This is also a lot of accidents, but much less than before joining the EU. Not only the tractor, the machine is dangerous, plant protection can also pose a risk.
There are also many truncated events
There were 595 accidents in Hungary last year, including all branches of agriculture. 489 men and 106 women were involved in this, all 9 fatalities were men, just like in the 15 accidents involving amputations. Since, according to the records of the Occupational Safety and Health Management Department of the Ministry of National Economy, a total of slightly more than 20,000 workplace accidents occurred last year – and a total of 62 fatal – it can be seen that agriculture is far from being the area most at risk (such as retail trade or material handling, logistics).
All injuries and deaths are sad and tragic, but the trend – not least as a result of the stricter workplace safety regulations due to joining the European Union – shows a downward trend in agriculture. In 2021, out of 605 accidents, 6 were fatal and 11 were mutilated. In 2020, 6 people suffered fatal and 11 mutilated injuries in 618 accidents. In 2010, the same indicators showed 814, 12 and 16. It is noteworthy that in 2001, all agricultural accidents were more than three times as many as today, and there were 12 fatal accidents and 25 mutilation incidents.
We are in the middle ground
With these data, our country is in the middle of Europe. There are 2 fatal accidents and 580 non-fatal accidents per 100,000 workers per year. In Europe, two-thirds of non-fatal workplace accidents are accounted for by the construction industry, as well as transport and storage, the processing industry, as well as agriculture, forestry and fishing.
More inspectors, fewer (latent) cases
Last year, the EU took a significant step to further reduce these relatively low numbers. Every year in the European Union, 500 people die in agriculture and forestry, and another 150,000 people suffer accidents. There are also latent cases that are entered into the labor register without or with a non-agrarian profile. The EU therefore took two steps that should have an impact on the health and safety of agriculture: it strengthened the enforcement of certain social conditions in the CAP, and for the period between 2021 and 2027 it aimed for the “zero vision”, i.e. the goal of a sector operating with zero fatal accidents , including the risk of diseases.
The EU objective urges, for example, that labor inspection, which is very rare in agriculture, be strengthened with at least 1 labor inspector per 10,000 workers. The report covers the risks posed by the use of pesticides, as well as the creation of quality/safe workplaces in general.
