Abstract

This is a retrospective analysis of annual reports on occupational injuries issued by the national social insurance agency of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for the years 2004 through 2016. For each criterion we calculated an index based on the equation NY/Nref x100, where NY is the number of occupational injuries by a specific criterion in a specific year Y, and Nref is the number of injuries in the corresponding criterion in the reference year, i.e. 2004. We also calculated the number of injuries to number of workers ratio (Ni/Nw) for different occupations and economic sectors to get a clearer idea of the injury trends per worker. In terms of occupational injury rates (with respect to 2004), we observed increases in construction, financing & real estate (economic sectors), among engineers and technicians (occupations), in infections and secondary contusions (injury type), for upper and lower limbs (affected body parts), over falls and “other” causes. Most injuries occurred on Fridays, which is a weekend day in Saudi Arabia. We also observed increased recovery without disability (injury status). However, if we look at the number of occupational injuries per worker, we can see a decreasing trend over time for all occupations and economic sectors, most likely thanks to improved labour law and safety at work practices for insured workers. Our findings are similar to reports from other Persian Gulf countries and reflect current labour health and safety issues in the area.

Highlights

  • King Abdul-Aziz University, Department of Environmental Sciences, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia [Received in December 2019; Similarity Check in December 2019; Accepted in March 2021]

  • This is a retrospective analysis of annual reports on occupational injuries issued by the national social insurance agency of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for the years 2004 through 2016

  • To investigate epidemiological trends of occupational injuries/accidents in the KSA we relied on the index method used before for Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia [11,12,13]

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Summary

Introduction

King Abdul-Aziz University, Department of Environmental Sciences, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia [Received in December 2019; Similarity Check in December 2019; Accepted in March 2021]. This is a retrospective analysis of annual reports on occupational injuries issued by the national social insurance agency of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for the years 2004 through 2016. If we look at the number of occupational injuries per worker, we can see a decreasing trend over time for all occupations and economic sectors, most likely thanks to improved labour law and safety at work practices for insured workers. Saudi labour market is flourishing with many businesses and a large workforce operating heavy machinery and equipment

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