Apr 14, 2012

Unemployment leads to drop in injuries?

As per a study in UK, there were 1.5 million workplace accidents and injuries ranging from paper cut to serious chemical burns. Over last 10 years when unemployment rose by 65%, for 100,000 workers, fatalities dropped from 0.9 to 0.5, major accidents by 11% (to 99 in 2011), 3-day absence injuries by 48% (to 363). The reasons cited are, reduction in man power needs due to technological improvements thus reducing man-machine contact, realization by companies that safety investment pays in the long term by reduction in claims, non-reporting, etc.