SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 29 Oct. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Canary Islands have added a total of 36,272 work accidents between January and September, which is 18.3% more than in the same period of 2021, with 17 deaths and 131 people with serious injuries, according to data published by the General Directorate of Work of the Government of the Canary Islands.
CCOO Canarias has lamented the increase in occupational accidents in the autonomous community and has stated that these figures “reveal the setback that has occurred in the preventive activity of companies, and its most dramatic reflection in the increase experienced in the figures of work-related accidents and in the staggering work-related mortality rates”.
The trend of increasing occupational accidents does not subside. The increase in the number of work accidents leading to sick leave reached 25.84%, mainly due to accidents during the shift, which increased by 25.32%, while commuting work accidents grew by 30.01%.
By sectors of activity, the increase has occurred in all of them. The rise in the number of work accidents with sick leave in the services sector stands out, with 33.68%; followed by the agriculture and fishing sectors, with 12.84%; the industrial sector, with 12%, while the construction sector, to which a higher occupational accident rate is attributed, increased by 6.08%.
The accident incidence rate during the working day, which shows the relative accident rate expressed as the number of work accidents per 100,000 employed persons, increased by 16.19%.
Regarding fatal work accidents, there were 14 deaths in the workplace between January and September, five more than in the same period of 2021, which represents an increase of 55.56%.
At the national level, the number of fatal accidents accumulated between January and September of this year is 548 deaths at work, 81 more than in the same period of 2021, which represents an increase of 17.3%. To the 14 deaths in the workplace, we must add the 3 fatal accidents in itinere, which make the total of 17 deaths in the period from January to September of this 2022, of which only in the month of September there were four accidents deaths in the workplace.
According to the CCOO Canarias, “this year we find ourselves with the consequences of inaction in preventive management in companies, the low quality of the services provided by the prevention services (especially those of others) and the relaxation of preventive measures, a situation that we warned during the pandemic. If we do not correct the course, we would go to data above the figures of the worst years, with figures that may exceed 45,000 work accidents in the Canary Islands at the end of the year”.
The trade union organization has stressed that in recent months the number of deaths, along with the rest of occupational accidents, is “absolutely unaffordable for an advanced society.” “In most cases they would have been avoided and prevented. Based on the information recorded by the media, at least five of the people who died were due to falling to different levels,” he adds.
From the CCOO Canarias they demand that the Government address “occupational accidents decisively and that it place the prevention of occupational risks once and for all as a priority in socio-labour matters”. “In the Autonomous Community, the responsibility to protect the physical and mental integrity of the workers falls exclusively on the companies and it is from these that strict compliance with preventive regulations must be demanded,” says the union.
Comisions Obreras also points out that the Spanish Constitution and preventive legislation entrusts the public powers to ensure health and safety at work, and this entails the need to develop a health protection policy for workers. derived from occupational hazards at work.
As indicated by the organization, “we are in the negotiation phase of the Canarian Strategy for Safety and Health at Work for the period 2022-2027, and all the agents involved must join forces to establish actions that lead to an improvement in the conditions of work and action is taken on the shortcomings that are occurring in preventive matters in this Autonomous Community Occupational Health and Safety at the center of labor policies Quality employment cannot be addressed without having protection in the center of it a matter as sensitive as occupational risk prevention”.
CCOO Canarias assures that it will continue to demand the promotion and effective compliance with occupational risk prevention regulations that allow us to achieve the objective established by the Law, guaranteeing the safety and health of the working population at all times.
