Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

E2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

e-mail contact : ESTAT-SDG-MONITORING@ec.europa.eu

The indicator is part of the EU Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator set. It is used to monitor progress towards SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth and SDG 3 on good health and well-being.

SDG 8, among other things, calls for promoting labour rights and safe and secure working environments. SDG 3 aims to ensure health and well-being for all.

Indicator can be considered as similar to global SDG indicator 8.8.1 "Frequency rates of fatal and non-fatal occupational injuries, by sex and migrant status".

The national 'European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW)' sources are the employers' declarations of accidents at work, either to the relevant insurance companies, the national social security system, labour inspections or similar national authorities.

A new Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union was agreed between the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament in 2019. It complements and modernises existing obligations to inform each worker of his or her working conditions. In addition, the proposal creates new minimum EU standards on working conditions for all workers, including those on atypical contracts.

The indicator measures the number of fatal accidents that occur during the course of work and lead to the death of the victim within one year of the accident. The incidence rate refers to the number of fatal accidents per 100 000 persons in employment.
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, accidents in public places or different means of transport during a journey in the course of the work (commuting accidents are excluded) and at home (such as during teleworking). It also includes cases of acute poisoning and wilful acts of other persons, if these happened during the course of the work.

Number per 100 000 workers

Calendar year

The indicator is produced according to the high-level quality standards of European Statistics. Details on accuracy can be found in the metadata of the source datasets (see link to related metadata).

ESS (ESAW)

Data source: ESS, European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW)

Data provider: Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, based on data reported by the countries.

Every year

The indicator is updated annually. Complete and updated ESS data release information can be accessed via Eurostat release calendar.

T+2 years

New data points are disseminated within 2 year after the reference year.

All EU MS

Data are presented for all EU Member States plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerlandand.

All EU MS

Data are comparable between all EU Member States respectively other presented countries.

5 to 10 years

Presented time series starts in 2010.

< 3 data points

Length of comparable time series without methodological break is less than 3 data points.

Analysis of indicator is presented in Eurostat's annual monitoring report on Sustainable development in the EU (progress towards SDGs in the EU context).

see table  sdg_08_60

Eurostat dedicated section on SDGs: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/sdi/overview

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