Honduras

Organization responsible for the statistics

Ministerio de Trabajo y Previsión Social (Ministry of Labour and Social Security) in general. The Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social (IHSS) (Honduras Institute of Social Security) also collects, compiles and publishes statistics based on information furnished by the Institute's members.

Periodicity

Annual.

Source

Employers' reports on occupational accidents, and information collected by the Departamento de Medicina, Higiene y Seguridad Ocupacional del Ministerio de Trabajo (Department of Occupational Medicine, Health and Occupational Safety of the Ministry of Labour).

Objectives and users

Epidemiological monitoring of workplaces as causes of occupational accidents or diseases and the application of necessary measures for avoiding these risks.

Major users:

The technical staff of the Ministerio de Trabajo, the Ministerio de Salud Pública and the Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social.

Coverage

Persons:

Full-time or part-time paid employees of all ages and occupations working in enterprises.

They comprise approximately 10 per cent of the economically active population of the country, and represent 100 per cent of the paid employees in private enterprises with work centres of 10 or more workers.

Economic activities:

All economic activities, except the informal sector and government employees. Studies are currently underway on legal mechanisms for including public employees in statistical reports on occupational injuries and diseases.

Geographic areas:

The whole country.

The statistics do not include nationals working abroad or persons normally residing outside the country.

Establishments:

Those with 10 or more workers.

Other:

Not all occupational accidents are registered, owing to the failure of employers to report them to the labour ministry.

Types of occupational accidents covered

Reported occupational injuries.

All types of occupational accidents and, in general, commuting accidents.

The statistics do not include occupational diseases.

Concepts and definitions

(Source: Código del Trabajo, Title V, Chapters I and II; Ley del Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social, Chapter VI, Section I)

Occupational accident:

Any sudden and unforeseen occurrence which arises out of or in the course of work and produces a permanent or temporary organic injury or functional disturbance in the worker. The term occupational accident or disease shall also be understood to mean any injury, disease, or complication from which a worker subsequently suffers as a direct or indirect result of an occupational accident or disease he or she sustained.

Occupational risks:

The accidents or diseases to which workers are exposed as a result of work performed for an employer. The term occupational risk shall also be understood to mean any injury, disease or complication from which a worker subsequently suffers as a direct, immediate and unquestionable result of an occupational accident or disease he sustained in accordance with the foregoing articles.

Occupational injury:

Any injury caused by an occupational accident.

Commuting accident:

An accident involving a worker that occurs in the course of his normal journey from his residence to his place of work, or vice versa. The Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social shall establish the conditions necessary for recognizing a commuting accident as an occupational accident, based on the definition of the normal journey, the time transpired between the accident and the start or finish of the working day, the use of company vehicles, or based on other circumstances defined by the Institute.

Loss of working time:

Workdays lost are counted as from the day following the occupational accident.

Fatal occupational injury:

An injury which leads to the death of the worker.

Temporary incapacity to work:

Such incapacity as prevents the worker from performing his usual duties for a period not exceeding one year, provided that, upon termination of his convalescence, the worker is capable of resuming his work.

Permanent incapacity to work:

permanent partial disability: Such disability as reduces a worker's faculties as a result of the loss or paralysis of any limb, organ or bodily function following an occupational accident or disease.
permanent total disability: Such disability as totally and permanently incapacitates a worker.

Minimum period of absence from work: none.

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

Types of information compiled

(a) personal characteristics of persons injured: sex and age;

(b) amount of worktime lost: not applicable;

(d) characteristics of injuries: part of body injured;

(e) characteristics of employers or workplaces: geographic location (district), economic activity.

Measurement of worktime lost

Not applicable.

Classifications

(a) fatal or non-fatal accident;

(b) extent of disability:

not applicable;

(c) economic activity;

(d) occupation;

(e) type of injury:

amputations, asphyxia, contusions and abrasions, cuts and lacerations, foreign bodies entering the eye, electrical shock, dislocations, poisoning, fractures, hernia, drownings, bites, burns, scalds, chemical burns, sprains and strain, other, lack of information;

(f) cause of accident:

animals; lifting machines and appliances; mechanical energy transmission devices; electrical equipment; work environment; pumps or prime movers; autoclave boilers and other pressure vessels; elevators; hand tools; machines; hand movements not involving forceful contact; particles; radiations and radiant substances; hot or highly inflammable substances; chemical substances; work surfaces; conveyors; vehicles; other agencies; insufficient information or lack of information;

(g) duration of absence from work:

not applicable;

(h) characteristics of workers:

not applicable;

(i) characteristics of accidents:

not applicable;

(j) characteristics of employers or workplaces:

not applicable.

Crossclassifications are used.

Reference period

Year.

An injury is included in the statistics for the period during which the accident occurred.

Estimates

Totals are calculated by simple addition. No averages are calculated, and percentage distributions are according to economic activity.

Since the employer has only three days to report the accident, certain items of information are lacking (for example, worktime lost by the accident victim).

Rates are not calculated.

Historical background of the series

The statistics were first compiled in 1995.

Very few changes have been made since then.

Documentation

Series available:

The following tables are published:

Occupational accidents, by:

age group, economic activity and sex;
type of injury and economic activity;
economic activity and district of the country;
agency, according to type of injury.

Bibliographic references:

The data are published in:

Ministerio de Trabajo: Memoria Anual.

Methodological notes are not published.

All data are published.

Data published by ILO:

The following data for 1986 to 1992 have been furnished to the ILO for publication in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics, relating to reported occupational injuries classified by major division of economic activity: number of persons fatally injured; the number of persons injured with workdays; total of these two groups.

Confidentiality:

Not available.

International standards

Not available.

Method of data collection

Legislation:

The notification system is governed by the labour code. All injuries resulting from occupational accidents are reported. Occupational diseases are not reported. Employers are required to report the accident to the Inspección General del Trabajo (General Labour Inspectorate), or one of its representatives, and to the corresponding Juzgado de Letras del Trabajo (Labour Court) within twenty-four hours of its occurrence. Either during this period, or within the next three days, employers must furnish whatever information they possess in order to assist in determining the cause of the accident.

Reporting:

The employer is required to submit notification of accidents to the labour ministry. Information path: From the injured person to the employer; and from the employer to the competent authority. There are official forms for notification of injuries, but no instructions or guidelines concerning notification.

Data reported:

information about the establishment: number, economic activity, number of workers, address, telephone number, address of the work centre, membership number;
information about the injured person: name, age, sex, civil status, address, occupational category, usual duties, length of service, usual work shift, work shift in which accident occurred;
information about the accident: date, usual working hours or overtime, day of the week, place of accident, activity of the worker at the time of the accident, description of the accident, causes, witnesses, parts of body affected by the accident, type of injury (crushing, burn, fracture, amputation, wound, multiple injuries, death);
person responsible for the report: name, function within the establishment, date and signature.

Changes planned:

In future, the hygiene and safety committees of the work centre will be able to submit notification of accidents. This change is scheduled to go into effect in the course of the next two years.

Additional information

Compensation scheme:

The Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social (IHSS) is in charge of the invalidity, old-age and death scheme of its members; it is governed by the Ley del Seguro Social (Social Security Act). The system covers accidents, diseases and deaths due to ordinary or occupational diseases. The compensation scheme covers all injuries resulting from occupational accidents or diseases. Workers submit compensation claims to the administrative unit of the IHSS which in turn submits these to the Institution's physician. There are no official forms for filing compensation claims, nor instructions or guidelines concerning it. Information reported includes: the worker in question, the employer or the workplace, the occupational accident, and the occupational injury or disease.