Maintenance and occupational safety and health — a statistical picture

Maintenance is a generic term for a variety of tasks in different sectors and all kinds of working environments. This report aims to provide an overview of maintenance workers in Europe with regard to their exposure to hazards and the main risks, health problems and types of accident. It also gives some indication as to appropriate prevention measures. Around 6% of workers are involved in maintenance activities on a daily basis. Because they carry out a wide range of activities, these workers are exposed to many and varied hazards at work. There are physical hazards (e.g. noise, vibration, excessive heat and cold, radiation, high physical workload), chemical hazards (e.g. work with asbestos, welding, exposure to dangerous substances when working in confined spaces), biological hazards (e.g. legionella) and psychosocial hazards (e.g. poor work organisation). Maintenance workers are also at risk of all types of accidents. Figures from EUROSTAT indicate that around 10-15% of all fatal accidents are related to maintenance operations