STATISTICS OF FACTORIES 2002

CHAPTER-6

INDUSTRIAL INJURIES

6.1         The statistics of fatal injuries and non-fatal injuries resulting from industrial accidents by reasons due to which the persons injured are prevented from attending to work for a period of forty-eight hours or more immediately following the accidents have been discussed in this chapter. The coverage remains limited and varies from year to year because many factories fail to submit the returns. The numbers of injuries are based on the notices of accidents to the prescribed authorities in  a prescribed manner.

6.2         The important statistical measures for injuries are (i) Frequency Rate, (ii) the Severity Rate and (iii) Incidence Rate. The Frequency Rate is calculated by dividing the total number of injuries by corresponding number of mandays worked in lakhs. The Severity Rate, which takes into account the duration of disability as well, is calculated by dividing the number of mandays lost due to injuries by the number of mandays worked in lakhs. This rate is calculated only in respect of those non-fatal injuries in which workers returned to work during the same year. The incidence rate is calculated by dividing the number of injuries by average daily employment per thousand. The statistics are based on injuries reported in the annual returns.

6.3          The number and frequency rates of fatal, non-fatal and total injuries in factories submitting returns during the years 1998 to 2002 are given in Table-H below:

TABLE –H

Number of Fatal, Non-Fatal, Total injuries and their Frequency Rate

6.4       Industry-wise and State-wise figures of fatal, non-fatal and total injuries for 2002 have been shown in Table 5.1. Amongst Industries ‘Manufacture of  Textiles’ topped the list with 7207 (both fatal & non-fatal), which accounted for 35.24 per cent of the total number of injuries.

6.5       The Frequency Rate of injuries (both fatal and non-fatal) per one lakh mandays worked was the highest in the industry group ‘ Retail Trade, Except of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles; Repair of Personal and Household Goods’ (Industry Code 52) being 16.34 in 2002. The Incidence Rate of injuries (both fatal and non-fatal) per 1000 workers employed was highest in the industry group  ‘Public Administration and Defence; Compulsory Social Security’ (Industry Code 75) (61.40) in 2002.

6.6       Among the States/Union Territories, Maharashtra reported 7616 injuries (fatal and non-fatal), which constituted 37.24 per cent of the total number of injuries. Of the total injuries during the year 2002, 2.64 percent were fatal and rest were non-fatal injuries. The number of accidents in respect of women workers were negligible in comparison to the men workers.

6.7   Cause-wise number of injuries for the year 2002 by States and Industries have been presented in Tables 5.4 and 5.5. Among the causes, the major cause ‘Others’ including ‘Use of hand tools’ (cause codes from 121 to 130) accounted for the highest number of injuries i.e. 11021 or 55.83 per cent of the total number of injuries in the year 2002.

6.8       The average number of mandays lost due to non-fatal injuries, frequency rate and severity rate of non-fatal injuries in which workers returned to work during the same year by States and Industries during 2002 has been exhibited in Table 5.6. The average number of mandays lost was 0.06. Among the States, it was reported to be highest in the Union Territory of Chandigarh (0.28 mandays).

6.9         The overall frequency rate of injuries where workers returned to work was 4.55 in the year 2002. It was the highest in Madhya Pradesh i.e.4.46. Among the industry groups, it was the highest in the industry group of ‘ Retail Trade, Except of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles, Repair of Personal and Household Goods’ (Industry Code 52) i.e. 16.03.

6.10   The overall severity rate of non-fatal injuries was 74.96 in 2002. It was highest in Madhya Pradesh (112.00) during 2002. Among the industry groups, it was highest in the industry group of ‘Manufacture of Furniture; Manufacturing  N.E.C.’ (Industry Code 36) i.e. 141.21 in the year 2002.