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Accidents at work (ESAW, 2008 onwards) (hsw_acc_work)

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National Reference Metadata in National metadata report related to European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW) (ESAWNSI)

Compiling agency: [IT110] National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) (Italy)

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For accidents that occur to the majority of employees or similar workers, which are predicted not to be curable within three days, excluding the day of the event, the employer is required to forward the report/communication of the accident within two days of receiving the references of the medical certificate (identification number of the certificate, date of issue and prognosis period). The medical certificate has to be transmitted electronically to the Institute directly by the doctor or the health facility responsible for issuing it (art. 53 Consolidated Law 1124 /1965), regardless of any assessment with respect to the occurrence of the legal extremes for compensation. In the event of a fatal or life-threatening accident, the event must be reported within twenty-four hours and by any means that allows proof of its sending, without prejudice to the obligation to forward the report/communication within the terms and methods established by law (art. 53, paragraphs 1 and 2, Consolidated Law 1124/1965).
If the incapacity for an accident that is predicted to be curable within three days extends to a fourth, the employer must forward the report/communication within two days of receiving the references of the new medical certificate (identification number of the certificate, date of issue and prognosis period). The medical certificate has to be transmitted electronically to the Institute directly by the doctor or competent health facility. The employer who sends the accident reports electronically to the insurance Institute is exempt from the obligation to transmit the information relating to the aforementioned reports to the public safety authority.

Legislative Decree 151/2015 eliminated the need for employers to keep a physical accident register, replacing it with the electronic reporting to INAIL. Since 2016, the electronic submission of the accident report to INAIL also fulfills the obligation to communicate to the Public Safety authority. Decree 21 October 2021, n. 146:
This decree introduced changes to the Consolidated Law on Health and Safety at Work, with the aim of strengthening the discipline in the matter and combating irregular work.
Reference legislation: Consolidated Law Decree 81/08: This decree is the main source of legislation for the prevention of accidents at work, replacing previous, more fragmented laws.
Legislative Decree 151/2015: Reform that abolished the accident register. Decree 21 October 2021, n. 146: Introduces changes to the Consolidated Law to strengthen safety and combat irregular work.

 

Harmonised data on accidents at work are collected in the framework of the administrative data collection 'European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW)', on the basis of a methodology developed first in 1990. European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW) - Summary methodology - 2013 edition is the last version available.

An accident at work is defined as 'a discrete occurrence in the course of work which leads to physical or mental harm'. If the accident does not lead to the death of the victim it is called a 'non-fatal' (or 'serious') accident. The data include only fatal and non-fatal accidents involving more than 3 calendar days of absence from work. 

A fatal accident at work is defined as an accident, which leads to the death of a victim within one year of the accident.

The variables collected on accidents at work include:

  • Economic activity of the employer and size of the enterprise
  • Employment status, occupation, age, sex and nationality of victim
  • Geographical location, date and time of the accident
  • Type of injury, body part injured and the severity of the accident (number of full calendar days during which the victim is unfit for work excluding the day of the accident, permanent incapacity or death within one year of the accident)
  • Variables on causes and circumstances of the accident: workstation, working environment, working process, specific physical activity, material agent of the specific physical activity, deviation and material agent of deviation, contact - mode of injury and material agent of contact - mode of injury (mandatory 3 out of 9).

The national ESAW sources are the declarations of accidents at work, either to the accident insurance of the national social security system, a private insurance for accidents at work or to other relevant national authorities (labour inspection, health and safety authority, etc.). As an exception, when data from administrative sources are not available, survey data might be used to fill-in the data gaps.

 

Eurostat website has a structure that includes four folders with accidents at work data:

Eurostat database

  Eurostat 1

1. Accidents at work (ESAW, 2008 onwards) contains the most recent data. This folder has other three sections: 'Main Indicators', 'Details by economic sector (NACE Rev2, 2008 onwards) and 'Causes and circumstances of accidents at work'.

Eurostat 2

Depending on the table, data are broken down by: economic activity (NACE 'main sectors' (1 digit code) or more detailed NACE divisions (2 digit codes)); the occupation of the victim (ISCO-08 code); country; severity of the accident, sex, age, employment status, size of the enterprise, body part injured and type of injury. The unit of measure depends also on the table. The following units of measure are available: numbers, percentages, incidence rates and standardised incidence rates of non-fatal and fatal accidents at work.

2. Accidents at work (ESAW) – until 2007 contains back data covering the reference period 1993-2007, these data refer to the version 1.1 of the NACE classification (NACE Rev.1.1.).

3. Accidents at work and other work-related health problems (source LFS) – present the results of the LFS ad-hoc modules dedicated for health and safety, that are comparable, for the reference years when they have been conducted namely 2007, 2013 and 2020. They are presented in the form of tables that refer to accidents at work; work-related health problems and exposure to risk factors for physical and mental well-being.

4. Work related health problems and accidental injuries – LFS 1999 presents data collected with the LFS ad-hoc module dedicated to health and safety at work 1999. These are historical data, the comparability of the results with the waves 2007, 2013 and 2020 is limited, for this reason the results are presented separately.

2 July 2026

Information corresponds to the EU metadata.

The statistical unit is the accident at work.

Data are collected for each accident.

If a person is a victim of more than one accident during the reference year, several cases are reported (one for each accident).

If there are several victims in the same event of accident, also several cases are reported (one for each victim).

Accidents at work: information corresponds to the EU metadata. Statistical population: both employees and self-employed workers, family workers, etc. are covered. Inail does not provide the national reference population because for industrial and service workers we do not know the exact number as they are estimated; they are units of work-year calculated on the basis of the wage bill that the employer declares to pay with reference to the work carried out. Then the information on the requested variables are not all available at the moment (for example sex, age). The information on insured workers in agriculture and the State (ministries, regions, etc.) is the responsibility of other national institutes.

Data are available for all EU-Member States and EFTA countries.

The calendar year during which the accidents were reported to have taken place (reference year).

Italy, having an insurance system as well as specific and comprehensive statistical archives transmits comprehensive data on accidents at work to Eurostat.

There is no under-reporting in the data transmitted to Eurostat.

There is no underestimation of the data transmitted. There isn’t any national study about underreporting

The following measurement units are used in ESAW data:

  • Numbers of accidents
  • Percentages of accidents (in relation to different totals and breakdowns)
  • Incidence rates of accidents: number of accidents per 100,000 workers
  • Standardised incidence rates: number of accidents per 100,000 workers adjusted for the relative sizes of economic sectors at EU level (see section 18.6 Adjustment for more details).

INAIL does not use weights to calculate the number of accidents.

The accident report must be submitted by the employer to INAIL in the event of an accident at work involving a worker, employee, or similar, if the injury is expected to result in an incapacity of more than three days, excluding the day of the incident.

For such cases, INAIL provides a benefit.

INAIL also considers commuting accidents as work-related; however, these are excluded from the data transmitted to Eurostat.

The ESAW data transmitted to Eurostat are from Inail (National Institute against Accidents at Work). The original national data sources are employers' reports of accidents at work for which the institute has provided compensation. Fatal cases refer to accidents with or without survivors.

For the reference population, the source of the Labor Force Survey is Istat (National Institute of Statistics).

Annual.

With reference to the year N, the data of the year N-2 are usually extracted on 31st of October of the year N-1.

Standardized incidence rates are the only indicators that allow for data comparability between countries removing differences for different sizes of economic sectors. Standardised incidence rates should be further improved as there are still other problems of data comparability. For example, some countries have low standardised incidence rates. In Italy more than 40% of fatal accidents occur in connection with means of transport.

There weren't many Covid-19 incidents in 2024 in Italy.The comparability with other years could be affected.