In accidents at work, hands are most often injured

Accidents at work: especially hands injured, men especially affected
The hands last year were the part of the body most often injured in an accident at work. In more than 22,000 cases, the hands were affected by tools, running machinery or other causes.

Hands were the most commonly injured part of the body
As reported by the Berufsgenossenschaft Energie Textil Elektro Medienerzeugnisse (BG ETEM), its latest accident statistics show that hands were the most frequently injured part of a workplace accident in 2014. According to this, more than 22,000 times the hands of employees in the member companies of BG ETEM were injured by tools, running machinery or other causes last year. According to the figures, these are nearly 40 percent of all around 57,000 reportable accidents at work. Eight out of ten cases involved men. At just under 30 percent, most of the accidents happen when handling manual tools such as hammers or screwdrivers.

In accidents at work, the hands are often affected. (Image: RioPatuca Images / fotolia)

Accidents cause pain and cause costs
In the statistics, the ankle and foot are in second place. Almost 17 percent of accidents were affected. Knee joints or lower legs were reported as affected body parts in around ten percent of the accident reports. Accidents not only cause pain for those affected, but also cause costs. For example, BG ETEM alone reported spending € 814 million on medical treatment and subsequent rehabilitation of all notifiable accidents at work, commuting accidents and occupational diseases in 2014.

Increase in confirmed occupational diseases
The German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV), in which the joint professional associations and public accident insurance funds are united, has reported a decline in accident numbers in recent years, but also an increase in the number of confirmed occupational diseases. Earlier this year, the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs included several new diseases in the occupational diseases list. These include, for example, the carpal tunnel syndrome, which can be triggered, among other things, by increased effort of the hands. The statutory accident insurance is in contrast to the health or pension insurance completely paid by the employer. The BG ETEM is the statutory accident insurance for around 3.8 million employees in more than 200,000 member companies. (Ad)