50,000 workers hurt at work in 9 months

RIYADH: As many as 50,000 workers, including 300 Saudis, have sustained work-related injuries in the past nine months this year, a recent report issued by the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) has stated.
The report said non-Saudis represent 95 percent of the total injuries. The injuries were not confined to males only, as 533 or 0.299 of them are women.
GOSI said that the total compensation paid by the foundation since 1974 until last year, was SR114 billion, of which a large amount went to the Eastern regions (by 44.8 percent), while damages amounted to SR53.5 billion.
Meanwhile, local and international reports reveal that Saudi women now comprise 400,000 of the workforce in Saudi Arabia.
Referring to on-the-job injuries, a source at the Research and Studies Department at GOSI said that they occurred during the first nine months of 2015. The construction industry accounted for over 17 percent of the injuries, followed by trade activity (9,690) and manufacturing (7,420).
Among the other sectors, 301 injuries occurred in the field of agriculture and fishing. Referring to the statistics, the source said that most of these injuries happened in the Makkah region (20,877 cases), followed by the Eastern region (12,768 cases), while the Riyadh region reported 11,986 injuries.
The lowest rate was reported from the Northern Border with 25 cases, the report said.
The report shows most of those injured are aged between 25 and 29. They form the highest rate who suffered from the risk of work-related injuries (12,467 cases) cases followed those in 30 and 34 years category (10,789), while 7,179 were between 35 and 39. The report also revealed that 80 of the injured workers are aged 15 to 19 during in the same period.
The number of work-related injuries during the past 10 years stood at 803,000 cases involving professions ranging from business managers and technicians to technical and engineering professions among others, the report added.