How Many Workers Die Daily in Workplace Accidents? / The Statistics Are Not Accurate at All

Official Social Security Organization statistics record 668 deaths and 36,003 accident victims from work-related incidents in 1404. However, the Legal Medicine Organization recorded 1,879 work-accident deaths in just 11 months, about 2.8 times the Social Security figure.

According to Ambassador Arjan, the review and comparison of the statistical yearbook of the Social Security Organization and the reports of the Forensic Medicine Organization in the years 1398 to 1404 indicate a deep gap between the statistics of the two institutions regarding deaths caused by work accidents; A gap that is not just a statistical difference and shows that part of the reality of the death and injury of the workforce, depending on which statistical system we look at it, is basically not seen.

The Social Security Organization has registered 668 deaths due to work accidents among its insured in the whole year 1404; While the medical examiner has reported 1,879 deaths due to workplace accidents in the first 11 months of this year until the end of February.

These two figures cannot be directly compared due to the difference in the statistical community and time frame; But this difference is also part of the problem. Social security statistics are not the statistics of all workers and all deaths caused by work accidents in Iran; Therefore, the number 668 cannot be read as the total number of workers who died in 1404 due to work accidents.

Two different images of the death of workers in the last seven years

The gap between social security statistics and official forensic data is not limited to 1404. Reviewing the statistics of the past years also shows that in all the years under review, the number of deceased workers registered in the social security statistics was much lower than the figures announced by the forensic medicine:

In Iran, the statistics of work accidents are published by institutions such as "Ministry of Cooperation, Labor and Social Welfare", "Social Security Organization" and "Forensic Medicine Organization", but their figures are not necessarily the same.

For example, in 1403, the "Ministry of Cooperation, Labor and Social Welfare" announced 693 deaths due to work accidents, while the statistics of the "Forensic Medicine Organization" for the same year were about 1986 deaths. In the same year, the statistics of "Social Security Organization" also recorded 760 deaths caused by work accidents among its covered people.

This gap cannot be explained simply by asking "Which institution has more accurate statistics?" The more important issue is who each statistic basically puts in its field of vision.

"Social Security Organization", according to its insurance nature, reports the incidents registered among the insured persons of the Social Security Fund. Therefore, its data is valuable for knowing the status of the insured, but it cannot by itself represent a comprehensive census of all workers and all work-related deaths in the country.

On the other hand, the statistics of the "Forensic Medicine Organization" are formed based on the death cases referred and investigated in this organization, and for this reason, it includes a different and wider range of victims of work accidents. This difference raises a serious question about the official image of labor safety: when a significant part of the workforce is outside the social security insurance framework, how can we judge the safety situation in the entire country's labor market based on the statistics of this organization?

Who may not be seen in these statistics?

The social security yearbook covers the society of insured persons subject to the rules of this organization. Therefore, a part of the workforce that is outside of this insurance structure is not present in this statistical picture; including the following groups:

A) Informal workers without insurance coverage: a part of the workforce operates in the form of "informal employment". Daily wage workers, seasonal workers, construction workers, project workers and workers in some small workshops may not have a formal contract or social security insurance coverage. In such a situation, the events of this group are basically not included in the statistical community of the social security calendar. According to unofficial statistics, we have at least five to ten million informal and uninsured workers across the country.

b) Immigrant workers and nationals without official insurance coverage: National immigrant workers are not covered by social security insurance. Also, some other migrant workers across the country, especially in the southern ports, are Baloch who were born and live in Iran for successive generations, but are deprived of birth certificates and social rights, including insurance premiums. In the same way, it is not far from the expectation that the hands of the families of these workers are not connected anywhere to receive compensation after the injury and even the death of their loved ones.

As a result, if an accident occurs for these groups, this accident is not reflected in social security statistics, although it is possible to register it in other statistical and judicial mechanisms, including forensic statistics. In the absence of a comprehensive statistical system that records information related to insurance, job, industry and residence status of the workforce in an integrated manner, it is not possible to extract the exact number of accidents and deaths of these groups from the tables of the social security statistical yearbook.

c) Incidents that are not reported: Even among insured workers, it cannot be assumed that all incidents are reported and followed up with a single mechanism. Various factors, from the way of administrative registration of the accident to the conditions of the worker-employer relationship, can affect the registration and follow-up of work accidents.

What do the official statistics not say about the victims?

Despite the large amount of information recorded in the statistical yearbook, the available data is not enough to reconstruct the conditions that led to these incidents. Regarding the 668 deaths in 1404, in the reviewed table, information such as the person's occupation, workplace industry, type of contract, age, work history, and the type of accident leading to death are not provided. The gender of the deceased workers is not separated in this table. Therefore, from these data, it is not possible to know in which jobs and industries the most registered deaths occurred; For example, what share is allocated to construction, mining, transportation, oil and gas or manufacturing industries.

When it is not clear in what work, in what employment relationship and in what circumstances the worker died, the possibility of tracing the chain that led to the accident is also limited. In such a situation, statistics can only show the number of victims, but to answer the more important question, "In what working conditions did this death occur?" Does not provide enough information.

In the same framework, a difference should be made between "non-reporting of the incident" and "uncertainty of the final status of the case". In the statistics of 1404, the final status of 15 thousand and 408 cases of accident victims was not specified at the time of data preparation and was listed as "not registered". This number in itself does not mean that the incident was not reported, but it shows that the final status of these cases is not known when the data is recorded. For example, some workers may give up pursuing their rights due to the long process of handling the case, and some of these cases are still under review from the past years.

year 1404; Nearly 100 accidents and two deaths a day

According to the statistical calendar of the Social Security Organization, in 1404, a total of 36 thousand and 3 people were injured in accidents caused by work. Dividing this number by 365 days of the year shows an average of nearly 100 incidents per day.

In the same year, 668 deaths caused by work accidents were also registered in the social security statistical community, which is an average of about two deaths per day. These numbers are just mathematical averages and do not mean exactly 100 incidents or two deaths per day.

Also, the decrease in the number of accidents from 40 thousand 391 people in 1403 to 36 thousand 3 people in 1404 alone cannot be a sign of reducing the risk in the workplace; Because the number of social security insureds has also decreased in the same period. The number of insured persons increased from 15 million 367 thousand 293 people in 1403 to 14 million 185 thousand 754 people in 1404.

Most of the injured workers were married

Among the 36 thousand and 3 accidents caused by work accidents recorded in the social security statistics in 1404, 26 thousand and 347 people were married and 9 thousand and 656 people were single. In this way, about 73.2% of the accident victims were married and 26.8% were single.

This statistic alone cannot show how marital status is related to the probability of a work accident; For such a comparison, the combination of the marital status of the entire working population covered by social security, as well as the type of jobs and the presence of married and single people in different parts of the labor market must be known.

However, this breakdown shows that a large part of the people who were recorded as having accidents in this statistics were married people and often heads of families; Therefore, the consequence of a fatal work accident is not limited to personal injury in their case; The accident affects the livelihood of the family.

Alborz has the most work accidents and Isfahan and Khorasan Razavi have the most worker deaths

If we measure the number of incidents recorded in the "Statistical Calendar of the Social Security Organization", Alborz is at the top with 4,646 cases. After that, the cities of Tehran province with 2,931 cases, Isfahan with 2,888 cases, Qazvin with 2,438 cases and Yazd with 2,272 cases.

In Alborz, 734 women and 3,912 men were injured in work accidents. This number included 374 women and 2 thousand 557 men in Tehran province, 228 women and 2 thousand 660 men in Isfahan, 159 women and 2 thousand 279 men in Qazvin, and 233 women and 2 thousand 39 men in Yazd.

However, this table cannot be considered as a ranking of provinces in terms of "dangerousness of the work environment". The number of workers covered by social security, the composition of jobs and the volume of industrial activities in different provinces are not the same, and the available statistics have not adjusted these differences in the form of a single index. Therefore, a higher number of incidents in a province does not necessarily mean that the work environment in that province is less safe; Just as a lower number alone cannot be a sign of greater safety and a more appropriate work environment.

When we change the measure from the number of accidents to the number of work-related deaths, the picture also changes. Isfahan and Khorasan Razavi are on top with 48 feet each. Tehran province has had 46 cases, of which 8 cases are related to east Tehran, 24 cases are related to the cities of Tehran province and 14 cases are related to west Tehran.

After that, there are Hormozgan with 44 feet, East Azerbaijan with 42 feet and Fars with 40 feet. 31 feet in West Azerbaijan, 30 feet in Zanjan, 26 feet in Alborz, 24 feet in Kerman, 23 feet in Kermanshah, 21 feet in Gilan and 20 feet in Bushehr.

But comparing the number of deaths with the total number of victims gives a different picture of the severity of the consequences of work accidents. In Sistan and Baluchistan, out of 174 registered incidents, 11 people have lost their lives; It means about 6.3 percent. In Hormozgan, 44 deaths out of a total of 738 accidents, which is about 6%, and in Golestan, 22 deaths out of 430 accidents were equal to about 5.1%. On the other hand, in Alborz, despite the registration of 4,646 accidents, 26 deaths were reported, which is about 0.6% of the total accidents. In fact, the index that we call "risk-causing severity of work accident" is different in different provinces.

This index shows that the absolute number of accidents alone is not enough to describe the severity of the consequences of work accidents. From the point of view of labor rights and safety, the importance of the issue is not only summarized in the number of incidents; Rather, the consequences of these incidents and the costs they impose on workers and their families are also of fundamental importance.

However, the death to accident ratio alone cannot be a definitive indicator for measuring the dangerousness of a province or work environment. The number of workforce, types of jobs, active industries, working hours and the amount of insurance coverage are different in different regions, and the available data does not provide the possibility to adjust these factors. Therefore, this statistic can be a warning about the need to pay more serious attention to the safety of the work environment, preventing accidents and protecting the lives of workers, rather than being used to rank the regions.

Gender gap in work accident statistics

Out of a total of 36 thousand and 3 accidents at work, 33 thousand 146 were men and 2 thousand 857 were women; In this way, about 92.1% of the accident victims were men and 7.9% were women.

In other words, 92% of the accident victims were working men; But this difference cannot be attributed solely to "men's work being more dangerous". In order to understand it, it is necessary to know what occupations men and women work in, how many hours they work, and how many hours they work in high-risk activities.