No room for speculation about work accidents

Work accidents must be properly analysed before we comment on the cause, says Marita Rasmussen, the CEO of the House of Industry.

She says it is not right of the Working Environment Service to publicly speculate about the cause of work accidents.

In the news on Friday, Leivur Persson, the head of the Working Environment Service, mentioned some possible causes for the recent increase in work-related accidents.

He said: “It is conceivable that the current intensity in the Faroese work market could be a cause of the increase in accidents. It could also be the time of year, with deadlines before the holidays creating a certain degree of stress in the workplace.”

The House of Industry CEO said in the news today that Persson’s statement was unfortunate.

“When commenting on the causes of work accidents, we must have some degree of certainty, not only of the cause but also how it can help us improve work safety. Relying on speculation will not get us anywhere.”

In June 2018, police reported five serious work accidents to the Working Environment Service, compared with June 2017 when none were reported.

Estimates suggest a five-percent overall increase in work-related accidents from 2017 to 2018.

“Employers generally take work safety seriously,” said Rasmussen.

“But these accidents still occur. If we want to learn about the causes of these accidents and improve safety in the workplace, we need to analyse the incidents properly so that we can come up with improvements.”

Translated by prosa.fo