Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

Unit ESTAT.F5: Education, health and social protection

European Commission

Eurostat [Name of person / name of unit]

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The harmonised data on accidents at work are collected in the framework of the European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW), on the basis of a methodology developed in 1990.

The data refer to accidents at work resulting in more than 3 days' absence from work (serious accidents) and fatal accidents. A fatal accident is defined as an accident which leads to the death of a victim within one year of the accident.

The indicators used are the number and incidence rate of serious and fatal accidents at work.

The incidence rate of serious accidents at work is the number of persons involved in accidents at work with more than 3 days' absence per 100,000 persons in employment.

The incidence rate of fatal accidents at work is the number of persons with fatal accidents at work per 100,000 persons in employment.

The national ESAW sources are the declarations of accidents at work, either to the public (Social Security) or private specific insurance for accidents at work, or to other relevant national authority (Labour Inspection, etc.) for countries having a "universal" Social Security system. For the Netherlands only survey data are available for the non-fatal accidents at work (a special module in the national labour force survey).

Sector coverage:

In general the private sector is covered by all national reporting systems. However some important sectors are not covered by all Member States. The specification of sectors is given according to the NACE classification (NACE = Nomenclature statistique des activités économiques dans la Communauté européenne).

The incidence rate is calculated for the total of the so-called 9 common branches (See point 3.6).

For a structured metadata overview on variables, coverage of sectors and professional status please see also the annex Metadata_overview_2007.

Statistical adjustments:

Because the frequency of work accidents is higher in some branches (high-risk sectors), an adjustment is performed to get more standardised incidence rates. For more details, please see the summary methodology (link at the bottom of the page).

Geographical coverage:

For accidents at work, data are available for all old EU-Member States (EU 15) and Norway. The methodology has also been implemented in the New Member States and Switzerland with first data being available for the reference year 2004.

The detailed ESAW methodology and statistics use the following standard classifications:

• NACE Rev.1:economic activities in the European Community
• ISCO-88: international standard classification of occupation
• NUTS: nomenclature of territorial units for statistics
• ICSE: international classification of status in employment

For full details on these classifications, please see our nomenclature server Ramon.

In general the private sector is covered by all national reporting systems. However some important sectors are not covered by all Member States.

The incidence rate is calculated for the total of the so-called 9 common branches.

European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW) and commuting accidents are based on case-by-case data for accidents at work resulting in more than 3 days' absence from work.

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

• This includes accidents in the course of work outside the premises of one's business, even if caused by a third party (on clients' premises, on another company's premises, in a public place or during transport, including road traffic accidents) and cases of acute poisoning.
• It excludes accidents on the way to or from work (commuting accidents), occurrences having only a medical origin (such as a heart attack at work) 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 within 1 year - for Spain: 1,5 years - after the date of the accident.

In a typical fatal accident at work, the death occurs within few days after the day of the accident and only the limitation to the "same day with the accident" involves a significant underestimation.

Breakdowns are available by age, sex, nationality, occupation (ISCO-COM 2-digit) and employment status (from ICSE 1993) of the victim, by economic activity (NACE 2-digit) and size of the local unit of the enterprise, by type and part of body of the injury, and by geographical location (NUTS), date and time of the accident.

The ESAW methodology is in accordance with the ILO (International Labour Office) Resolution of 1998 concerning "Statistics of Occupational Injuries: resulting from Occupational Accidents" (Adopted by the Sixteenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians, Geneva, 6-15 October 1998).

In regard with the indicators presented in this domain:

• The indicator showing the risk of serious accident at work is the incidence rate = (number of persons involved in accidents with more than 3 days' absence that occurred during the year / number of persons in employment in the reference population) X 100 000.
• The indicator showing the risk of fatal accident at work is the incidence rate = (number of persons with fatal accidents at work that occurred during the year / number of persons in employment in the reference population) X 100 000.

The data relating to the number of persons in employment (the reference population covered by the ESAW reporting) are provided by the Labour Force Survey - LFS (with some corrections for Spain, Luxemburg and Portugal).

For the ESAW Phase 3 variables on causes and circumstances of accidents at work, also the percentage distribution is used as an indicator.

The unit is the (fatal) accident of one person; if the same (fatally) accidental event injures more than one person, one "(fatal) accident" is reported and counted for each (dead) person; similarly, if a person is a victim of more than one accidental event at work during the reference year, one "accident" is reported and counted for each event.

All groups or sectors should in principle be covered by national legislation or other statutory arrangements that require cases of accidents at work to be notified to the authorities, or to a private or public insurance body in accordance with the law.

However, not all data are compiled for statistical purposes. The coverage of groups varies from one Member State to another. Self-employed and family members, as well as Fishing, Mining and Public sectors are not covered for some of them (until 2007).

This is why the country-specific incidence rates are calculated on the 9 following NACE Rev. 1 branches:

• A: Agriculture, hunting and forestry (HU, SK: including fishing)
• D: Manufacturing
• E: Electricity, gas and water supply
• F: Construction
• G: Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods
• H: Hotels and restaurants
• I: Transport, storage and communication
• J: Financial intermediation
• K: Real estate, renting and business activities

Moreover, the reference population used to calculate the incidence rate is filtered according to the groups actually covered by the ESAW national data (e.g., when self-employed are not included in the ESAW data they are also excluded from the reference population).

In regard with European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW), data are available for the old EU-Member States (EU 15) and Norway. The methodology is also being implemented in the New Member States and Switzerland with first data being available for the reference year 2004.

The coverage of the ESAW Phase 3 variables for 2005 is as follows:

• Contact - Mode of injury: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Slovak Republic, United Kingdom and Switzerland.
• Deviation: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Spain, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Austria (partially), Romania, Sweden, Slovak Republic, United Kingdom and Switzerland.
• Material Agent of Contact - Mode of injury: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and United Kingdom.
• Material Agent of Deviation: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland, Austria (partially), Romania, Sweden, Slovak Republic and Switzerland.
• Material Agent of Specific Physical Activity: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Austria (partially), Romania, Slovak Republic and Switzerland.
• Specific Physical Activity: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Spain, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Austria, Romania, Sweden, Slovak Republic and Switzerland.
• Working Environment: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Spain, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Austria (partially), Romania, Sweden, Slovak Republic and Switzerland.
• Working Process: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Spain, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Austria (partially), Romania and Slovak Republic.

Workstation: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Spain, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Austria (partially), Romania, Slovenia and Slovak Republic.

The accidents at work data collection is available from 1994 (pilot collection in 1993) onwards

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 20.6 Adjustment for more details)

The period to which the data refer to is the calendar year of notification.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Some historical documents:

Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics.

Council Decision 1999/126/EC on the Community statistical programme 1998-2002.

The Methodology adopted by Gentlemen's Agreement with the EU Member States and Candidate Countries in the framework of the ESAW Working Group of Eurostat.

Not applicable

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Commission Regulation (EU) No 557/2013 of 17 June 2013 implementing Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European Statistics as regards access to confidential data for scientific purposes and repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 831/2002 Text with EEA relevance, 'establishes the conditions under which access to confidential data transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat) may be granted for enabling statistical analyses for scientific purposes, and the rules of cooperation between the Commission (Eurostat) and national statistical authorities in order to facilitate such access' (article 1).

Microdata of Member States are sent via secure e-Damis application.

There are currently no restrictions applied when publishing aggregated data.

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 15 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 Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 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 for occasional news releases.

See Eurostat website for publications on accidents at work including:

Accidents at work statistics (Statistics Explained article - updated once per year)

8.6% of workers in the EU experienced work-related health problems - Issue number 63/2009

Health and safety at work in Europe (1999-2007)

Work and health in the European Union - A statistical portrait - Data 1994-2002

Accidents at work in the EU 1998-1999

Accidents at work in the EU in 1996

See Eurostat website.

Not applicable

 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

Eurostat and Directorate-General for Employment and social affairs: «European statistics on accidents at work (ESAW) - Methodology - 2001 edition».

Eurostat publication: detailed tables 1994-2000: European social statistics - Accidents at work and work-related health problems

See also footnotes in annexes

Not applicable

Quality Profiles on Serious accidents at work and Fatal accidents at work.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

The data presented are considered to be associated with a high level of overall accuracy. The national ESAW sources are the declarations of accidents at work either to an insurance for accidents at work (BE, DE, EL, ES, FR, IT, LU, AT, PT and FI), or to other relevant national authority (usually Labour Inspectorate) for Member States having a «universal Social Security system» (DK, IE, NL, SE, UK and NO).

Serious accidents:

The incident rates are fully comparable inside each of these two groups of Member States (insurance-based system and universal Social Security system), but they are not strictly comparable between the two groups, though adjustments are made on the basis of reporting levels. However, the index (trends) is comparable between all Member States and Candidate Countries.

Fatal accidents:

In two countries (UK and IE) accidents at work occurring in road traffic (during work) are not covered by the reporting system. Such accidents at work account for about one half of all fatal accidents at work. Therefore for comparable figures on fatalities, these accidents have to be excluded also from the data of the other Member States. This reduces the comprehensiveness of the data for fatalities.

Sampling errors of the data on the number of persons in employment are documented in the Quality Report of the European Union Labour Force Survey.

Non-sampling errors of the data on the number of persons in employment are documented in the Quality Report of the European Union Labour Force Survey.

Member States deliver data in June, year N+2 for the reference year N.

First dissemination is in September, year N+2 for the reference year N.

Some countries have sometimes to re-send corrected data.

Data on serious accidents are considered to be associated with a restricted level of comparability across countries, while data on fatal accidents with a high level.

To ensure comparability across countries, common definitions and classifications have been developed for the ESAW data. In addition, the incidence rates used for the calculation of the index are standardised (by economic activity in EU15) to eliminate differences due to different distributions of the national workforce across the high-risk and low-risk industries. Furthermore, only those economic activities are included in the calculations, for which all Member States can provide complete data. The remaining source of incomparability is due to relying on two basic types of data collection systems; insurance systems and labour inspectorate reporting systems. To reduce these problems of comparability, the index based on 1998 is used for each country instead of absolute incidence rates.

High comparability is over time. For more information, see Annexes.

Data are as well available in Eurostat's domain "Health and safety at work".

For 2007 reference year and the collection hsw_acc_work, the data might be consulted with the results of ad hoc module on accidents at work in Labour Force Survey (2007) under the name hsw_apex in the navigation tree of the Health and safety at work database.Data are as well available in Eurostat's domain "health and safety at work".

Not applicable

Not applicable

There is no systematic revision of previous year data. Data are occasionally revised, if a country notifies Eurostat about changes in the data.

The last revision was: ESAW Working Group decision of 16/10/2000 for 2001 reference year data collection onwards (ESAW "phase3" methodology, published in 2001 - See http://circa.europa.eu/Public/irc/dsis/hasaw/library: European statistics on accidents at work (ESAW) - Methodology).

For the EU aggregates the provisional data are re-calculated when Member States send updated or previously missing data.

Major changes in methodology are notified via methodological publications.

Administrative data: The ESAW statistics are based on a harmonised methodology being developed with EU-Member States from 1990. The data collection started in 1994 (pilot collection in 1993). The national ESAW sources are the declarations of accidents at work, either to the public (Social Security) or private specific insurance for accidents at work ("insurance based systems": BE, DE, EL, ES, FR, IT, LU, AT, PT and FI), or to other relevant national authority (Labour Inspection, etc.) for Member States having a "universal Social Security system": DK, IE, NL, SE, UK and NO. For the Netherlands only survey data are available for the non-fatal accidents at work (a special module in the national labour force survey).

The data relating to persons in employment are provided by the Labour Force Survey.

Annual

National ESAW data extracted from the national administrative databases according to ESAW concepts, definitions, variables and classifications are submitted yearly to Eurostat and inserted in the ESAW database of Eurostat.

A consistency check is performed for each individual variable to identify codes which are not in accordance with ESAW methodology. Countries are asked to check the identified inconsistencies.

Data are given as absolute numbers and as incidence rates.

Time of recording: continuous. The latest delivery of data by Member States is around June, N+2.

Adjustments for under-reporting:

In DK, EL, IE, NL, SE, UK and NO (universal Social Security system, except EL), as well as IT, AT and PT to some extent, recording is less than exhaustive and Eurostat estimates the number of accidents resulting in more than 3 days' absence from work by adjusting the number of cases reported on the basis of reporting rates (by economic activity, occupation, professional status and size of the enterprise) evaluated by the Member States and provided to Eurostat.

Adjustments for road traffic accidents at work:

Concerning fatalities:

IE and UK are not in a position to provide data on road traffic and transport fatal accidents in the course of work. In UK for the transport sector the road traffic accidents (RTA's) are NOT included in any UK data. This exclusion covers persons working in sector I, and so workers such as truck drivers are not included. Road traffic accidents are administered by the police and fall out the scope of the reporting scheme for work-related accidents (RIDDOR).

This has a significant impact on the national numbers of fatalities. For this reason, Eurostat makes an adjustment by excluding road traffic and transport fatalities from the calculation of the incidence rate of fatal accidents at work for all Member States.

Sector adjustments:

Another adjustment concerns the sector coverage of countries: since the activity structure of a country influences the value of its total incidence rate, this one is standardised by giving each of the branches the same weight both at the national level and at the EU level.

For NL the incidence rate for fatalities cannot be calculated before 1997 due to high underestimation (see point 1 above about limitation to the deaths on the "same day as the accident" in this Member State).

For LU the number of fatal cases is very low so that even small absolute changes result in important relative changes and, thus, incidence rate for LU is marginally significant.

The data for fatal accidents at work are fully comparable between all Member States. For serious accidents, the incident rates are fully comparable inside each of these two groups of Member States (insurance based system and universal Social Security system), but they are not strictly comparable between the two groups, though adjustments are made on the basis of reporting levels. 

For fatal accidents, the aggregates EU27 is available for the time period 2005 - 2007. Greece data are not included for 2007 reference year. The aggregates are flaged as provisional (p).

In tables hsw_aw_nasz and hsw_aw_nnaws for 2005 - 2007 Portugal is not presented in the aggregates EU27.