Following World Safety Day on April 28, insurer AXA Belgium conducted a study into work accidents that occurred between 2019 and 2023. The study shows that primarily new employees are victims of accidents at work.
A quarter of work accidents occurred among employees who had been employed for less than a year. And in half of the incidents, these were employees who had only been with their employer for 3 years. Note, this does not mean that work accidents mainly occur among young people. A quarter of work accidents among employees with less than 3 years of service are 40 years or older.
Nature of work accidents
Which work accidents are most common? Inexperienced employees most often have a workplace incident due to loss of control over a machine. For experienced employees, it is significantly more about tripping and falling, or lifting or carrying something incorrectly.
And if we look at the sectors, temporary workers, retail, construction, wholesale, and food and beverage establishments stand out.
Now, it's not always about serious accidents. In 1/3 of the incidents, one can simply continue working, and 1/4 are back at work within a week. For 11%, however, it is a serious incident requiring 2 months or more of absence from work.
Good training is crucial
From the large number of work accidents among new employees, we can conclude that good training is crucial in workplace safety policy. This is regardless of the age of the novice or relatively new employee.
Don't know where to start with drafting your safety policy? In that case, engage one of our prevention advisers and together see how you can guarantee safety at work!
