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The global burden due to occupational injury
Marisol Concha-Barrientos1, Deborah Imel Nelson, Marilyn Fingerhut
1Asociación Chilena de Seguridad, Av. Vicuña Mackenna, Santiago, Chile. mconcha@achs.cl
American Journal of Industrial Medicine
|November 22, 2005
Summary
Occupational injuries cause over 312,000 global deaths annually and significant disability. Implementing known prevention strategies is crucial to reduce this avoidable burden on workers.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Occupational Health
- Injury Epidemiology
Background:
- Occupational injuries pose a significant global public health challenge, leading to over 300,000 deaths and widespread disability annually.
- Estimating the global burden of fatal and non-fatal unintentional occupational injuries is critical for public health interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To estimate the global burden of fatal and non-fatal unintentional occupational injuries in the year 2000.
- To quantify the impact of occupational risk factors on global mortality and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).
Main Methods:
- Utilized the economically active population (EAP) as the population at risk.
- Estimated global and regional mortality rates using country-specific data for insured workers.
- Calculated disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 14 WHO regions to measure morbidity and mortality.
Main Results:
- A minimum of 312,000 fatal unintentional occupational injuries occurred worldwide.
- Fatal and non-fatal injuries resulted in approximately 10.5 million DALYs globally.
- Occupational risk factors accounted for 8.8% of global mortality and 8.1% of DALYs from unintentional injuries.
Conclusions:
- Occupational injuries represent a substantial global health burden, though findings likely underestimate the full impact.
- Intentional and commuting injuries, along with under-reporting and limited insurance coverage, contribute to an underestimation of the true burden.
- Widespread implementation of established prevention strategies is essential to mitigate the preventable burden of workplace injuries.
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