Workplace accidents were up by almost four per cent in the first six months of the year, new figures released on Tuesday show.

There were 60 more non-fatal accidents at the workplace between January and June of 2018 than in the corresponding period of 2017, reaching 1,653 – a 3.8 per cent increase.

There was one fatal accident during the first six months of the year. There was also one fatality at work in the first six months of 2017, the National Statistics Office said. 

The majority of accidents, 15.4 per cent, were in manufacturing, with construction-related accidents almst at par, with 15.1 per cent of the total. Transportation and storage work saw  13.7 per cent of non-fatal accidents.

When compared to the same period in 2017, the number of accidents decreased by 22 in human health and social work activities and increased by 34 in administrative and support service activities.

The largest share of accidents at work during the reference period involved persons working in elementary occupations (29.1 per cent) followed by craft and related trades workers (20.3 per cent).

Slightly more than half of the persons injured in non-fatal accidents were aged between 25 and 44.

Upper extremeties of the body, such as fingers and hands, were the most likely body parts to be injured in the workplace, with 45.8 per cent of injuries reported. Most injuries were either wounds and superficial injuries (980) or else dislocations, sprains and strains (374 cases).

In the first half of 2018, nearly a third of the accidents at work took place in enterprises with more than 500 employees while a quarter of the accidents took place in enterprises with 50 to 249 employees. The majority of persons injured in non-fatal accidents, 98.5 per cent, were working full-time jobs.

In 2017, 1,498 non-fatal accidents per 100,000 employed persons were reported. The highest standardised incidence rate of non-fatal accidents at work was recorded in manufacturing followed by construction and transportation and storage.