Workplace accidents in Finnish manufacturing maintenance

The aim of this paper is to present information about manufacturing maintenance related accidents and accident prevention. Accident data has been gathered using two Finnish national accident databases. Results of the study show, that during the years 2004-2007 7303 workplace accidents were registered and during the years 1995-2009 there were 23 fatal accidents in manufacturing maintenance work. After taking into account the statistical issues introduced in the paper, it can be estimated that over 2000 workplace accidents occur each year in manufacturing maintenance. Significant numbers of accidents were due to workers losing control of a machine/object/hand-held tool/means of transport, stepping on a sharp object or deviation by overflow/overturn/leak/flow/vaporization/emission. In addition accidents involving workers slipping, stumbling and falling were common, especially when looking at severe accident cases.