MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND SOCIAL INSURANCE

DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR INSPECTION (DLI)

NICOSIA 1493 - CYPRUS

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.

All variables of all 3 phases are covered except working process, specific physical activity, material agent of the specific physical activity and material agent of deviation.

In Cyprus accidents at work are reported  to the Labour Inspectorate (Department of Labour Inspection)

National  data is presented in form of numbers, percentages and incidence rates but not in standardised incidence rates

- Numbers correspond to a simple count of all non-fatal and fatal accidents for the entirety or certain breakdowns of the data;
- Percentages represent shares of breakdowns;
- The incidence rate of non-fatal or fatal accidents at work is the number of serious or fatal accidents per 100,000 persons in employment;

The incidence rate indicates the relative importance of non-fatal or fatal accidents at work in the working population. For both types of accidents at work the numerator is the number of accidents that occurred during the year. The denominator is the reference population (i.e. the number of persons in employment) expressed in 100,000 persons.

The reference population (or number of persons in employment) related to the national ESAW reporting system is provided by the  Statistical Service of Cyprus according to the Labour Force Survey (LFS (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/lfs/overview)).

The following classifications are used in ESAW:

NACE Rev.2, NUTS 2024, ISCO-08, ICSE-93

All sectors are covered except:
Accidents related to peculiar activities of the armed forces are not covered (Sector O)
Section U

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

National (Cyprus) 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 willful acts of other persons;
- It excludes: accidents that occur during the normal journey to or from home and place of 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; non –fatal accidents to members of the public (persons out of work) even if such an accident is due to a work activity within a company , 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. .

The following 15 phase I and II variables are sent to Eurostat from reference year 2007 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, the five following phase III variables on 'causes and circumstances of the accident' are sent annually to Eurostat from reference year 2007 onwards:

16. & 17. Workstation, Working Environment, 21. Deviation, 23. - 24. Contact - mode of injury, Material Agent associated with the Contact - Mode of injury.

Accidents to students and family workers are not excluded from the term "Accident at Work". Data for these accidents submitted to EUROSTAT

Accidents to self employed and commuting accidents are included under the term "Accident at Work". Data for this accidents are collected but not submitted to EUROSTAT

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)

All accidents at work that fulfil the definition of '3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions, for employees and other professional status as indicated in 3.6.1 below are covered

Accidents to Defense and other public activities are subject to confidentiality rules. 

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

Not applicable.

Data for Cyprus submitted since reference year 2004.

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

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

Occupational accidents reported to the Department of Labour Inspection according to the "The Safety and Health at Work (Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences Notification) Regulations of 2007 & 2017".

Relevant information can be found in the Department of Labour Inspection website at this link https://www.mlsi.gov.cy/mlsi/dli/dliup.nsf/All/7E426D0015481B0BC2257DDD0028FB9B?OpenDocument

Not applicable.

Like for all other matters, the prevention of unauthorised disclosure of data that identify a person or economic entity either directly or indirectly, in the same way the protection of personal data concerning people involved or affected in or by an occupational accident is regulated by the relevant national legislation (The Processing of Personal Data (Protection of Individuals) Law 2001-2012).

Furthermore the protection is ensured by the enforcement and monitoring of administrative and technical measures.

As above

National data are usualy released through the website of the Department of Labour Inspection as follows:

First basic data: Year N+2 months, where N is the reference year
More detailed data: Year N+12 months, where N is the reference year

https://www.mlsi.gov.cy/mlsi/dli/dliup.nsf/index_en/index_en?OpenDocument

Not available

Annual

Not available

Not available

Not available

Not available

National microdata are not disseminated.

Not applicable

Not available

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).

Cyprus provides metadata regularly on an annual base.

Not available

Quality assurance is achieved as follows:

Continuous training of coders (Inspectors and assistance staff – old and newcomers)

Some data and coding are verified automatically by the computer system.

Verification of data and coding on a sampling base by Head Office of the Department of Labour Inspection.

Please see par. 11.1

Accidents data is a valuable and one of the most reliable tools used by the Department of Labour Inspection for policy making, for setting of priorities, as well as for the programming of inspection campaigns.

Other main external users of national data are the following:

International organizations dealing with health and safety at work such as ILO

Employers' Organizations

Business associations,

Trade unions

Insurance Companies

Researchers and students

Media

European Commission Unit on Safety and Health at Work

Although no satisfaction surveys have been carried out on national level ,we very often get very positive comments from the users with regard to the extent of the data we published and the quality as well.

In general the completeness of the data submitted by Cyprus is at very high levels, i.e. 100% for all variables except for the "Days Lost" variable where efforts are being made to improve it.

As mentioned in par. 3.1, all variables of all 3 phases are covered except working process, specific physical activity, material agent of the specific physical activity and material agent of deviation.

REPORTING LEVELS OF ECONOMIC SECTORS (NACE)

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")

Accuracy as well quality of data is considered to be achieved in the highest possible level, considering measures taken as described in par. 18.4.

Furthermore with regard to under reporting we believe that Cyprus doesn't face any particular problems with regard to the reporting of accidents as we apply specific measures and procedures described as follows:

1. COOPERATION WITH SOCIAL INSURANCE SERVICES (SIS)

On a monthly base DLI receives all relevant information from SIS Database (claims for injury allowance)
Cross check with database of DLI (reported accidents)
Find out cases not reported to DLI (only few cases 1-2%)
Contact the Employers to report these accidents

2. COMMON ACCIDENT REPORT – CLAIM FORM

Initiated in 2007
Serving the need of injured person to apply to SOCIAL INSURANCE SERVICES (SIS) for injury allowance (benefit) and the obligation of the employer for reporting accidents to DLI

No sampling is used - Not applicable

No sampling is used - Not applicable

No sampling is used.

For under-reporting see par. 13.1 above.

Information about the coverage of variables, economic sectors, employment types and occupations can be found par. 3.1 and 3.3 of this report

Not available.

No sampling is used - Not applicable

No sampling is used - Not applicable

No sampling is used - Not applicable

No sampling is used - Not applicable

No sampling is used - Not applicable

Not available.

Not applicable.

National data submitted to EUROSTAT before the end of next year

Publication of first national results in the official website of the Department of Labour Inspection is done approximately 2 months after the end of the reference year 

Publication of final national results in the official website of the Department of Labour Inspection is done approximately 12 months after the end of the reference year 

See par 14.1 above

See par 14.1 above

Data on both fatal and non-fatal accidents in Cyprus have a high level of comparability between all countries. Particularly it is observed that for both fatal and non-fatal accidents both the number of accidents and the incidence rate present from time to time approximately the same picture, in terms of the economic activity where they occur.

Not applicable.

Like in the case of data on the Eurostat website, data at national level are divided between datasets with reference year up to 2007 (included), and datasets with reference year from 2008 onwards.

This is because of the transition from  NACE Rev.1 to NACE Rev. 2.

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 the period 2018 and beyond.

We believe that accidents' data from the database of the Department of Labour Inspection are not comparable with those of the Labour Force Survey ad-hoc modules, as we refer to two quite different sources based in quite different procedures and methods as well as to different quality controls.

Not applicable

Not applicable

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

All accidents reported to the Department of Labour Inspection, are investigated and coded by the Inspectors. Investigation consists of either a full or comprehensive investigation, depending on the seriousness of the accident, with the preparation of a full or comprehensive Investigation report or at least, for the less serious accidents, a confirmation of data included in the Accident Report Form with the preparation of a brief report.

Concerning reference year 2018, we could use a relevant cost analysis made for the reference year 2014 where a total of 1618 accidents that occured to employed persons during their work and reported to the Department of Labour Inspection during year 2014, cost for data collection, investigation and coding totaled to an amount of approximately €111 000,00 corresponding to approximately 4 130 man-hours (cost includes travelling expenses of inspectors for investigation purposes).

There is no more recent studies on the subject.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

The national data sources in Cyprus are the employers' declarations of accidents at work to the labour inspectorate (Department of Labour Inspection - Ministhry of Labour and Social Insurance).

The data source for the reference population for the ESAW data is the Labour Force Survey. No further estimation process is used. Specifically, the ESAW data concerns accidents occuring to employed persons, as well as family workers, trainees, students, etc. Therefore self-employees are excluded from the reference population.

On a regular daily base.

Data collection in Cyprus is based on the obligation of employers to declare to the Department of Labour Inspection any accidents as described under the relevant term explained in par. 3.4. 

Validation activities include:

Continuous training of coders (Inspectors and assistance staff – old and newcomers)

Some data and coding are verified automatically by the computer system.

Verification of data and coding on a sampling base by Head Office.

Incidence rates are calculated using number of accidents and reference populations (LFS Data).

No weights are used as reporting level for accidents to employed persons considered to be 100% and also because all accidents, and not a sample, are considered during calculations of various indexes and results in general.

Not applicable.

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

Not applicable.

Nothing to mention.