The trade union publication Fagbladet 3F has for the first time produced a list of the companies in Denmark where the most work-related injuries are sustained, and some of Denmark’s most prominent companies have the dubious honour of being included.

Peter Hasle, a professor at the Center for Industrial Production at Aalborg University, said that when reviewing the rankings it is sometimes necessary to look more closely at the figures.

“Some companies will certainly have more injuries, but there can also be some that are good at getting work-related injuries registered,” he said.

Danish Crown: we have interest in reducing injuries
The country’s biggest slaughterhouse company Danish Crown was number nine on the list. According to the figures published, which are based on data collected for all reported workplace injuries between 2012 and 2014, there is a 5 percent chance of a Danish Crown employee being injured at work in any given year.

Jens Hansen, Danish Crown’s communications chief, told DR that the reason for the high ranking was partly industry-related, but also because the company registers each and every incident, irrespective of its severity.

“Most of our employees are equipped with a knife, and even though we have a very large arsenal of safety equipment, we must recognise that cutting injuries are one of the things that adds up in statistics like these,” he said.

“It’s extremely expensive in insurance and sickness benefits when some of our employees get injured. Therefore Danish Crown has just as much interest in reducing the number of work-related injuries as our employees have.”

Hilton Foods Danmark had the highest rate of injuries, the wind turbine producer LM Wind Power came second, and the cleaning company Kongsvang Rengøringsservice had the third-highest rate of workplace injuries.

Aviator Airport Services, SB Pork, Persolit Entreprenørfirma, Scandlines, Tekniclean, and Haribo Lakrids made up the rest of the top ten.