_______________THAILAND

Occupational Safety and Health Statistic & Situation

Key OSH Issues

The rapid growth and diversification of industry and economic activity in Thailand in recent years has helped the country make remarkable progress towards prosperity. However, this same growth has also presented Thailand with new challenges in a wide variety of fields, including, of course, Occupational Safety and Health.It is recognized that new processes, new industries and new developments may all bring new hazards. Guarding against those hazards requires the active involvement of all three of the tripartite constituents, government, employers and workers.The Government of Thailand has recognized the importance of occupational safety and health issues in its National Economic and Social Development Plan, making the reduction of preventable accidents a development target. It is hoped that this report may in some way contribute to the achievement of those objectives, and the overall goal of creating safer and better workplaces.The number of employed workers was estimated at 42 millions in 2003, engaged in a wide variety of economic activities, and experiencing an equally wide range of working conditions. The improvement of working conditions and environment is an important issue for the entire working population, and has significant implications for the quality of work. Beside this, another important issue is the rate of workplaces accidents and injuries which still exceed the target under the national development plan (was set at 26 per 1,000 workers). Therefore, the development of practical and effective control measures for working environment improvement, as well as implementation of strategic management for the reduction of workplace accidents and injuries are the key issues.

Statistics on Occupational Accidents

The only formal occupational accident statistics available in Thailand were those published by the Office of the Workmen’s Compensation Fund (WCF), Ministry of Labour.While Thailand has been caught up by the financial crisis since 1997, various industrial activities continue to play a major role in the social and economic development of the country. During the growth years before the crisis, as industrial activities expanded, adverse effects on workers became more obvious – and the official figures on industrial accidents rose. The number of industrial accidents compensated by the Workmen’s Compensation Scheme (including those cases which did not involve absence from work) were dramatically increased during the early 1990s. However, it must be noticed that the coverage of the Workmen’s Compensation Scheme was expanded in 1993 from enterprises with 20 or more employees to those with 10 or more, and in 2002 to those with 1 employee or more. As a result, the number of workers covered by the WCF scheme has been increasing constantly. Thus, the accident rate per 1,000 workers has actually remained unchanged. In addition, the increase in the reported number of industrial accidents should be understood to be reflecting the expansion of industrial activities and the improvement in the coverage of the Workmen’s Compensation Scheme rather than a deterioration of the working environment.

Table 1 Occupational Accidents by Type of Severity: 1999-2003

Table 2 Occupational Injury and Fatality Rate: 1999-2003

Statistics on Occupational Illnesses

In Thailand, statistics on occupational diseases or illnesses are scanty and under reported. A number of cases of occupational diseases had been reported during 1990s. In 2001, 13,234 were reported as occupational illnesses due to lifting heavy load, awkward posture, injuries from hazardous chemicals exposure or allergic to substances, and occupational diseases.Table 3 shows the occupational diseases cases identified through the medical network of the Workmen's Compensation Office.

Table 3 Occupational Illnesses by causes: 2001

Source: Workmen's Compensation Office, Annual Report 2001.