"Important stories": tens of thousands of industrial injuries are hushed up

At the same time, paradoxically, the level of industrial injuries is lower here than in developed Western countries. This may indicate a distortion of official statistics, according to Important Stories. If we consider the real level of industrial injuries, as recommended by the International Labor Organization (with reliable statistics, there are 500-1000 accidents per death), then in 2020 in Russia up to 1 million workers could get injured at work. This figure is at least 22 times higher than the Rosstat data.

Statistics show that over 20 years the number of accidents at work has decreased 6.5 times, and fatal accidents - 4 times. At the same time, in developed countries, on the contrary, deaths are decreasing faster than non-fatal ones. The level of injuries there is decreasing due to the modernization of equipment, automation of production processes, improvement of the labor protection system, as well as staff development.

But in Russia things are different. “Important stories” do not exclude that work-related injuries are increasingly attributed to domestic injuries. This can be evidenced by the statistics of the Ministry of Health - from 2005 to 2010, the number of work-related injuries decreased by 360 thousand, but the number of household injuries increased by 525 thousand. Also, an increase in the period of incapacity for work per employee can speak of data distortion. If 21 years ago it was 28 days, then two years ago it was already 50.

The head of the legal department of the Confederation of Labor of Russia, Oleg Babich, believes that it is beneficial for employers to hide the injuries of employees received at work. “If an accident is officially documented, the employer is responsible for it, must pay the employee financial compensation,” he explained. Also, accidents affect the amount of contributions that enterprises pay to the Social Insurance Fund. In addition, due to the reduction in the number of injuries among employees, the likelihood of an inspection of production is also reduced, which means that the chances of getting a fine are lower.

“Employees do not know their rights, do not try to protect them properly. They start to hang noodles on their ears, say: “You understand that there is also your fault. If we get things going, we will be forced to fire you". They start to intimidate”, -Babich says.

In general, trade unions should defend the rights of employees - but they are not everywhere, and where they exist, help sometimes cannot be expected. This is what happens, for example, at the Mednogorsk Combine, whose employees are already "tired of burying their comrades." Babich believes that sooner or later, the silence of industrial injuries will lead to "explosive consequences".