Accidents at work. It's hard to believe what costs they generate for society as a whole

The XXII World Congress on Occupational Safety and Health concluded in Sydney, Australia on November 30. This is the world's largest meeting of experts and practitioners in the field of occupational safety and health and occupational diseases. In today's world, realities are constantly changing in labor markets, but still some are using outdated modes of production, contributing to more life and health adverse events. Regardless of the level of development in all work cultures, there are still too many factors that cause the performance of work duties to have negative health effects that burden entire populations.

According to the UN, men are more likely to be victims of accidents than women, and differences also exist at the geographic level. The Asia-Pacific region accounts for 63% of all fatal accidents worldwide, while in Europe Italy and Spain lead the way in this regard. The most common long-term health problems resulting from harsh working conditions include respiratory, cancer, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and mental illnesses. Another problem is the permanent loss of health as a consequence of an accident at work. According to the Central Statistical Office, 66,606 occupational accidents were registered in Poland in 2022, including 180 fatal accidents. It may be cause for optimism that the number of accident victims fell by 3.2 percent compared to the previous year. The statistics only include incidents reported by the employer or the injured person. However, it is difficult to fully estimate the true scale of the problem, as some people do not report lighter accidents at work and also do not realize that some chronic diseases result from harsh working conditions.

The most common cause of accidents is the employee's failure to follow health and safety rules, insufficient number and quality of health and safety training, lack of strict standards and disregard for regulations. The highest number of accidents is recorded in the mining and quarrying, water supply, wastewater and waste management, industrial processing, and metallurgy and transportation industries. These industries also generate the highest number of occupational diseases. The highest accident rate is recorded in the Silesian, Warmian-Masurian and West Pomeranian provinces. In addition to accidents resulting from inadequate organization of health care during professional activities, there are also occupational diseases and chronic diseases of civilization. They are a costly phenomenon for the health care system. According to the Labor Code, an occupational disease is considered to be a disease listed in the list of occupational diseases, if it can be established indisputably or with high probability that it was caused by the action of factors harmful to health occurring in the work environment or was caused by the way the work was performed. Working in improper conditions also contributes to the premature incidence of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, including heart attacks and strokes, vision or hearing loss and motor diseases. In the eyes of the law, these are not considered occupational diseases although clearly working conditions have influenced their development.

Improving and modernizing occupational safety and health regulations, according to experts at the World Congress on Occupational Safety and Health, should become a priority for every country, because the costs of accidents, occupational diseases and work-related injuries are borne by society as a whole, although they are hidden costs to it. In Poland, the amounts, related to the costs of treatment and rehabilitation, sickness benefits, nursing allowances and pensions, as well as compensation, 80% covered by society as a whole, are estimated in billions of zlotys. According to the Central Institute for Labor Protection - National Research Institute, the costs of accidents and illnesses resulting from inadequate working conditions in Poland amount to 17.4 to 21.75 billion zlotys, or 1.7 to 2.1 GDP per year, Important are also other costs borne personally by victims of accidents or illnesses, which various benefits from insurers or employers are unable to compensate. These are primarily exclusion from social and professional life, as well as a worse economic situation for the entire family.