Statistics Finland

Information and Statistical Services

PO Box 3B, FI-00022 Statistics Finland

The variables collected on accidents at work include all the variables mentioned in the ESAW methodology, except for 'size of the enterprise', 'time of the accident', 'workstation', 'material agent of the special physical activity' and 'material agent associated with the deviation'.

Only one material agent (contact mode of injury) is included.

Classification ISCO-08 will be included in the data in 2021, when the data on the occupation of the victim is included in the data (for reference year 2016 and onwards). 

NACE Rev. 2 is used to classify economic activity.

NUTS 2021 is used to classify geographical location.

All economic sectors A - S according to NACE Rev. 2 should in principle be covered from reference year 2013 onwards. Before the reference year 2013, there was no obligation to cover sectors outside the so-called 'common branches' A and C – N. However, most Member States covered those non-common sectors C and O – S as well as T and U before on a voluntary basis.

The NACE sectors are (all branches, at one digit level):
A AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHING
B MINING AND QUARRYING
C MANUFACTURING
D ELECTRICITY, GAS, STEAM AND AIR CONDITIONING SUPPLY
E WATER SUPPLY; SEWERAGE, WASTE MANAGEMENT AND REMEDIATION ACTIVITIES
F CONSTRUCTION
G WHOLESALE AND RETAIL TRADE; REPAIR OF MOTOR VEHICLES AND MOTORCYCLES
H TRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE
I ACCOMMODATION AND FOOD SERVICE ACTIVITIES
J INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
K FINANCIAL AND INSURANCE ACTIVITIES
L REAL ESTATE ACTIVITIES
M PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES
N ADMINISTRATIVE AND SUPPORT SERVICE ACTIVITIES
O PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEFENCE; COMPULSORY SOCIAL SECURITY
P EDUCATION
Q HUMAN HEALTH AND SOCIAL WORK ACTIVITIES
R ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION
S OTHER SERVICE ACTIVITIES
T ACTIVITIES OF HOUSEHOLDS AS EMPLOYERS; U0NDIFFERENTIATED GOODS- AND SERVICES-PRODUCING ACTIVITIES OF HOUSEHOLDS FOR OWN USE
U ACTIVITIES OF EXTRATERRITORIAL ORGANISATIONS AND BODIES

Data delivery for sectors T and U is voluntary.

Some sectors and professions are subject to confidentiality rules. According to the ESAW implementing Regulation 349/2011 (annex II), Member States deliver the following NACE Rev. 2 divisions of sector O on a voluntary basis only:
84.22 Defence activities
84.23 Justice and judicial activities
84.24 Public order and safety activities
84.25 Fire services activities

Section '3.6. Statistical population' below gives information about professions (occupations) subject to confidentiality exceptions.

On the Eurostat website, the data tables published in section 'Main indicators' (hsw_mi) cover the 13 common branches A, C-N only.

In the section 'Details by economic activity (NACE Rev. 2, 2008 onwards) (hsw_n2) some data are presented at 1 and 2 digit level of NACE Rev.2 classification.

The ESAW implementing Regulation (see section 11.2 Quality assessment) requires that Member States send data on accidents of 'employees'. Data on accidents of self-employed, family workers and other employment types are voluntary.

The metadata annex to this file contains, besides other information, a detailed overview about which Member State covers which economic sectors and employment types.

COVERAGE OF ECONOMIC SECTORS (NACE), (Annual update expected)

Additional comments on coverage of economic sectors

Codes:

y Sector fully covered
n Sector not covered at all
p Secor partially covered
n.a. Not applicable, i.e. sector does not exist in country

European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW) are based on case-by-case data for accidents at work resulting in more than 3 days' absence from work, permanent incapacity or death of the victim.

An accident at work is 'a discrete occurrence in the course of work which leads to physical or mental harm'.

- This includes all accidents in the course of work, whether they happen inside or outside the premises of the employer, on the premises of another employer, in public places or during transport (including road traffic accidents or accidents in any other mean of transportation) and at home (such as during teleworking). It also includes cases of acute poisoning and wilful acts of other persons;
- It excludes: accidents on the way to or from work (commuting accidents); deliberate self-inflicted injuries; occurrences caused solely by a medical condition (such as heart attack or stroke) that occurred during work, i.e. which were not (at least partially) caused by the occupational activity of the victim;; accidents to members of the public, for example family members of a worker who are not working; and occupational diseases.

A fatal accident at work is defined as an accident which leads to the death of a victim within one year of the accident. In practice the notification of an accident as fatal ranges from national registration procedures where the accident is registered as fatal when the victim dies during the same day (Netherlands) or within 30 days after the accident (Germany) to cases where no time limits are laid down (Belgium, Greece, France except for deaths occurring after the recognition of a permanent disability, Italy, Luxemburg, Austria, Sweden and Norway). For the other Member States the time limit is one year, except for Spain where the limit is 1,5 years after the date of the accident.

In a typical fatal accident at work, the death occurs within a few days after the day of the accident and the limitation to the day of the accident would result already in a significant underestimation of such very severe accidents.

The ESAW methodology is in accordance with the ILO (International Labour Office) "Resolution concerning statistics of occupational injuries (resulting from occupational accidents)" adopted by the Sixteenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians in October 1998.

The following 15 phase I and II variables have to be sent by Member States to Eurostat from reference year 2011 onwards on an annual basis:
1. Case number
2. Economic activity of the employer (NACE)
3. Occupation of Victim (ISCO)
4. Age of Victim
5. Sex of Victim
6. Type of Injury
7. Part of Body Injured
8. Geographical Location of the Accident
9. Date of the Accident
10. Time of the Accident (optional)
11. Size of the Enterprise (optional)
12. Nationality of the Victim (optional)
13. Employment Status of the Victim
14. Days Lost (severity)
15. Weight ESAW collection

In addition, three of the following nine phase III variables on 'causes and circumstances of the accident' have to be sent annually to Eurostat from reference year 2013 onwards:
16. - 18. Workstation, Working Environment, Working Process
19. - 20. Specific Physical Activity, Material Agent associated with the of Specific Physical Activity
21. - 22. Deviation, Material Agent associated with the Deviation
23. - 24. Contact - mode of injury, Material Agent associated with the Contact - Mode of injury.

Finally, the weight on Causes and Circumstances has to be sent if the Member State applies an additional sampling for the encoding of the ESAW Phase III variables on causes and circumstances. If not applicable the default value is 1.

The definition of the variables is stated in the Commission Regulation (EU) No 349/2011 and further specified in the ESAW methodology.

COVERAGE OF ESAW VARIABLES (Annual update expected)

Additional comments on coverage of ESAW variables

Codes:

Coverage
y Variable fully covered
n Variable not covered at all, i.e. variable is so far not collected in country
p Variable partially covered

Days lost
y num Days lost are covered and in data file listed by numbers (004 - 182)
y cat Days lost are covered and in data file listed by categories (A01 - A06)
p num, p cat Days lost are partly covered and listed by numbers (categories)

Type of weight
U weight to correct under-reporting
S weight to account for sampling
Sp weight to correct special sampling

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).

In principle all accidents at work should be covered that fulfil the definition of '18.4. Statistical concepts and definitions'.

In terms of employment types covered, Member States are required to report on 'employees'. The other employment types (self-employed, family members, students and others) are voluntary.

In addition to NACE sector O (see section 18.3. Coverage – sector), some professions (occupations) are also subject to national confidentiality rules and delivered on a voluntary basis as mentioned in annex II of the ESAW implementing Regulation 349/2011:

For ISCO – 08:
- 0 Armed forces occupations
- 3351 Customs and border inspectors
- 3355 Police inspectors and detectives
- 541 Protective services workers
a. 5411 Fire-fighters
b. 5412 Police officers
c. 5413 Prison guards
d. 5414 Security guards
e. 5419 Protective services workers not elsewhere classified

COVERAGE OF PROFESSIONAL STATUS (Annual update expected)

Additional comments on coverage of professionnal status

Codes:

y Professional status fully covered
n Professional status not covered at all
p Professional status partially covered
n.a. Not applicable, i.e. professional status does not exist in country

COVERAGE OF ACCIDENTS OUTSIDE PREMISES (Annual update expected)

Additional comments on coverage of accidents outside premises

Codes:

y Accidents fully covered
n Accidents not covered at all
p Accidents partially covered
F Data of fatal road traffic accidents and fatal accidents on board of any means of transport provided in the main CSV data file
A Data of fatal and non-fatal road traffic accidents as well as fatal and non-fatal accidents on board of any means of transport provided in the main CSV data file

Data are available for all EU-Member States, Iceland (from 2012), Norway and Switzerland.

In 2007, Statistics Finland’s accidents at work statistics (reference year 2005) were harmonised with the Eurostat ESAW statistics as a result of statistical cooperation.

As for wage and salary earners, it was possible to update the time series to reflect the changes until 1996.

As for farmers, the time series goes back to 2000.

Not applicable.

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)

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

The implementing Regulation under which Member States report ESAW data to Eurostat is Commission Regulation (EU) No 349/2011 of 11 April 2011 implementing Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work, as regards statistics on accidents at work (text with EEA relevance; see http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32011R0349).

The afore mentioned Regulation 349/2011 implements the framework Regulation EC N° 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work (see http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:32008R1338).

Commission Decision 2011/231 of 11 April 2011 grants derogations to certain Member States with respect to the transmission of statistics pursuant to Commission Regulation (EU) No 349/2011 of 11 April 2011 implementing Regulation (EC) No 1338/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on Community statistics on public health and health and safety at work, as regards statistics on accidents at work (see http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32011D0231).

The ESAW summary methodology (version of 2013), defines further details of the data to be transmitted (see http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-RA-12-102).

The current strategy of the EU concerning health and safety at work is outlined in the following EU Commission Communication: EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2014-2020 (see http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52014DC0332).

The health and safety at work strategy of the EU from 2007 until 2012 was: Community strategy 2007-2012 on health and safety at work (see EUR-Lex - l10114 - EN - EUR-Lex (europa.eu).

The health and safety strategy of the EU from 2002 and 2006 was: Commission Communication COM (2002) 118 Final and Council resolution 2002/C 161/01 on a new Community strategy for safety and health at work 2002-2006 (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi%21celexplus%21prod%21DocNumber&lg=en&type_doc=COMfinal&an_doc=2002&nu_doc=118).

Not applicable.

Työtapaturma- ja ammattitautilaki  24.4.2015/459, chapter 35 (Finnish Act, not translated officially yet).

There is currently no treatment of ESAW data with regard to statistical confidentiality taking place.

ESAW data is usually released between January - September of each year (in year N+2, where N is the reference year in which the accidents took place), with a focus on end of June - July (release of most countries' data).

There is no specific release calendar for ESAW data (see the Eurostat website for all published ESAW data).

See section 14. Timeliness and punctuality for more details about the timing and punctuality of ESAW data releases.

Not available.

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice (European Statistics Code of Practice — revised edition 2017 - Products Catalogues - Eurostat (europa.eu)) Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see worksheet 10. Accessibility and clarity) respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent  manner in which all users are treated equitably.The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Annual.

See Eurostat website (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat) for occasional news releases.

Since the statistical reference year 2005, the accidents at work statistics are only published online. The online publication and database tables on the statistics are available at: https://stat.fi/en/statistics/ttap.

The persons responsible for the statistics are Mikko Toiviainen (firstname.lastname@stat.fi) and Arto Miettinen (firstname.lastname@stat.fi).

The Finnish Workers’ Compensation Center annually publishes its own statistics on accidents at work and diseases for which compensation has been paid. The statistics are available in print and online (www.tvk.fi/en).

Not available (at EU level).

ESAW data is not available as microdata.

Not applicable.

Not available (at EU level).

The ESAW summary methodology (version of 2013) defines further details of the data to be transmitted (see http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/en/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-RA-12-102).

All countries provide metadata.

This file and similar files of (other) countries consitute the documentation available on data quality of ESAW.

Procedures of accident insurance and data collection are mandated by national law.

In general, Eurostat aims to continuously improve the quality of ESAW data together with Member States.

ESAW is an administrative data collection which provides information on accidents at work as they are reported by employers in Member States to relevant national state authorities.

The type of data transmitted to Eurostat as well as its timing and other aspects follow strict rules (see section 6. 'Institutional mandate'). Eurostat together with Member States systematically check and validate data transmissions according to the following legal acts and further guidelines:

Member States fulfill their obligations in relation to these legal acts and guidelines. This includes all classification systems. Exceptions are mentioned in the other concepts of this file (including 19. Comments).

However, the data sources in Member States are to some degree heterogenous. For example, in some Member States accidents are reported in the framework of accident insurances whereas in other Member States universal social security system apply in case of accidents. This issue is covered in section 13. on Accuracy and relibaility of this file.

A particular challenge of ESAW data are the issues of (i) under-reporting of non-fatal accidents in some Member States, (ii) differences in the coverage of self-employed, family workers and other non-employee workers (voluntary data), and (iii) accuracy of reference populations (number of employed persons in economic sectors) and incidence rates (reference populations are the denominators of incidence rates). These issues are currently worked on but are not likely to be solved completely in the short term.

According to the ESAW implementing Regulation No 349/2011, only three out of nine phase III variables need to be reported to Eurostat. Although many Member States report on more than three phase III variables, the average coverage of phase III variables accross all Member States and all variables is currently about 50% only.

In line with the European Union legal framework and principle 6 (impartiality and objectivity) of the Code of Practice, Eurostat develops, produces and disseminates European statistics respecting scientific independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably (see European Statistics Code of Practice — revised edition 2017 - Products Catalogues - Eurostat (europa.eu) for more information).

The main users of the ESAW data at EU level are:
- Other EU organisations concerned with health and safety at work, in particular Directorate-General for Employment, social affairs and inclusion (http://ec.europa.eu/social/home.jsp?langId=en) as well as the EU agencies EU-OSHA (http://osha.europa.eu/) and EUROFOUND (http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/);
- Member States authorities such as statistical authorities, labour ministries, labour inspectorates;
- International organisations dealing with health and safety at work such as ILO;
- Business associations, trade unions and NGOs;
- Researchers and students;
- Media.

Eurostat regularly meets other EU and international organisations as well as representatives of relevant Member State authorities, business associations, workers and employer associations.

In addition, it communicates with other user groups such as researchers, students and the media via several channels including its user support, website and through events such as conferences and meetings.

The needs and comments from these user groups are continuosly taken into account when deciding about what statistics are collected and disseminated.

ESAW data users are often interested in information concerning individual economic sectors. Incidence rates are important for comparing the situation in different Member States and economic sectors. While absolute numbers of accidents for individual economic sectors (at NACE Rev.2 at 2-digit or more detailed level) reflect appropriately the accidents reported in Member States, incidende rates (number of accidents per 100,000 workers) depend also on reference populations which are sometimes not very accurate for smaller sectors.

Eurostat carries out regular user satisfaction surveys including for statistical domains such as 'health'.

Information about the downloads of individual datasets, detailed tables, publications and Statistics Explained articles is regularly compiled and analysed.

All available information about user satisfaction is taken into account when developing data collections.

However, there is currently no dedicated user satisfaction survey on ESAW statistics.

See metadata file in annex which lists for all countries in detail the available variables, economic sectors, employment status and information on traffic accidents.

ESAW phase I and II variables are covered at nearly 100% level (for derogations and other exceptions see relevant sections in this file).

However and as outlined in section 13. on accuracy and reliability, ESAW data suffers at various degrees from under-reporting in some Member States (see among others section 19. Comments).

Some Member States do not cover certain economic sectors, professions and employment types (some of which are voluntary to cover; see metadata file in annex).

ESAW Phase III variables are currently covered by about 50% on average for all Member States and variables (only three out of nine phase III variables' data are mandatory to transmit to Eurostat).

REPORTING LEVELS OF ECONOMIC SECTORS (NACE), (Annual update expected)

Global reporting level

Reporting levels by sector

Additional comments on global reporting level

Codes:

N sector not covered by data collection
UNK sector covered but unknown reporting level
(value %) reporting level
(e) rough estimate (instead of "medium" or "high")

From the beginning of 2016 TVK is responsible for surveillance of mandatory accident insurance (control for under-coverage).

In TVK's preliminary studies there has been some indications of minor over-reporting. NOTE: few sigle fatal accidents at work are recorded even after the classification has been made.

Those countries using sampling for all or some variables should insert relevant information including whether weighting is applied to correct for sampling errors.

Those countries using sampling for all or some variables should insert relevant informationincluding whether weighting is applied to correct for sampling errors.

Not available.

General information about under-reporting errors can be found in other sections of this file.

The insurance is optional for self-employed persons except for farmers, who must take out a compulsory insurance policy at the Farmer’s Social Insurance Institution (MELA) if the size of the farm exceeds five hectares.

Fishermen and reindeer rearers must also take out an insurance policy at the MELA. For this reason, all occupational accidents involving self-employed persons mentioned above are comprehensively included in the statistics.

The MELA has a national network of agents who transmit accident information to the MELA. As for other self-employed persons, they may take out optional insurance policies. Approximately 41 to 42 per cent of self-employed persons other than farmers have taken out an optional accident insurance policy.

Not available.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Results for reference year 2021 will be published by end of June 2023 at the latest. 

Approximately 12 months after the end of the reference year (experience of previous years).

Approximately 21 months after the end of the reference year (experience of previous years).

Most countries transmit data before and a few days -weeks after the legal deadline of 30 June of year N+2. Eurostat then checks and validates this data and publishes most of it on its website within a few weeks (in July N+2 or before).

A few countries may send data only during July - September of year N+2. All data is usually published until September - October of year N+2.

See above.

Data on fatal accidents have a high level of comparability between all countries.

Data on non-fatal accidents are considered to be of limited comparability across certain groups of countries.

See section 13. on 'accuracy' for further details, in particular concerning the existence of two different types of accident notification systems (insurance based and universal social security system based).

Standardised incidence rates are calculated in order to enable between comparison between countries (some countries have larger high-risk sectors in terms of work accidents, for example concerning certain occupations in transport, construction, manufacturing and agriculture; see section 18.6 Adjustment for more details).

Not applicable.

Since 1992, the accidents at work statistics have been compiled at Statistics Finland.

Since the 2007 statistics reform, it has been possible to update reliably the time series on wage and salary earners' employment accidents until 1996.

The accidents at work information on farmers can be obtained from 2000 onwards. 

The last major break for ESAW data was between 2007 and 2008 including a change from NACE Rev.1 to NACE Rev. 2 and concerning the addition of the 13 new Member States which joined the EU in 2004, 2007 and 2013 respectively.

Therefore, the length of comparable ESAW time series is for example six years for reference years 2008 - 2013.

ESAW data may be compared with relevant data from the Labour Force Survey ad-hoc modules on accidents at work and other work-related health problems available from the same main data tree branch 'Health and safety at work (hsw)' for the reference years 2013, 2007 and 1999.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

ESAW data on the Eurostat website since 2008 are largely coherent between the different datasets.

There are some exceptions if some countries use old classification systems such as for ISCO-88 classification for occupations.

There is currently no cost/burden analysis available for ESAW data at EU level.

ESAW data are occasionally revised, such as when a country notifies Eurostat about changes in the data and metadata.

In 2014 - 2015 a revision of reference populations of some countries was done which impacts on incidence rates (the reference populations is the denominator for incidence rates, the numerator is the numbers of accidents).

The practice for data revisions is similar to the practice of publishing new data: either the country sends revised data to Eurostat which checks, validates and publishes it in agreement with the responsible national authority, or Eurostat calculates revised data and sends it to the country's authority for agreement.

Not available.

The information in the Accidents at Work statistics has been obtained by combining register data compiled in connection with occupational accidents insurance and the data of Statistics Finland.

Information on accidents involving wage and salary earners and self-employed persons are obtained from Finnish Workers' Compensation Center (TVK).

The details on accidents involving farmers are based on information collected by the Farmers' Social Insurance Institution (MELA).

The information of Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey (TYTI) and Employment Statistics has also been used in compiling the statistics.

In the statistics, accidents at work are accidents for which insurance companies have paid compensation.

Annual.

In Finland, private insurance companies are in charge of accident insurance.

The Finnish Workers' Compensation Center (TVK) is the central body of the statutory accident insurance whose main purpose is to coordinate the implementation of statutory accident insurance.

In Finland, insurance companies that provide statutory accident insurance must be members of the TVK. 

As for accidents involving wage and salary earners, the statistical coverage is good, since all employees are in practice covered by the accident compensation.

Accident reporting is not neglected, since reporting accidents is financially profitable to the employer.

Coverage is also affected by the employer’s choice of either a compulsory or fully comprehensive insurance. The fully comprehensive insurance does not include the employer’s contribution.

The information on accidents involving central government sector wage and salary earners has been obtained from the TVK.

As for the information on accidents involving State employees, this was originally obtained from the State Treasury, but Statistics Finland can also acquire it through the TVK.

EU aggregates are calculated on the basis of available data from countries.

Standardised and non-standardised incidence rates are calculated using number of accidents and reference populations (see relevant annex to this file).

Standardised incidence rates are calculated in addition to normal incidence rates in order to eliminate the effect that some countries have larger high-risk sectors than others.

The standarisation method consists in multiplying incidence rates with weights corresponding to the shares of sectoral workforces in the total EU workforce.

High-risk sectors are those in which the number of work accidents per 100,000 workers is typically higher. Examples are the sectors transport, construction, manufacturing and agriculture (in particular concerning some occupations within these sectors).

For more details, please refer to the ESAW summary methodology and to the annex of this file.

Not applicable.

In general, there are no adjustments done for ESAW data.

ESAW standardised and non-standardised incidence rates are checked to some degree for outliers.

In case of unreasonable high or low values of these incidence rates, in particular for certain more detailed breakdowns of data, Eurostat may remove related incidence rates from dissemination and replace the values by appropriate codes.

As ESAW is an annual administrative data collection, there are no seasonal adjustments nor other time series adjustments done.

Not applicable.