evaluation of the european strategy on safety and health at work ...

EVALUATION OF THE EUROPEAN STRATEGY ON SAFETY AND HEALTH AT WORK 2007-201235Table 4-1Standardised incidence rate <strong>of</strong> non-fatal accidents at work in EU15 and EU27.Standardised incidence rate 1 2007 2008 2009EU15 2 2,736 2,741.35 2,140.44EU27 3 - 2,322.92 1,857.83Notes:1 Incidence rate is <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> persons involved in non-fatal accidents at work with morethan 3 days' absence per 100,000 persons in employment.2 The rate for 2007 is <strong>the</strong> standardised incidence rate for NACE_R1 branches A_D-K from<strong>the</strong> Eurostat table hsw_aw_inasx. The rates for 2008 and 2009 are <strong>the</strong> incidence rate forNACE_R2 branches A_C-N from <strong>the</strong> Eurostat table hsw_n2_01. These rates are accordingto Eurostat comparable because <strong>the</strong>y are based on <strong>the</strong> distribution <strong>of</strong> workers in <strong>the</strong>branches <strong>of</strong> economic activity in <strong>the</strong> EU15.3 The rates for 2008 and 2009 are <strong>the</strong> standardised incidence rate for NACE_R2 A_C-Nbranches from <strong>the</strong> Eurostat table hsw_mi01.Table 1 indicates a 22 per cent reduction <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> incidence rate <strong>of</strong> non-fatalaccidents at work in EU15 from 2007 to 2009.Similarly, <strong>the</strong> table indicates a 20 per cent reduction <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> incidence rate <strong>of</strong> nonfatalaccidents at work in EU27 from 2008 to 2009.Eurostat has informed that <strong>the</strong> review <strong>of</strong> 2010 data and <strong>the</strong> discussions withMember States representatives in <strong>the</strong> WG on ESAW data indicate a continueddownward trend in <strong>the</strong> incidence <strong>of</strong> work related accidents. This indicates that it islikely that <strong>the</strong> European <strong>strategy</strong> target will be fulfilled or close to fulfilled.However, it is assessed by Eurostat and Member States that <strong>the</strong> development isinfluenced by <strong>the</strong> downturn in economic activity during <strong>the</strong> period. 9 It should alsobe noted even though improvements have been made to <strong>the</strong> reporting system (seesection 4.6), <strong>the</strong>re are still differences in Member States, and issues in relation tounderreporting, which lead to uncertainties in <strong>the</strong> Eurostat data on accidents atwork 10 . The extent <strong>of</strong> underreporting and whe<strong>the</strong>r it has increased or decreased inrecent years is not known.Eurostat also publishes <strong>the</strong> Labour Force Survey (LFS) ad-hoc module regardingwork-related accidents and health problems. 11 The latest data from a LFS ad-hocmodule regarding work-related accidents and health problems is from 2007 and <strong>the</strong>9 The assessment is that even when considering <strong>the</strong> incidence rate, <strong>the</strong> slow-down ineconomic activity has still had an influence as jobs have been retained despite <strong>the</strong> economiccrisis.10 See e.g. Final report from SIC Working Group "improving accidents incidence rates, 01-11-2011.11 http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/health/health_safety_work/datahttp://projects.cowiportal.com/ps/A019055/Documents/3 Project documents/Interim and final report/Final report October 2012/OSH <strong>evaluation</strong>-report_Final_submitted 14 March2013.docx