Nearly half of workplace harm goes unreported, safety charity reveals
Data shows that almost two thirds of the global workforce have never received occupational safety and health (OSH) training about risks associated with their work.
Engineering Safer Workplaces: Global trends in occupational safety and health
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According to International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates, nearly three million people worldwide die of work-related accidents and diseases every year. Another 395 million workers sustain non-fatal injuries, particularly in hazardous industrial sectors such as agriculture and construction.
Our Engineering Safer Workplaces report – developed in consultation with key stakeholders including the ILO – is the third World Risk Poll report to be published in 2024, based on data collected in 2023. The report sheds light on the extent of workplace harm, reporting, and relevant safety training taking place globally, disaggregated by country, industrial sector, and a range of demographic factors.
The data allows us to examine if and where workplace health and safety training is playing an effective role in increasing reporting and preventing injuries and deaths, and provides a valuable new resource to help policymakers, businesses and international bodies improve and target interventions to reduce workplace harm.
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Click here to download (pdf/6.16mb)Key findings
- Since Lloyd’s Register Foundation started the World Risk Poll in 2019, the proportion of the global workforce who report being harmed by their work has stayed stubbornly high; just under one in five (18%) say they have been harmed in the past two years (in line with 19% in 2019 and 2021).
- The Poll data suggests that globally, around half (49%) of all cases of workplace harm go unreported. Reporting rates are lower among part-time and self-employed workers, with only 49% and 47%, respectively, of those who experienced harm in the past two years telling someone (e.g. a manager or authorities responsible for workplace safety) about the incident, compared with 57% of people employed full-time.
- The Poll data also shows that one way reporting rates can be improved is through the use of regular occupational safety and health (OSH) training. People who have had such training in the past two years are more than three times more likely to report harm at work if it occurs than those who have never had training.
- However, as it stands, almost two thirds (62%) of the global workforce has never received OSH training. Part-time workers – who experience a higher rate of harm – are also around half as likely to have had recent safety training (23%) as those employed full-time (41%).
Download the report
Engineering safer workplaces: Global trends in occupational safety and health
The report sheds light on the extent of workplace harm, reporting, and relevant safety training taking place globally, disaggregated by country, industrial sector, and a range of demographic factors. (PDF, 6.16MB)
Citation
If you wish to use and reference the Engineering Safer Workplaces: Global trends in occupational safety and health report in your own work, please include the following DOI: https://doi.org/10.60743/x8md-v972
Example Citation in IEEE Style:
Lloyd's Register Foundation, “World Risk Poll 2024 Report: Engineering Safer Workplaces Global Trends in Occupational Safety and Health,” Lloyd's Register Foundation, 2024. doi: 10.60743/X8MD-V972.
World Risk Poll Data
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