Inail, the National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work

CSA: Consulenza Statistico Attuariale

Inail. p.le Giulio Pastore, 6 - 00144 Rome

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:

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'.

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.

The following classifications are used in ESAW:

• NACE Rev. 2: 2^nd revision of the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community managed by Eurostat. For ESAW data NACE Rev. 2 is used from reference year 2008 onwards;Most recent version provided
• ISCO-08: International Standard Classification of Occupations managed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Most recent version provided
• NUTS: Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics. Latest NUTS version in force, depending on the reference year of the data collection;Most recent version provided
• ICSE-93: International Classification by Status in Employment (revision of 1993). Most recent version provided

Information corresponds to the EU metadata

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

Information corresponds to the EU metadata.

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

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.

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 and EFTA countries.

Data are available since reference year 1994 for all EU-15 Member States

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.

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 granted 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: Strategic framework on health and safety at work 2021-2027.

 The previous strategies can be consulted here:

The health and safety at work strategy of the EU from 2014 until 2020: 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: Community strategy 2007-2012 on health and safety at work.

The health and safety strategy of the EU from 2002 and 2006: 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.

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. The microdata as received by Eurostat from the National Statistical Institutes or other statistical authorities do not contain any administrative information such as names or addresses that would allow direct identification. Access to this microdata is nevertheless strictly controlled and limited to specified Eurostat staff.

Currently, there are no restrictions applied when publishing aggregated data.

Information corresponds to the EU metadata.

Not available.

Information corresponds to the EU metadata.

Annual.

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

Rapporto Annuale   http://www.inail.it/internet/default/INAILcomunica/ListaPubblicazioni/p/archRappNazPortale/index.html

http://www.inail.it/internet/default/Statistiche/Statisticheeuropee/index.html

Not available (at ITALY level).

ESAW data is not available as microdata.

Not applicable

Not available

Eurostat (2013): 'European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW) - Summary methodology, 2013 edition'.

Previous editions:

- Eurostat (2012): 'European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW) - Summary methodology, 2012 edition', ISBN 978-92-79-23133-9, ISSN 1977-0375, doi:10.2785/2509, Cat. No KS-RA-12-002-EN-N.

- DG Employment and social affairs and Eurostat (2001): 'European statistics on accidents at work (ESAW) - Methodology - 2001 edition', Health and safety at work series, co-publication with Eurostat.

All countries provide metadata

http://www.istat.it/it/files/2010/09/LineeGuida_v.1.0_Luglio_2015.pdf

High-quality information in official statistics has long been among the objectives regularly pursued by INAIL.

Inail quality policy is coherent with the European framework developed by Eurostat, taking up its main principles and definitions.

Inail quality policy is aimed at a systematic improvement of statistical outputs and processes through the development of appropriate methodologies and tools as well as an appropriate scientific and technical support provided to the personnel directly involved in the production and dissemination of statistical information. 

.

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

Some tables on ESAW statistics were published on the website of our institute regarding absolute numbers of accidents and standardized incidence rates. Especially the standardized incidence rates are very important for a comparison with other Member States.

In the interests of improving the state - citizen relationship, the P.A., at community level, must provide services that are more responsive to citizens' needs. In this regard, the Customer Satisfaction (CS) is a useful investigative tool in order to measure the degree of user satisfaction, their expectations, identify critical areas and propose corrective actions to improve services. In this context, the customer expressed through interviews their opinion on the quality of services provided by the institute, thus becoming an active protagonist of the entire evaluation process. However, there is currently no dedicated user satisfaction survey on ESAW statistics.

All variables are covered by ESAW (including all phase III variables): Workstation variable only for code 2: Occasional or mobile workstation or in a journey on behalf of the employer.

Variable (NACE 84.24 and 84.25): the coverage is only for administrative employees.

Information corresponds to the EU metadata.

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")

Explanation: Please fill in every cell with information, either "N" for sector not covered by the data collection, "UNK" for sectors covered but unknown reporting level, or a percentage value for sectors covered for which the reporting level is known (such as "52%"). Instead of "medium" or "high" please fill in a approximate value and flag it with "(e)" at the end, such as "50% (e)". Please fill in both, the global reporting cells and the detailed rows for individual sectors. If for example no sector is covered for your country, then fill into every cell "0", if all sectors are covered but all reporting levels are unknown fill in "UNK" in every cell. "N/A" should be replaced by either "N" or "UNK".

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

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not available.

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not applicable

Not available.

Not applicable

With reference to the year N, the data of the year N-2 are usually extracted in October/December of the year N-1

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

With reference to the year N, the data of the year N-2 are usually extracted in October/December of the year N-1

Italy transmits data until June 30 of year N+2

See above.

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.

Not applicable.

There were many Covid-19 incidents in 2022 in Italy. The comparability with other years and other countries could be affected

comparability with the years prior to 2020 is conditioned by the Covid-19 pandemic

Information corresponds to the EU metadata.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Covid-19 cases may lack information for some esaw variables, for example the type of injury and lpart of body injured

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

The historical data for reference years 2019, 2020 were sent with the 2021 version of the NUTS classification

Information corresponds to the EU metadata.

Not available.

The ESAW data transmitted to Eurostat are from Inail (National Institute against Accidents at Work). The original national data sources are employers' declarations 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.

ESAW data are extracted from Inail administrative databases according to ESAW concepts, definitions, variables and classifications.

Various automatic and manual checks are performed on the accident data transmitted to Inail

Validation activities at IT level include:

completeness
comparing data with preceding year data for plausibilty in changes and outliers
correctness of key-use
consistency of totals

Inail don't uses the weights to calculate the number of accidents.

The accident report must be forwarded by the employer to INAIL in the event of accidents at work involving workers, employees or similar, which are predicted to be non-curable within three days excluding the day of the event.For these events Inail will provide a benefit.Inail also considers accidents at work to occur while commuting, although they are excluded in the data transmitted to Eurostat.

Not applicable

 Information corresponds to the EU metadata.

Not applicable

The data available from Inail is very rich and suitable to analyze accidents at work, both in terms of variables investigated and number of recorded observations.

However, it is considered that although it is high quality information, there is still scope for improvement, especially regarding the variables that describe the mode of occurrence of the accident and that are fundamental to direct preventive measures that can reduce the severity and frequency of accidents at work. The variables in question are mainly the phase 3 variables on causes and circumstances. Phase III variables are crucial to improve the quality of the data and have become one of the priority objectives of the institute. For this reason, a project was started in 2010 involving several Inail experts with the aim to invest in technological innovation and to improve the service to employers and workers. One aim was to optimize the encoding process of the accidents reports according to ESAW phase 3 variables, both in qualitative and quantitative terms. In that respect an experiment was carried out using a semantic engine (IRIDE - ESAW DECODER) to transform unstructured information (free text) in structured information and provide a list of coding suggestions to the encoder. The goal is both to enhance the effectiveness of the ESAW system through the suggestion of assisted coding in automatic mode and to make it available to multidimensional analysis in support of decision-making through the semantic analysis of complaints.