In addition to employees in transport and logistics professions (2,8 percent), the percentage of employees with an occupational accident with at least one day's absence was also relatively high among employees with a technical (2,5 percent) or agricultural profession (2,2 percent). .
In 2021, 2,8 percent of employees in transport and logistics professions, such as truck drivers and mobile machine operators, had an occupational accident resulting in absenteeism. The average for all employees was 1,3 percent. Almost one in five employees with an occupational accident named psychological overload, for example due to intimidation or stress, as the main cause. This is reported by Statistics Netherlands on the basis of a study into occupational accidents among employees.
In 2021, 196 thousand employees (aged 15 to 75) had an accident at work, which led to one or more days of absence for 100 thousand employees. In addition to employees in transport and logistics professions, the percentage of employees with an occupational accident with at least one day's absence was also relatively high among employees with a technical (2,5 percent) or agricultural profession (2,2 percent). The technical professions included carpenters and production machine operators. At 0,4 percent, absenteeism due to an accident on the work floor was lowest among IT professionals.
The higher accident rate among employees in technical professions is related, among other things, to noise in the working environment and to the physically demanding work. Employees in transport professions not only have physically demanding work, they also relatively often work shifts and have less say in the way they work.
Psychological overload is most often mentioned as the cause of an occupational accident
According to 19 percent of employees who were absent for at least one day in 2021 due to an occupational accident, psychological overload was the main cause in the most recent accident. This concerns, for example, intimidation or stress. Of all employees with psychological overload, the largest group worked in a care or welfare profession.
However, most workplace accidents had a different cause. For example, employees also mentioned slipping, tripping or another fall (15 percent) and physical overload, such as heavy lifting or making the wrong move (14 percent), as the cause of an accident resulting in absenteeism.
Fewer work accidents during corona years
Before the outbreak of the corona pandemic, the share of employees with an accident during work was between 3,0 and 3,4 percent. In the first corona year (2020), this decreased to 2,5 percent. Despite a slight increase in 2021 (to 2,6 percent), the level of occupational accidents remained below that before corona. The percentage of employees who were absent for at least one day due to an occupational accident was also still lower in 2021 at 1,3 than before 2020, according to the CBS.
