Malaysia indicates a high number of occupational injuries, with an increase of double-digit growth at 58.9 per cent to record 34,216 cases for the year 2022, from 21,534 cases in 2021.
Hence, the rate of occupational injuries per 1,000 workers went up to 2.22 as compared to 1.43 in the preceding year. As for non-fatal occupational injuries, the number of cases was 33,899, recorded a notable increase of 59.7 per cent as against 21,233 cases in 2021. Thus, the rate of non-fatal occupational injuries per 1,000 workers consequently posted a rise of 2.20 in 2022 from 1.41 in 2021.
In the meantime, there were a total of 317 cases for fatal occupational injuries in 2022, an increase of 16 fatal injuries as compared to 301 fatalities in the preceding year. This translated to a higher rate of fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 workers at 2.06 in 2022, which was higher than 2.00 in 2021.
Chief Statistician of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin, in the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) release entitled ‘National Occupational Accident and Disease Statistics for the year 2022’ said: “In terms of occupational injuries by demographic background, the cases have been more common among male workers, as they are more likely to be engaged in an occupation that has a higher likelihood of accidents due to the nature of the work. Further analysis on the distribution of cases by gender revealed that more than two-thirds of the cases were identified as male workers (84.2%) as opposed to 15.8 per cent of female workers.”
By fatal occupational injuries, the male category posted a share of 98.1 per cent (311 cases) while another 1.9 per cent (6 cases) was the female category. Meanwhile, from the perspective of occupational injuries by nationality, Malaysian citizens comprised a share of 88.6 per cent or 30,325 cases whereas non-Malaysian citizens comprised 11.4 per cent or 3,891 cases.
Disaggregating occupational injuries by age group in 2022, most of the cases involved workers aged below 45 years with a portion of nearly 70.1 per cent (23,976 cases). On the contrary, the highest rate of occupational injuries per 1,000 workers were recorded by those aged 60 to 64 and 55 to 59 years at 2.46 and followed by 2.42 for the age group of 50 to 54 years.
In the meantime, those aged 60 to 64 posted the highest rate of fatal occupational injuries at 3.78. Meanwhile, age groups 40 to 44 years ranked second with a rate of 2.93, followed by age groups 50 to 54 (2.28) and 35 to 39 (2.10), exceeding the national rate of fatal occupational injuries at 2.06 in 2022.
In comparison by state with the previous year, all states posted increases in occupational injuries except for Perlis. Selangor which comprised 19.2 per cent of the overall cases, gained the largest number of occupational injuries by 2,368 to record 6,563 cases.
During the year, eight states posted an occupational injuries rate surpassing the national rate of 2.22. Johor ranked the highest with 3.59, followed by W.P. Kuala Lumpur & Putrajaya (3.53), Pulau Pinang (3.35) and Perak (3.24).
In the meantime, the annual increases in fatal occupational injuries for the year 2022 were observed in most of the states, namely Perak, Pahang, Pulau Pinang, Kelantan, Selangor, Perlis, Terengganu and Melaka. The highest rate of fatal occupational injuries was in W.P. Kuala Lumpur & Putrajaya (3.69), resulting in a total of 33 deaths. Negeri Sembilan posted the highest reduction with a rate of 1.90 (2021: 2.99) to record nine (9) cases as compared to 14 cases in the preceding year.
Moving on to the classification according to the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994, OSHA regulations cover ten sectors to protect workers from hazards on the job. Services recorded the highest number of occupational injuries with 10,403 cases.
This was followed by Manufacturing and Construction sectors which registered 9,906 and 4,324 cases respectively. The lowest number of cases in 2022 was recorded by Mining & quarrying sector at 140.
Overall, the majority of occupational injuries posted an upward trend for all the sectors except for Transport, storage & communication and Mining & quarrying. On the contrary, the Construction sector has consistently ranked high in terms of fatal occupational injuries which registered a number of 72 cases (2021: 73), as they are facing risks related to falls, machinery accidents and other hazards.
This was followed by Services (65) and Manufacturing (62).
The Chief Statistician added, “Another dimension of analysis for occupational injuries is associated with the types of accidents which can vary by industry and workplace. The most common causes of occupational injuries in 2022 were Stepping on, striking against or struck by objects including falling objects (8,522 accidents, 100 deaths), Falls of persons (7,944 accidents, 104 deaths) and Other types of accident, not elsewhere classified (5,119 accidents, 0 death).
“These incidents were caused by the Working environment (17,834 cases), Means of transport and lifting equipment (6,818 cases) and Machines (3,172 cases) as illustrated. As for the injury location, this refers to the specific part of the body where an injury occurs, depending on the type of accident and nature of the workplace. Most of the occupational injuries involve the Upper limb (fingers, hands and shoulders) with 12,670 cases, followed by Lower limb (legs and knees) with 8,066 cases and Trunk (back, chest and urinary system) with 3,495 cases.
“This injury location could be specified for several types of injuries to provide a more comprehensive description of the injury (Exhibit 6). In 2022, significant types of injuries refer to injuries that are often severe were Other Wounds (13,032 cases), Fractures (7,303 cases) and Other and unspecified injuries (4,716 cases). On the other hand, occupational diseases and poisoning are health conditions that result from exposure to specific workplace hazards. These illnesses develop over time due to repeated exposure to harmful substances or unsafe working conditions. Looking at the number of diseases in 2022, there were 7,413 cases with more than two-thirds or 76.7 per cent of total disease was concentrated in the Occupational noise-related hearing disorders category which accounted for 5,478 cases.
This was followed by Occupational musculoskeletal diseases (678) and Diseases caused by biological agent (420). With regard to comparison with other countries, in Singapore the workplace injury rate per 100,000 workers decreased from 673 in 2021 to 614 in 2022.
However, the fatal injury rate went up by 1.3 per 100,000 workers from 1.1 in the previous year. Looking at the situation in Japan, the occupational accident rate per 1,000 workers sustained with a rate of 2.3 (2021: 2.3). However, a lower rate of 1.42 for fatal accidents per 100,000 workers was observed as opposed to the rate of 1.60 for 2021.
Dr. Mohd Uzir added the situation of occupational injuries statistics worldwide demonstrated ongoing challenges in workplace safety. Many countries have implemented safety regulations and initiatives to reduce workplace accidents including safety training, inspections and penalties for non-compliance.
Released today (Sept t29) the statistics of these occupational injuries contain information on non-fatal occupational injuries, fatal occupational injuries and occupational diseases and poisoning detailing the type of accidents, injuries, cause of the accident, industry and state for the year 2022. These statistics are based on the data provided by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Social Security Organisation, Ministry of Finance and Royal Malaysia Police.
