Main types of accident in the workplace

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Eurofound
EIRO
EMCC
EWCO

Main types of accident in the workplace

Falls and crushing are the types of occupational accidents which, in Portugal, demand priority
prevention, a study concludes. More specifically, any effort to prevent workers from slipping and
stumbling at the workplace in the economic sectors of construction and food and beverages in particular
could have a positive and significant impact on reducing occupational accidents. The research also notes
a lack of data regarding the precise injuries sustained.
A study on the most prevalent types of occupational accidents in Portugal was carried out by the Safety,
Reliability and Maintenance Group of the Centre for Marine Technology and Engineering (Centro de
Engenharia e Tecnologia Naval) at the Higher Technical Institute (Instituto Superior Tcnico, IST). The
research aimed to characterise the causes of accidents at work in Portugal, focusing on the most
relevant economic activities in terms of work-related accidents, namely those sectors presenting a
greater number of accidents and/or higher incidence rates of accidents, meaning higher risk for the
exposed population.

About the study

According to Eurostat methodology (748Kb PDF) from 2001, contact or mode of injury together with the
material agent are the variables characterising the type of workplace accident. Contact or mode of
injury describes how the victim was hurt by the material agent that caused the injury, while the
material agent refers to the object, tool or instrument with which the victim came into contact, or the
psychological mode of injury. On the other hand, the variable deviation identifies the immediate cause,
that is, the event or failure which triggered the accident.
This study was based on seven variables aiming to characterise the typical accident in order to produce
a generic picture but which essentially identified the person affected, the accident, the cause and the
consequences. The variables used were: gender, age, contact, material agent, deviation, type of injury
and part of the body injured.
The research was based on statistics of accidents at work for 2001, 2002 and 2003 from the Office of
Strategy and Planning (Gabinete de Estratgia e Planeamento, GEP), formerly the General Directorate
of Studies, Statistics and Planning (Direco Geral de Estudos, Estatsticas e Planeamento, DGEEP). The
study focused on the following sectors of economic activity: fishing, mining and quarrying,
manufacturing (specifically, the manufacture of food products, beverages and tobacco and the
manufacture of basic metals and fabricated metal products) and construction.

Research results
The table below summarises the results of this study and shows that falling and/or crushing is the type
of accident demanding priority prevention in Portugal. Among the five economic sectors studied, food
and beverages is the one in which falls and crushes are prevalent in relative terms, both in fatal (about
43% of total accidents in the sector) and non-fatal accidents (about 26%). However, construction is the
critical sector in absolute terms, based on the actual number of accidents. In this sector, falls also have
relative weight in both cases (about 28% of non-fatal accidents and 40% of fatal accidents in the
sector). Finally, the alarming number of deaths in the mining and quarrying sector must be noted.
Most frequent modes of injury, fatal and non-fatal, 20012003
Sector or subsector, based on
NACE Rev.1

Most frequent mode of injury (typical accident) (% of total)

[N = No. of accidents a year; average in the period 2001
2003]
Non-fatal

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Fatal

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Main types of accident in the workplace

B. Fishing

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Horizontal or vertical impact with

Drowned, buried, enveloped in
or against a stationary object
gas or airborne particles about
while the victim is in motion (fall,
31% [N=2]
crush) about 31% [N=550]

C. Mining and quarrying

Struck by object in motion

about 34% [N=940]

Horizontal or vertical impact with

or against a stationary object
while the victim is in motion (fall,
crush) about 31% [N=550]

DA. Manufacture of food

products, beverages and
tobacco

Horizontal or vertical impact with

or against a stationary object
while the victim is in motion (fall,
crush) about 26% [N=2,217]

Horizontal or vertical impact with

or against a stationary object
while the victim is in motion (fall,
crush) about 43% [N=3]

Struck by object in motion

about 37% [N=7,440]

Horizontal or vertical impact with

or against a stationary object
while the victim is in motion (fall,
crush) about 49% [N=8]

Horizontal or vertical impact with

or against a stationary object
(fall, crush) about 28%
[N=15,680] Struck by object in
motion about 26% [N=14,243]

Horizontal or vertical impact with

or against a stationary object
while the victim is in motion (fall,
crush) about 40% [N=48]

DJ. Manufacture of basic

metals and fabricated metal
products

F. Construction

Note: NACE = Nomenclature gnrale des activits conomiques dans les Communauts europennes
(General industrial classification of economic activities within the European Communities).
Source: Jacinto et al, 2007

Recommendations
The studied relation between contact and deviation variables showed that any type of deviation may
cause a fall or crush type of accident, but the main cause and statistically more relevant is always
slipping, stumbling and falling, and fall of persons (Eurostat, 2001). Therefore, both the construction
and food and beverages sectors seem to be those in which any effort to prevent slipping or stumbling
could reduce the amount of both non-fatal and fatal accidents at the workplace.
The study also underlines the lack of information regarding the type of injury and part of the body
injured, emphasising the important role of insurance companies in relation to improving the collection
and compilation of such data. Information regarding non-fatal accidents seems to be available to an
acceptable extent, but the same cannot be said in respect of fatal accidents.

References
Jacinto, C. et al, Causes and circumstances of occupational accidents in Portugal Some determinant
factors of occupational accidents in the economic sectors with higher employment density and higher
incidence, Cogitum collection No. 27, Lisbon, GEP/MTSS, 2007.
Eurostat, European statistics on accidents at work (ESAW): Methodology, 2001 edition, Luxembourg,
European Commission, 2001, available online at:
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/statmanuals/files/ESAW_2001_EN.pdf
Jorge Cabrita, CESIS

Page last updated: 08 July, 2008

About this document

ID: PT0805029I
Author: Jorge Cabrita
Institution: CESIS
Country: Portugal
Language: EN
Publication date: 08-07-2008

http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/2008/05/PT0805029I.htm

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Main types of accident in the workplace

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Sector: Agriculture and Fishing, Construction and Woodworking, Extractive Industries, Food Beverage
and Tobacco, Metal and Machinery
Subject: Physical work factors, Work-related health outcomes

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