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Brussels: Europe and the Arabs

In 2020, nearly 2.7 million non-fatal work accidents resulted in workers being absent from work for four days or more in the European Union, while 3,355 work-related accidents were fatal.

Almost all sectors of the economy recorded fewer accidents in 2020 than in 2019, with the exception of the health sector. This downward trend can be explained by the reduction or closure of specific activities with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The health sector recorded a noticeable increase in accidents (+17% compared to 2019). The proportion of accidents recorded in the health sector has increased from 11% of all accidents in 2019 to 15% of all accidents in 2020 at the EU level.

This information comes from data on work accidents published by the European statistics office Eurostat, which also states that . In 2020, accidents caused by 7-13 days absent from work were the most common type of accident (as in 2019). There were 676,781 of these accidents (25% of the total number of accidents).

Accidents resulting from being absent from work for 1-3 months were the second most common type of accident in 2020 (519,695; 19% of the total number of accidents).

On the other hand, 2019 data shows that the second most common type of accident was less serious (4-6 days absent from work). These types of less serious accidents (4-6 days absent from work) were the third most common type of accident in 2020 (455,924; 17% of all accidents).

The least frequent type of accidents by severity in 2020 were 3,355 fatal (0.1% of the total number of accidents) compared to 3,408 fatal accidents recorded in 2019.

The second less frequent type of accidents are those that lead to permanent incapacity for work. or 183 days or more of absenteeism from work 117,700 cases (4% of the total number of accidents) in 2020 compared to 139,482 accidents in 2019.