Seven people died and more than 2,300 were injured in 2020 as a result of workplace accidents, statistics released on Tuesday indicated.

Workplace fatalities were up significantly from 2019, a year in which there were three fatal workplace accidents, while non-fatal injuries declined from the 3,258 reported the previous year. 

The workplace incident rate across all sectors in 2020 stood at 889 per 100,000 employed people – down just over 30 per cent from the 1,281 per 100,000 rate reported one year prior. 

Eurostat figures indicate that the rate of non-fatal accidents in Malta has been steadily declining over the past decade, down from an average of 2,080 accidents per 100,000 workers in 2010. 

Figures released by the National Statistics Office on Tuesday showed that the majority of workplace accidents were reported in the construction (18.1 per cent) and manufacturing (18 per cent) sectors, with transportation and storage jobs also reporting 10.8 per cent of non-fatal accidents. 

People working in mining and quarrying, activities of extraterritorial bodies and electricity, gas, steam and air were the least likely to report a workplace accident. 

More than half of all non-fatal workplace accidents occured to people in elementary jobs (26.6 per cent) or craft and related trades (23.7 per cent). 

Just over one out of every three non-fatal workplace accidents was reported within the southern harbour region (34.6 per cent) with a further 26.8 per cent reported in the northern harbour. 

More than half of all non-fatal workplace injuries were wounds or superficial injuries (59.6 per cent) with dislocations, sprains and strains accounting for a further 22.4 per cent of reported injuries.