Evolving trends in workplace accidents in Malaysia: death and disability patterns across sectors during pre-COVID, pandemic, and post-COVID periods

Workplace accidents are a major concern for occupational safety and health, leading to significant socio-economic impacts due to death and disabilities. This study looks at workplace accidents in various sectors in Malaysia from 2015 to 2023, focusing on the distribution of deaths, permanent disabilities (PD), and non-permanent disabilities (NPD). The goal is to identify trends, sector-specific patterns, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the frequency of these accidents. Data was gathered from Malaysia’s Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH). Using exploratory data analysis, we examined trends and distributions of accidents across ten different sectors, such as manufacturing, agriculture, construction, utilities, and others. Visual tools like tree maps and temporal charts were used to show sectoral distributions and changes over time, divided into pre-COVID (2015–2019), pandemic (2020), and post-pandemic (2021–2023) periods. Additionally, the ARIMA model was employed to forecast the death rate in the construction sector and the NPD rate in the manufacturing sector. The analysis shows that non-permanent disabilities are the most common outcome of workplace accidents across all sectors (92.5%), significantly outnumbering both permanent disability (3.7%) and death (3.8%). The construction sector has a notable upward trend in death, and the manufacturing sector has a notable upward trend in NPD and PD. Although the pandemic temporarily reduced the overall number of accidents, NPD remained high and stabilized at elevated levels in the post-pandemic period. The ARIMA model’s five-year forecast suggests a steady increase in the NPD rate within the manufacturing sector through 2028. In contrast, the construction sector’s forecast predicts a declining trend in the death rate by 2028. These findings highlight the urgent need for better occupational safety measures across all sectors, especially in primary and high-risk industries like construction and manufacturing. To address workplace accidents, it is crucial to implement enhanced safety protocols, stricter enforcement, and targeted interventions to ensure safer working environments in Malaysia.