The global burden due to occupational injury

Abstract

Occupational injuries constitute a substantial global burden. However, our findings greatly underestimate the impact of occupational risk factors leading to injuries in the overall burden of disease. Our estimates could not include intentional injuries at work, or commuting injuries, due to lack of global data. Additional factors contributing to grave underestimation of occupational injuries include limited insurance coverage of workers and substantial under-reporting of fatal injuries in record-keeping systems globally. About 113,000 deaths were probably missed in our analyses due to under-reporting alone. It is clear that known prevention strategies need to be implemented widely to diminish the avoidable burden of injuries in the workplace.