Denmark

Organization responsible for the statistics

Arbejdstilsynet (Danish Working Environment Service).

Periodicity

Annual.

Source

The Danish Registry of Occupational Injuries.

Objectives and users

Primarily, the data are used for prevention purposes.

The data provide an important basis for establishing priorities in the framing of regulations, disseminating information, preparing campaigns for occupational safety and health and planning education and training.

The statistics can also indicate the work processes that cause most injuries.

Major users:

Danish Working Environment Service and all other parties concerned with the working environment.

Coverage

Persons:

All persons employed (employees and the self-employed).

In 1996, 2,584,866 employed persons were covered.

Economic activities:

All economic activities and sectors, except sea, air and offshore accidents (which are notified respectively to the Danish Maritime Authority, the Danish Aviation Authority and the Danish Ministry of Energy).

Geographic areas:

The whole country.

Persons working outside Denmark are not included.

Persons normally resident outside the country who are involved in occupational accidents in Denmark are included.

Establishments:

All types and sizes of establishments.

Other:

All accidents in which technical equipment was the cause should be included, even if they are not employment-related (e.g. children injured in accidents involving tractors, accidents with lifts).

Types of occupational accidents covered

All types of reported occupational accidents including road traffic accidents (if the worker is involved in an accident during working hours and if the accident occurs in the course of paid employment), accidents at temporary worksites and cases of toxic injury.

Statistics of occupational diseases are compiled along with those on occupational injuries.

Commuting accidents are not included, in general.

Occupational diseases are not included in the statistics provided to the ILO for publication in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics.

Concepts and definitions

(Source: Danish Working Environment Act).

Occupational accident:

an injury sustained by a person at his place of work, where the event which causes the injury:

Minimum period of absence from work: one day in addition to the day on which the accident occurred.

Maximum period for death to be considered a fatal occupational injury: in principle none; in practice, normally one year.

Types of information compiled

(a) personal characteristics of persons injured: age, sex, nationality, occupation and form of employment; socio-economic status;

(b) amount of worktime lost: recorded in groups of days of absence from work;

(c) characteristics of accidents: time of day (in hours and minutes); work activity at the moment of the accident; event which led to the accident; mode of injury (manner in which the injured person came into contact with the factor causing the injury); component related to the activity of the injured person at the moment of the accident; component related to the deviant action which caused the accident; agent of the injury; municipal district where the accident occurred;

(d) characteristics of injuries: part of body injured; type of injury; consequences of the injury; class of injury (a summary of the three previous aspects, which is automatically compiled by the computer);

(e) characteristics of employers or workplaces: geographic location; employment size; work environment (workshop area, office, forest or wood, road, etc.); economic activity.

Measurement of worktime lost

Worktime lost is not recorded. Information on the consequences of the injury is limited to whether the injury resulted in more or less than one week's absence from work, or was fatal.

Classifications

(a) fatal or non-fatal accidents;

(b) extent of disability:

none;

(c) economic activity:

according to the classification of Danmarks Statistik, which is a modified version of the NACE, at the five-digit level;

(d) occupation:

job title and occupation category, according to the Danish classification of occupations (DISCO) which is a modified version of the standard classification of occupations of the European Union, ISCO-88 (COM), at the four-digit level;

(e) type of injury:

nature of injury: amputation, permanent loss of body part; bone fracture; sprain, strain, twisting; concussion, internal injuries; injury to muscle and tissue; open wounds; skin abrasions and superficial scratches; burns, heat-induced injuries; frostbite, cold-induced injuries; caustic injuries; skin irritation; toxic injury; infections; shock; acute hearing injury;

part of body injured: head; eyes; teeth; face, other parts; body (torso); neck; back, spinal column; chest, abdomen, pelvis; internal organs; upper extremities; shoulder; upper and lower part of arm; elbow; wrist; hand; fingers, one or more; lower extremities; hip, hip joint; upper and lower part of leg; knee, knee cap; ankle; foot; toes, one or more; large parts of body; entire body; part of body not specified; unknown;

consequences of injury: more or less than one week's absence from work, or fatal;

class of injury: a summary of the nature of injury, part of body injured and consequences of injury;

(f) cause of accident:

action leading to injury: struck by/hit against, collided with; trapped, crushed; contact with rough, pointed, sharp objects; contact with temperature extremes; contact with electrical voltage; contact with harmful substances and materials; bites, kicks, blows; drowned, buried, enveloped by; acute overload of body or parts thereof;

agent of injury: areas, constructions, buildings; prime movers and transmissions; hand tools; machines; conveying and transporting equipment; control and information systems; machine components; packaging, products, substances and materials;

(g) duration of absence from work;

(h) characteristics of workers:

sex; age; nationality; form of employment (executive, salaried employee, skilled worker, unskilled worker and pay system); job experience (length of time employed in the job at the time of the accident);

(i) characteristics of accidents:

activity of the injured person at the time of the accident: handling; presence and activity; movement; adjustment, cleaning and maintenance; working with hand tools; operation of machinery and transport equipment;

component related to the activity of the injured person: areas, constructions, buildings; prime movers and transmissions; hand tools; machines; conveying and transport equipment; control and information systems; machine components; packaging, products, substances and materials;

deviant action: breakage, fracture, deformation of material; explosion, fire, flare-up; outflow, vaporisation; electrical short circuit; lost control over machine; lost control over handling; slip, fall, collapse; caught in/by, held by; treading, kneeling, sitting; fall on same level; fall to lower level; play, fight; defective or missing safety equipment; traffic accident;

component related to the deviant action: areas, constructions, buildings; prime movers and transmissions; hand tools; machines; conveying and transport equipment; control and information systems; machine components; packaging, products, substances and materials; time of day;

(j) characteristics of employers or workplaces:

employment size, geographic location.

Crossclassifications:

the computerized system permits crossclassifications using all the variables recorded.

Reference period

Year.

An injury is included in the statistics for the period (year) in which the accident occurred.

Estimates

Total number of persons injured.

Average number of injuries per full-time worker.

Rates of fatal and non-fatal injuries in relation to the number of persons employed.

Historical background of the series

The statistics were first compiled in 1974. The Registry of Occupational Injuries has kept its original objectives mentioned above.

Several changes have taken place.

In 1989, a new system for the registration of occupational accidents was introduced by the Registry of Occupational Injuries. Among other things, this system registers the qualitative details associated with the accident event.

The present system began in 1992, and in 1993 the new classifications by occupation and economic activity were introduced.

Documentation

Series available:

The following tables are published:

Number of persons injured, by:

Bibliographic references:

The data are published in:

Arbejdstilsynet, Analyse og Dokumentationssekretariatet: Anmeldte Arbejdsulykker of arbejdsbetingede lidelser, Arsopgorelse (annual).

Danmarks Statistik: Statistical Yearbook.

The Danish Working Environment Service also produces reports dealing with individual economic activities, such as shipyards and boatyards.

Methodological information about the statistics is published in Danish Labour Inspection Service: The functions of the Danish Registry of Occupational Injuries (1991), and in Commission of the European Communities: Methodology for the Harmonization of European Occupational Accident Statistics (1992).

The data are all either published or made available in analyses. Extracts from the Register of Occupational Injuries may be made on the basis of any of the recorded variables, for a fee. It is possible to construct three- and four-dimensional tables, i.e. tables showing the relationship between three or four variables. Virtually any selection of variables and any combination are possible. Information may be made available in printed form or 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 reported injuries according to major division of economic activity: number of persons fatally injured, number of persons injured with lost workdays, total of these two groups; rates of fatal injuries. The number of persons at risk (total number of persons employed) is also supplied and stored in the LABORSTA database.

Confidentiality:

The Danish Registry of Occupational Injuries follows the laws on the Data Surveillance Authority. It must not be possible to identify a person or an employer in the statistics.

International standards

The international statistical standards and guidelines were not followed, as they did not suit the purposes of the Danish Registry of Occupational Injuries.

Employers' and workers' organizations were consulted when the Registry was established.

Method of data collection

Legislation:

Danish Working Environment Act, Act No. 681 of 23 December 1975; Insurance Against the Consequences of Industrial Injuries Act, No. 390 of 20 May 1992. All occupational accidents and cases of toxic injury at workplaces in Denmark which result in one or more days of absence from work in addition to the day of the accident must be notified to the Danish Working Environment Service, and all occupational accidents which may lead to claims for compensation, i.e. accidents which give rise to more than five per cent disability, the need for special treatment not covered by the welfare system and grants for prosthetic appliances, medical certificates, etc. should be notified to the Danish National Board of Industrial Injuries. The employer is responsible for reporting occupational accidents and cases of toxic injury at workplaces to the Danish Working Environment Service within nine days of the injured person's first day of absence from work, although this time limit it often not respected, as well as the Danish National Board of Industrial Injuries within eight days of receiving notice of an injury.

Reporting:

The primary responsibility for the notification of occupational accidents lies with the employer.

Occupational injuries may be notified to the Danish Working Environment Service, which uses the data for accident prevention work in accordance with the Danish Working Environment Act, and the Danish National Board of Industrial Injuries (part of the Ministry of Social Affairs), which uses them to decide claims for compensation. The same form may be used for the notification, but the Working Environment Act and the Act on Industrial Injury Insurance cover different populations. Built-in safeguard ensure that an injury which is notified by several different channels is only registered once in the Register.

Data reported:

The following information is reported and included in the register of occupational accident:
  1. identification of the injury occurrence: serial number, year of notification; year, month and day of accident;
  2. information about the injured person: sex, age, nationality, job title, occupation category, social level;
  3. information about the employer: identification number, labour inspection service number, municipal district, regional district, number of employees, economic activity, safety council area;
  4. work process;
  5. actions: activity of the injured person at the time of the accident; component related to the activity of the injured person; deviant action; component related to the deviant action; action leading to the injury; agent of the injury;
  6. consequences of the injury: type of injury; class of injury; part of body injured; death or duration of absence from work beyond the day of the accident;
  7. other information: form of employment and wage payment scheme; job experience; time of the accident.

Changes planned:

none.