60% of accidents at work in Poland occur due to the fault of employees, but the financial consequences of these events still rest with employers.

At work, limb injuries most often occur, and the most at risk of accidents are construction workers, metallurgists and warehousemen – according to the Insurance Company Compensa.

In Poland, there are tens of thousands of accidents at work every year. The summary of the Central Statistical Office (GUS) for 2021 brings information about 68.7 thousand victims. This is 9.6% more compared to the previous year. The accident rate also increased from 4.62 to 5.10 (the number of victims per 1000 employees). Although 60% of accidents are caused by improper behavior of employees, any such event exposes employers to serious financial consequences.

– Employers are financially responsible for injuries that have occurred in connection with the performance of their work. If they have third party liability insurance, the compensation is paid to the employee by the insurer. Otherwise, the claim is directly charged to the company’s cash register. Business owners should remember this, because awareness in the field of pursuing claims from the employer is very high in Poland. Even the lockdowns in the pandemic did not reduce the number of notifications received by us – a slight decrease was recorded only in the second quarter. 2020 Employees know more and more about their rights, and after the accident they easily get information about the compensation possibilities offered by Polish regulations – says Damian Andruszkiewicz, director of the Department of Insurance of Small and Medium Enterprises at Compensa TU SA Vienna Insurance Group.

According to the insurer, the largest number of accidents at work occurs in the construction and heavy industry sectors, e.g. in the metallurgical and foundry industry. In addition to them, high risk is characterized primarily by wood and metal processing and services related to the storage and distribution of goods, in which forklifts and lift trucks are used for work.

Source: https://kadry.infor.pl/5460489,Do-jakich-wypadkow-przy-pracy-dochodzi-w-Polsce.html

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