Depending on your job you will face a variety of dangers and hazards to different extents. If you work in an office for example, you are much less likely to be at risk of burns than you would working in a kitchen. However, there are a wide range of accidents and injuries that can occur across all occupations, the most basic being falling/tripping over which in 2008 accounted for 4 out of every 10 major injuries occurring in the workplace. Statistics from the same year also 
showed that the other most common injuries were caused by lifting or carrying objects.
Because of these seemingly minor accidents, a total of 34 million work days were lost. Out of these 34 million, 6 million were due to injuries that happened within the workplace, whilst the remaining 28 million were lost to work related illnesses. That year a total of 229 people were killed at work which in total comes to only 0.8% per every 100,000 workers but is still a phenomenal amount of lives unnecessarily lost. In the long term the death rates have fallen but over the past 6 years the fatality figures have disturbingly remained the same.
As it stands, more than 2 million people feel that either their current place of work or previous work places have caused them to suffer from illness or have caused already existing illnesses to worsen over time.
Statistics show that overall currently the three most common types of accident and injuries in the workplace are:
- Tripping/Slipping/Falling over
- Electrical based incidents
- Manually lifting/carrying items
As a result of this, the most common injuries were:
- Neck Injuries
- Back Injuries
- Head Injuries
- Sprains and Strains
- Reoccurring Strain Injuries
Less common injuries and illnesses that have been recorded include:
- Asthma (occupational)
- Hearing problems/ Deafness
- Dermatitis
- Vibration White Finger
For a free, no obligation chat about the concerns you have about a personal injury occurrence please contact one of our accident claims specialists on 0800 002 9577 or complete our online enquiry form in the red box on the right or by clicking here.