Non-fatal accidents

Administrative records show that 1,062 persons were involved in a non-fatal accident at work in the first six months of 2023.

The majority of these non-fatal accidents occurred in the manufacturing sector (14.0 per cent). Another 143 or 13.5 per cent of the accidents occurred in the transportation and storage sector followed by the Human health and social work activities sector (131 or 12.3 per cent) (Table 1). 32.8 per cent of those involved in an accident at work were absent from work for three days or less, while those absent from work for 21 days or more amounted to 18.5 per cent (Table 2).

The largest share of accidents at work during the reference period involved persons working in elementary occupations (22.1 per cent) followed by craft and related trades workers (21.4 per cent) (Table 3). As regard age cohorts, 29.6 per cent of the accidents involved persons in the 35 to 44 age-bracket (Table 4). In the period under review, 72.3 per cent of those involved in a non-fatal accident at work were Maltese (Table 5).

Almost one third (30 per cent) of the injuries at work affected the Back, including spine and vertebra in the back (Table 6). Wounds and superficial injuries, and dislocations, sprains and strains were the most common types of injuries, amounting to 666 and 308 cases respectively (Table 7).

In the first half of 2023, 30.0 per cent of the accidents at work took place in enterprises with 500 or more employees (Table 9).

In 2022, 845 non-fatal accidents per 100,000 employed persons were reported. The highest standardised incidence rate of non-fatal accidents at work was recorded in manufacturing followed by construction, and transportation and storage (Table 11).

Fatal accidents

Between January and June 2023, the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA) reported one fatal accident at work. There were nine fatal accidents at work in the corresponding period of 2022.