They went to work and did not return to their homes. PIP report on accidents at work

The National Labor Inspectorate has published a list of accidents at work for the last two months. The auditors examined numerous situations in which employees performing their duties were seriously injured. “Not a day goes by without a serious accident at work” – warn the authors of the report. Both the statistics and descriptions of accidents in the workplace are terrifying. Some of them, despite the help provided, ended tragically.

All it takes is a moment of inattention and disaster is at hand. The data show that most of the situations occurred when employees suffered serious bodily injuries, serious head injuries, numerous fractures or amputations of limbs. Some of these people never returned to their homes after the accidents. We will describe only a few of them as a warning to other employees.

Accidents at work. Many of them end in serious injuries

Two workers from the Pomeranian Voivodeship experienced a moment of terror while pouring concrete into the formwork of the tank basin at the swimming pool construction site. The accident occurred while compacting concrete, when the formwork together with the anchored wall fell on the men. As a result of the incident, the injured suffered head and limb injuries.

Unfortunately, this was not the only serious accident in this voivodeship. At another construction site, an employee, walking down the stairs of a newly constructed investment, tripped and fell on the stairs, hitting his head on them. As a result of the incident, the injured party suffered a facial injury. In turn, at the port, the setter fell from the wagon during a braking maneuver. “As a result of the accident, the man suffered amputation of his right leg at the knee level” – we read in the description.

Routine at work can be very dangerous. The workers suffered limb injuries

Numerous accidents also took place in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. In one of the local plants, after opening the inspection hatch, a worker was cleaning the mixer blades used to produce cottage cheese using water from a hose. While carrying out the task, an accident occurred when the woman’s right hand got into the mixing zone. “As a result of hand contact with the rotating mixer blades, an impact occurred and the injured party suffered a serious hand injury” – say labor inspectors.

One of the employees of a large plant may call it a blessing in disguise. While carrying out the task, the thumb of the man’s right hand was crushed. As a result of the incident, the injured party suffered a traumatic amputation of the distal phalanx of the thumb.

Accidents at work. Many people pay the highest price doing their job

Another employee from this province, who was cutting off branches in the forest after cutting down a tree, ended tragically. While carrying out the task, the man was hit on the head by the top of a tree that was cut down by another employee. “As a result of the accident, the injured person died on the spot” – noted the National Labor Inspectorate inspectors in the list.

There were more tragic accidents. The next ones took place in the Silesian Voivodeship. At the construction site, a worker was installing a window while standing on a ladder. While working, the man lost his balance and fell from the ladder to the ground, suffering general contusions and a hip injury. He was taken to hospital in serious condition, where he died a few days later, the report reads.

In turn, in a car repair shop, two employees were inflating the wheel of a loader when the inner tube and the screws securing the rim halves burst. One of the men was hit by a tire and died on the spot. After the impact, the second employee was knocked down by a gust of expanding air.

A serious accident can happen even after you have finished working

Another accident that took place in this province almost ended tragically for an employee. The man, standing on the footboard next to the loading chamber of a municipal waste collection vehicle, lost his balance and fell onto the road. “As a result of the incident, the injured employee suffered a head injury” – inform the inspectors.

Inspectors constantly remind us that all it takes is a moment of inattention, an employee’s fatigue or error, or even the routine performance of work tasks by employees, and disaster is bound to happen. One of the workers found this out when, right after finishing the sheet metal work on the roof, he suddenly fell from a height of about six meters to the ground. As a result of the fall, he suffered serious bodily injuries.

Not all accidents end tragically

The report of the National Labor Inspectorate also describes serious accidents in which employees suffered minor health damage. In the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, on the premises of a mineral water bottling plant, both a contractor and an employee were poisoned by chlorine vapor while cleaning a bottle washing machine. As a result of the incident, the injured suffered minor injuries.

A dangerous-looking accident also occurred at the Podlasie swimming pool. The dangerous incident took place while refilling tanks with sodium hypochlorite supplying the water disinfection installation in the shower tray. As we read in the report, after adding high concentration of sulfuric acid (IV), a violent chemical reaction between sodium hypochlorite and sulfuric acid occurred. This led to chlorine emissions, as a result of which two workers suffered minor injuries.