Estonia

Organization responsible for the statistics

Department of Supervision, National Working Environment Board.

Periodicity

Compilation: statistics of fatal and severe occupational injuries are compiled quarterly, biannually and annually; statistics of all occupational injuries are compiled once a year.

Publication: annual.

Source

Reports of occupational injuries made by employers to the insurance company, which then reports to the local labour inspection, which then reports to the National Working Environment Board.

Objectives and users

To indicate the need for labour inspection visits.
To develop accident prevention programmes.

Major users:

National Working Environment Board, Ministry of Social Affairs and Estonian Statistical Office.

Coverage

Workers:

Insured workers: employees, employers, self-employed workers, trainees and family workers.

In 1995, about 524,000 workers were covered.

Economic activities:

All economic activities and sectors, except the police and defence forces.

Geographic areas:

Whole country.

The reporting system covers Estonian citizens injured in accidents, even if they are not resident in the country. Foreign nationals not normally resident in Estonia are not covered.

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.

Statistics on occupational diseases are compiled and published together with the data on occupational injuries.

Commuting accidents are included in the statistics.

Up to December 1995, only severe and fatal injuries were included in the statistics. Since December 1995, all occupational injuries have been included.

Concepts and definitions

(Source: Statute of the Government of the Republic of Estonia: Order of the Investigation of Occupational Accidents and Diseases, 1993)

Occupational accident:

an incident which occurs or may occur at the place of work or on the territory of an enterprise or on another worksite when a person is carrying out his work duties, including periods of rest from work, the time necessary for arranging work tools, clothes, etc. before and after work, and time when a person in acting in the interests of the employer.

Occupational injury:

death, any personal injury or disease resulting from a work accident.

Commuting accident:

an accident occurring on the direct way between the place of work and the worker's principal or secondary residence, or the place where the worker usually takes his meals.

Loss of working time:

lost days counted from and including the day following the day of the accident, measured in calendar days.

Fatal occupational injury:

an occupational injury leading to death.

Temporary incapacity to work:

incapacity to work for at least one full day beyond the day on which the accident occurred, irrespective of whether the days of incapacity were the days on which the victim would otherwise have been at work.

Permanent incapacity to work:

permanent health impairment resulting from an occupational injury.

Minimum period of absence from work: one day (since December 1995).

Maximum period for death to be considered a fatal occupational injury: one year.

Types of information compiled

(a) personal characteristics of workers injured: sex, age, occupation, number of years in job, language of communication, residence code, number of dependents, average taxable income per month;

(b) amount of worktime lost;

(c) characteristics of accidents: time and date, full hours of work from its beginning, date of notification to employer, agency of work injury, type of accident, work activity at the moment of the accident, event which led to the accident, location, total number of persons injured;

(d) characteristics of injuries: type of injury or illness, part of body injured, extent of disability, consequences of injury;

(e) characteristics of employers or workplaces: enterprise code, economic activity, location.

Measurement of worktime lost

Worktime lost is measured in calendar days.

It is measured for all types of occupational accidents as follows:

temporary incapacity to work: all calendar days from the day following the day of the accident up to and including the day before the person's return to work;
permanent incapacity to work: calendar days counted from the day following the day of the accident up to the day when the competent health authorities officially recognize the permanent disability of the victim in accordance with the procedures provided by national laws and regulations;
fatal injury: calendar days counted in accordance with the procedures provided by the compensation scheme.

Temporary absences for medical treatment are not included.

Classifications

(a) fatal or non-fatal accidents;

(b) extent of disability:

serious, not serious;

(c) economic activity:

according to the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities, Revision 3;

(d) occupation:

according to the International Standard Classification of Occupations, ISCO-88;

(e) type of injury:

amputation, electric shock, chemical injury, closed fracture, damage from heat or frost, open wound, open fracture, suffocation, drowning, poisoning, others, luxation, sprain, contusion or bruising, contusion, internal injuries, radiation, cause unknown;

(f) cause of accident:

transportation vehicles; moving mechanisms; mobile parts of installations; transferable loads; demolishing constructions; falling objects; dismantling; tools, auxiliary appliances; falling from heights and on ground-level surface; electricity; drowning; suffocation; noise; vibration; light; extremely high temperatures; ultraviolet radiation; infrared radiation; ionizing radiation; other radiation; toxic substances; corrosive substances; explosive and inflammable substances; gas; vapours; aerosols; air contamination by asbestos; other dust; animals; biological agents; micro-organisms; physical overload; psychological overload; other;

(g) duration of absence from work:

one-three days, three-ten days, ten-twenty-four days, twenty-four days or more;

(h) characteristics of workers:

sex; age (these are included in the person's registration number); employment status, according to the International Standard Classification of Status in Employment (ICSE 1993);

(i) characteristics of accidents:

at work or on the way to work;

(j) characteristics of employers or workplaces;

(k) other:

region.

Crossclassifications:

region and type of accident;
cause of accident and type of injury;
occupation and type of injury;
age and type of occupational accident;
type of injury and economic activity.

Reference period

Quarter and year.

An occupational injury is included in the statistics for the reference period (quarter and year) in which it occurred.

The amount of worktime lost is included in the statistics for the period when the person returned to work.

Estimates

Totals, averages and distributions.

No rates are calculated.

Historical background of the series

The statistics were first compiled in 1991 when the National Working Environment Board was established. The information is compiled so that the large volume of information may be accessible to as many users as possible, and so that they make the proper use of the data.

In 1995, the coverage and classifications were revised. (See Types of occupational accidents covered and Concepts and definitions.)

Documentation

Series available:

The following tables are published:

Number of severe and fatal injuries, by:

district;
cause;
type of injury and occupation;
age.

Bibliographic references:

The data are published in:

Statistical Office of Estonia: Yearbook of the Statistical Office of Estonia.

National Working Environment Board: Annual Report.

All the information collected can be made available on request, in printed form only at present.

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 occupational diseases and commuting accidents) according to 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 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

The National Working Environment Board tries to follow closely the current international statistical standards and guidelines.

Method of data collection

Legislation:

Law on Health Insurance.

All occupational injuries and occupational diseases are covered by the compensation scheme under the terms of the Law on Health Insurance.

The employer is required to notify the health insurance company within three days of completing the accident investigation.

Reporting:

The employer has primary responsibility for the notification of occupational accidents and diseases. The physician is also responsible for reporting occupational diseases to the employer.

The employer submits the report on occupational accidents and cases of toxic injury at the workplace to the local labour inspection, the National Board for Health Protection in the case of occupational diseases, and also to the person injured or his representative. One copy of the report is submitted to the health insurance company. A standard form is used for this purpose; instructions are provided in accordance with the requirements of the Labour Protection Law.

Data reported:

The following types of information are collected in the form:

type of accident: occupational accident, commuting accident, occupational disease;
information about the employer: name of enterprise, code of enterprise, code of activity, address, telephone number, name and address of workplace where the accident occurred, name and address of insurance company;
information about the person injured: name, address, telephone number, dependents (name, relationship, age), position, language of communication, personal code, date of birth, residence code, sex, code of occupation, date of beginning work, number of years in occupation, whether occupational safety knowledge checks were carried out by the employer, average taxable income per month, other economic losses;
information about the accident: date and time of accident, date of reporting to employer, number of full hours of work completed before the accident, date of diagnosis of occupational disease;
description of the accident: worker's activity, place, equipment, materials, etc. used prior to the accident, types of work that lead to the occupational disease;
information about hazards involved (cause).

Changes planned:

The compensation scheme will change when the new Insurance Law comes into force.