Cyprus

Organization responsible for the statistics

Collection and compilation: Department of Social Insurance, Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance.

Publication: Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance.

Periodicity

Annual.

Source

Records of claims submitted to the Department of Social Insurance.

Objectives and users

To give information to the Department of Labour of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance and the Department of Statistics of the Ministry of Finance.

Major users:

the Department of Labour of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance and the Department of Statistics of the Ministry of Finance.

Coverage

Persons:

All employees in insurable employment, as defined in Part I of the First Annex of the Social Insurance Laws, i.e. employment in Cyprus of a person under a contract of service or apprenticeship, whether explicit or implied, including employment of persons ordinarily resident in Cyprus and employed as master or a member of the crew of a Cyprus ship, or as a captain or a member of the crew of an aircraft owned or managed by an employer who has his principal place of business in Cyprus and of prisoners in prisons, and persons receiving training under a programme operated by an authority established under the Industrial Training Law of 1974.

The following are excluded: persons in unpaid work, workers in family enterprises, employment in part-time work or on an occasional basis, Presidents of Local Government Authorities.

In 1994, there were about 200,000 persons in insurable employment.

Economic activities:

All economic activities and sectors.

Geographic areas:

The whole country.

The statistics relate only to persons who are normally resident in Cyprus.

Persons injured while working outside the country are not included, nor are persons normally resident outside the country who are involved in occupational accidents while in Cyprus.

Establishments:

All types and sizes of establishments.

Types of occupational accidents covered

The statistics relate to compensated injuries due to all types of occupational accidents, including commuting accidents.

Data on occupational diseases are compiled and published along with the data on occupational injuries.

The data on occupational diseases are not included in the figures supplied to the ILO for publication in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics.

Concepts and definitions

(Source: Social Insurance Laws).

Employment accident:

  1. an accident arising in the course of an employed person's employment shall be deemed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to have been an employment accident;
  2. subject to the provisions of (a) above, an accident shall be deemed to be an employment accident notwithstanding that the employed person is at the time of the accident acting in contravention of any statutory or other regulations or of any orders given by or on behalf of his employer applicable to his employment;
  3. an accident happening to an employed person in or about any place of employment at which he is for the time being employed for the purposes of his employer's trade or business shall be deemed to be an employment accident, if it happens while he is taking steps, on an actual or supposed emergency at that place of employment, to rescue, succour or protect persons who are or are thought to be or possibly to be, injured or imperilled or to avert or minimize serious damage to property;
  4. an accident arising out of and in the course of an employed person's employment outside Cyprus shall not be treated as an employment accident.

Occupational injury:

death, any personal injury or disease resulting from an employment accident.

Commuting accident:

an accident happening in Cyprus while an employed person is travelling to or from his place of work shall, notwithstanding that he is under no obligation to his employer to travel by a particular route or on a particular vehicle, be deemed to be an employment accident; provided that an accident shall not be so deemed, if the employed person is travelling to or from his place of work, which he has left during working hours for a purpose not connected with his employment.

Worktime lost because of occupational injuries:

lost working days, including the day of the accident.

Temporary incapacity to work:

temporary inability to perform normal duties of work.

Permanent incapacity to work:

permanent inability to perform normal duties of work.

Fatal occupational injury:

occupational injury leading to death.

Minimum period of absence from work: three days.

Maximum period for death to be considered a fatal occupational injury: none.

Types of information compiled

(a) personal characteristics of persons injured: sex;

(b) amount of worktime lost;

(c) characteristics of accidents: type of accident; cause of accident;

(d) characteristics of injuries: none;

(e) characteristics of employers or workplaces: economic activity.

Measurement of worktime lost

Worktime lost is measured in workdays, for cases of temporary incapacity to work only.

Temporary absences for medical treatment are not counted as worktime lost.

Classifications

(a) fatal or non-fatal accidents;

(b) extent of disability:

none;

(c) economic activity:

according to the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC), Revision 3 (up to 1994, ISIC Revision 2);

(d) occupation:

none;

(e) type of injury:

none;

(f) cause of accident:

machines; means of transport and lifting; other equipment; materials, substances and radiations; working environment; other causes; on the way to and from work;

(g) duration of absence from work:

none;

(h) characteristics of workers:

none;

(i) characteristics of accidents:

type of accident: falls of persons (two groups), falling objects (three groups), stepping on, striking against or struck by objects, excluding falling objects (four groups), caught in or between objects (three groups), over-exertion or wrong movements (four groups), exposure to or contact with extreme temperatures (four groups), exposure to or contact with electric current, exposure to or contact with harmful substances, including radiations (three groups), explosions, other types of accident, not elsewhere classified, including types of accidents not classified for lack of sufficient data,

cause of accident (agency): machines (prime movers, except electrical motors - three groups, transmission machinery - three groups, metalworking machines - eight groups; wood and assimilated machines - five groups, agricultural machines - four groups; mining machinery - three groups; other machines not elsewhere classified - six groups); means of transportation and moving equipment (lifting machines and appliances - five groups; means of rail transportation - two groups; other wheeled means of transportation, excluding rail transportation - nine groups; means of air transportation; means of water transportation - two groups; other means of transportation - three groups); power driven equipment (pressure vessels - five groups; furnaces, ovens, kilns - five groups; refrigeration plants; electrical installations, including electric motors, but excluding electric hand tools - five groups; electric hand tools; tools, implements and appliances, except electric hand tools - three groups; ladders, mobile ramps - two groups; scaffolding; other equipment not elsewhere classified); materials, substances and radiations (explosives; dusts, gases, liquids and chemicals, excluding explosives - four groups; flying fragments; radiations - two groups; falling objects; other materials and substances not elsewhere classified); working environment (outdoor - four groups; indoor - seven groups; underground - seven groups); other causes not elsewhere classified (animals - two groups; other causes not elsewhere classified); causes not classified for lack of sufficient data;

kind of accident: injury due to industrial accident or due to traffic accident;

(j) characteristics of employers or workplaces:

none.

Crossclassifications:

type of injury and economic activity.

Reference period

Year.

An injury is included in the statistics for the period (year) when the claim was submitted to the relevant authority.

Worktime lost is included in the statistics for the period (year) when the person returned to work.

Estimates

Totals of persons injured and workdays lost.

Rates of fatal injuries, using the number of employed persons insured as the denominator.

Historical background of the series

The statistics were first compiled in 1957. No changes have been introduced since that time.

Documentation

Series available:

The following tables are published:

Number of persons injured, by cause of accident.

Number of persons injured, persons injured fatally, persons injured with lost workdays, days lost, insured persons at risk and rates of fatal injuries, by economic activity.

Bibliographic references:

The data are published in:

Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance: Annual Report.

Department of Statistics and Research: Labour Statistics (annual).

idem: Statistical Abstract (annual).

All available data are published. The tables published can be provided on diskette.

Data published by ILO:

The following data are furnished regularly to the ILO for publication in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics, relating to compensated injuries (including commuting accidents) according to major division of economic activity: number of persons fatally injured, number of persons injured with lost workdays, total of these two groups; number of workdays lost by persons injured with lost workdays; rates of fatal injuries. The number of persons at risk (total number of employed persons insured) is also supplied and stored in the LABORSTA database.

Confidentiality:

There are no restrictions on the publication or release of data.

International standards

Not available.

Method of data collection

Legislation:

Social Insurance Law.

All types of occupational injuries are covered by the compensation scheme. Claims for injury benefit should be submitted within 21 days of the accident; for disablement pension and death benefit, within three months of the accident.

Reporting:

The person injured, the employer or the physician submits the claim for compensation to the Social Insurance Scheme. A standard form is used for this purpose, accompanied by instructions.

Data reported:

The Employment Accident Statistics Form consists of the following:
  1. information about the accident: kind of accident, date of accident, type of accident, agency;
  2. information about the employer: registration number, economic activity;
  3. information about the person injured: identity card number, insurance number, sex, date of birth, marital status, number of dependents;
  4. information about the injury: dates of temporary incapacity, number of days of incapacity, number of days paid, amount paid (basic wage, supplementary pay, total), average weekly insurable earnings (basic wage, supplementary pay);
  5. if the claim was disallowed: reason (not accepted as employment accident, late claim, fully paid by employer).

Changes planned:

none.

Additional information

Under the Accidents and Occupational Diseases (Notification) Law Cap. 176, occupational injuries should be notified by the doctor and employer as soon as possible to the Factory Inspectorate of the Labour Department. Statistics on occupational injuries are compiled by the Labour Department on the basis of these notifications each month and each year.

The notification covers paid employees in all economic activities and sectors, in all types and sizes of establishments throughout the island, except for the area occupied by Turkish troops. Statistics on occupational diseases are compiled and published separately. Commuting accidents are excluded.

The following series are published in the Annual Report of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance.

Number of reported accidents, by economic activity and: