents happened in public areas

In 2023, there were 3,298 fatal accidents and 2.82 million non-fatal accidents at work in the EU. 

The highest share of fatal work accidents in the EU was registered in public areas (25.0%; 825 fatal accidents), followed by industrial sites (19.8%; 654), construction sites, opencast quarries or mines (16.9%; 556) and farming, fish farming and forest zones (10.6%; 349). 

Data show that 58.5% of all fatal accidents in the transportation and storage sector and 36.3% in distributive trades happened in public areas. On the other hand, in manufacturing, 50.9% of all accidents in the sector took place at industrial sites, 64.6% of those in agriculture were in farming, breeding, fish farming, forest zones and 51.6% of accidents in construction were in construction sites.

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Source dataset: hsw_ph3_02

When it comes to non-fatal work accidents in the EU, in 2023, the highest share occurred at industrial sites (32.0%), followed by tertiary sites (17.8%), such as offices. Close to a tenth of all non-fatal accidents at work were in public areas and construction sites, opencast quarries or mines (each 10.2%), while 6.4% were in health establishments, 4.8% in farming, fish farming and forest zones and only 2.9% were at home. 

As expected, non-fatal work accidents in certain activities were more prevalent in specific working environments, for example, accidents in manufacturing happened more often in industrial sites (79.3% of the total for this activity); in the construction sector, accidents were more frequent in construction sites, opencast quarries or mines (60.2%); and accidents in agriculture, forestry and fishing were more frequent in farming, fish farming or forest zones (72.3%).

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Source dataset: hsw_ph3_02

For more information

• Statistics explained article on accidents at work - statistics on causes and circumstances
• Statistics explained article on accidents at work statistics
• Statistics explained article on accidents at work – statistics by economic activity
• Online publication - Health in the European Union – facts and figures
• Thematic section on health
• Database on health  

Methodological notes

• The data are presented for the total economy (all activities) and for 5 selected NACE Rev. 2 sections: agriculture, forestry and fishing (NACE Section A), manufacturing (Section C), construction (Section F), distributive trades (Section G), and transportation and storage (Section H).
• Distributive trades include wholesale and retail sale (sale without transformation) of any type of goods; wholesaling and retailing are the final steps in the distribution of merchandise. Sale without transformation is considered to include the usual operations (or manipulations) associated with trade, for example, sorting, grading and assembling of goods, mixing or blending of goods, bottling, packing, breaking bulk and repacking for distribution in smaller lots, storage, cleaning and drying of agricultural products, cutting out of wood fibreboards or metal sheets as secondary activities. Also included in distributive trades are the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles but not the repair of any other goods. The distributive trades sector does not include any renting activities, for example, the renting of motor vehicles, industrial equipment or household goods.
• While all EU countries provided information for the total number of fatal and non-fatal accidents at work with a breakdown by economic activity (NACE), it should be noted that not all of them provided data according to all categories of the variables on causes and circumstances. The accidents for EU countries that did not provide data for a particular analysis are included within the no information heading, and the countries for which this applies are indicated in the figures’ footnotes. 

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