FfW Bulgarian report (English language) - Fit for Work Europe

presented in the Table 3.3 below. The reasons for incapacity are also somewhat limited and do
not include recognised occupational diseases from the list developed by the NSI, indicating a
lack of standardisation in recording disease across government departments.
Table 3.3. Days lost and costs resulting from temporary inability to work
Reason 2008 2009 2010
Damage to intervertebral disks in
the neck region
Damage to intervertebral disks in
other regions
Damage to nerve roots and
plexuses
Dislocation, strain or sprain of knee
joints and ligaments
Dislocation, strain or sprain of foot
or ankle joints and ligaments
Cost
min
BGN
Number
of days
lost
Cost
min
BGN
Work and MSDs in Bulgaria
Number
of days
lost
Cost
min
BGN
Number
of days
lost
– – – – 1.25 55,497
10.23 256,529 11.38 533,337 6.9 319,936
8.85 483,826 13.92 613,578 10.45 455,309
2.99 143,225 4.47 125,644 3.66 140,324
2.0 99,827 2.69 114,532 2.09 87,898
Inter-articular knee joint damage – – 2.28 115,494 2.60 99,957
Source: NSSI (2011b)
Similarly the methods of collecting sickness absence data in organisations have limitations. For
example with the self-reported surveys, employees might report sickness on days when they
were not due to work anyway. With employer surveys the responses are limited by the quality of
the absence records employers keep (for example, employees do not always record absence
accurately or categories for recording causes are not adequate). This is partially due to the low
awareness of the impact of ill health on work. Employer surveys are also subject to response
biases where only organisations with good methods to measure absence are likely to be able
to respond quickly to the survey request. In all cases records and reports are subject to biases.
Managers, for instance, tend to underreport their own absence.
Not only are indirect costs associated with sickness absence and presenteeism, but indirect
costs are also associated with early retirement among people with MSDs (Dagenais et al.,
2008; Alavinia and Burdorf, 2008). However, these figures still underestimate the true cost of
conditions such as MSDs. Most people with MSDs (even those with diagnosed conditions)
continue to work (Waddell and Burton, 2006a), experiencing emotional distress of fearing to
Fit For Work? 39