About 85 percent of work-related injuries have taken place in three major economic sectors of construction, trade and downstream industries, according to the latest statistics published by the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI). During the third quarter of 2015, 13, 846 workplace injuries were reported, of which 11,907 were in the three sectors — 7,179 injuries in the construction sector, 2,606 in trade and 2,122 in downstream industries, GOSI said. In the mining and petroleum sector, 265 injuries were reported in nine regions of the Kingdom during the same period with Eastern Province topping the list with 133 injuries. Saudi Arabia reported only 13,000 work-related injuries in the third quarter of 2015 despite large-scale construction work under way for massive development projects across the country, GOSI said. Oil giant Saudi Aramco, which follows stringent safety rules and conditions, was successful in reducing the number of work injuries at its facilities. The company reported a 44 percent decrease in workplace injuries in 2014 compared to the previous year. Saudi Aramco was instrumental in creating a safe work culture among its employees but serious injuries outside the workplace are one of its prime concerns. In 2014, the company reported 0.42 road accident cases for every 200,000 hours. It was 29 percent less compared to the previous year. The company has won the credit of 6.5 million hours without major injuries at its gas plant. The Kingdom registered more than 69,000 work injuries in nine economic sectors in 2014 with the construction sector accounting for 51.35 percent of the total. Economists and other experts have attributed the growth in workplace injuries to the growth in development projects. The construction and downstream industries sector accounted for 35 percent of workplace injuries while the agriculture and fisheries sector registered the lowest with 0.78 percent. Riyadh and Makkah regions reported the largest number of workplace injury cases in the construction sector. Makkah claimed the largest number of injuries in the trade sector with 900 cases. Meanwhile, a Saudi investor has accused insurance companies of doing nothing to educate the public to avoid workplace injuries and accidents at factories. He said a number of major accidents including fires and explosions have taken place in Asian countries, claiming the lives of thousands.
