In 2023, 759 people lost their lives following an accident at work: these are the figures from the annual report of the National Health Insurance Fund on occupational risks, published on Friday December 13. This is 21 more than in 2022, a year which had already marked a record.
For ten years, the number of deaths at work has continued to increase. If discomfort remains the cause of more than half of cases, Health Insurance notes that “deaths due to an identified external cause continue to increase, from 176 cases in 2022 to 193 cases in 2023”.
The report adds that 332 deaths occurred after a commuting accident (between home and work) and 196 after an occupational illness, bringing the total to 1,287 deaths. But like every year, these figures are only partial: they only concern employees affiliated to the general system, and in fact exclude the civil service, farmers, business leaders and microentrepreneurs.
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At the same time, the report observes a slight decline (–1.5%) in the number of workplace accidents in France. On the other hand, occupational illnesses increase by 7% in one year. The number of days of temporary incapacity, as well as the amounts of daily allowances and compensation for permanent incapacity, are at their highest in 2023. Inflation is the main cause of this increase.
Those under 25 affected
Transport and construction remain the sectors of activity most affected by deaths at work, but two categories encompassing temporary work and services (social action, health, cleaning, banks, insurance, administrations, etc.) show a worrying increase in 11%.
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Concerning the causes, a quarter of deaths are attributable to road risk, 17% to 19% to manual handling situations, 15% to falls from height. Those under 25 are also still affected, since 33 of them lost their lives at work in 2023.
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