Workplace safety

Near miss unsafe work practice example: Forklift tipping over from excessive weight being picked up.

Near miss unsafe work practice example: Forklift being narrowly prevented from tipping over by having an extra worker hop on the back of the forflift as a counterweight to prevent having the forklift and the load tip over.

Workplace safety & health is a category of management responsibility in places of employment.

To ensure the safety and health of workers, managers establish a focus on safety that can include elements such as:

• management leadership and commitment
• employee engagement
• accountability
• safety programs, policies, and plans
• safety processes, procedures, and practices
• safety goals and objectives
• safety inspections for workplace hazards
• safety program audits
• safety tracking & metrics
• hazard identification and control
• safety committees to promote employee involvement
• safety education and training
• safety communications to maintain a high level of awareness on safety

Workplace fatalities statistics

European Union

Country	Fatalities	Fatalities per 100,000 employees
Austria	145	1.71
Belgium	41	2.4
Denmark	27	1.8
Finland	29	1.9
France	318	2.9
Germany	465	2.3
Greece	48	3.0
Ireland	52	3.2
Italy	427	2.8
Luxembourg	6	3.2
Netherlands	60	2.0
Portugal	285	7.6
Spain	365	3.7
Sweden	28	1.2
United Kingdom	182	1.1
European Union	2,478	2.5

Data from 2003 [1]

In most countries males comprise the vast majority of workplace fatalities. In the EU as a whole, 94% of death were of males. In the UK the disparity was even greater with males comprising 97.4% of workplace deaths.

US Statistics

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor compiles information about workplace fatalities in the United States. Since 1992, the year with the most workplace fatalities was 1994 with 6,632 fatalities, and the lowest in 2002 with 5,534.

The Bureau also compiles information about the most dangerous jobs. The most recent information comes from the year 2006, during which 5,840 people died on the job.

Job	Fatalities	Fatalities per 100,000 employees
Fishermen	53	147.2
Pilots	104	90.4
Timber cutter	66	84.6
Structural metal workers	36	61.0
Waste collectors	37	40.7
Farmers and ranchers	292	37.2
Power-line workers	38	34.9
Miners	156	34.5
Roofers	81	33.5
Truck drivers	957	27.5
All occupations	5,840	4.0

See also

• Certified safety professional
• CCOHS
• Effective Safety Training
• Hearing conservation program
• Industrial Union Department v. American Petroleum Institute
• Material safety data sheet
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Occupational disease
• Occupational fatality
• Occupational health psychology
• Occupational safety and health
• OSHA
• Participatory Ergonomics
• Process Safety Management
• Safe-In-Sound Award Excellence in Hearing Loss Prevention Award
• Safety
• Safety engineering
• Safety Services Company

External links

• OSH Answers
• Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS)
• History of Workplace Safety in the United States by Mark Aldrich of Smith College
• Occupational Safety & Health Administration
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• National Safety Council
• Free OSHA Publications
• New Zealand Department of Labor
• International Labour Organization
• Institution of Occupational Safety and Health UK-based professional organization
• Forbes: Dangerous jobs
• CNN: Dangerous jobs
• National Association of Safety Professionals
• American Society of Safety Engineers
• Occupational Safety Training and Certification Alliance
• European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU)
• Healthy Workplace Initiative (new member states)
• Workplace Fatalities & the Aftermath United Support & Memorial for Workplace Fatalities
• Safety Manual