Mauritius

Organization responsible for the statistics

Collection and compilation: Industrial Injury Branch, Ministry of Social Security and National Solidarity.

Periodicity

Compilation: monthly.

Publication: not currently published.

Source

Employers' notification of accidents.

Objectives and users

For information and statistical records.

Major users:

Ministry of Social Security and National Solidarity and Labour Department, Ministry of Labour and Industrial Relations.

Coverage

Persons:

All employees covered by the National Pension Scheme.

About 300,000 employees are covered by the scheme.

Economic activities:

All economic activities and sectors, except the public sector, parastatal bodies and local government authorities.

Geographic areas:

The whole island.

Persons involved in occupational accidents occurring outside the island, and persons who are normally resident outside the island but who are involved in occupational accidents within Mauritius are not included in the statistics.

Establishments:

All types and sizes.

Types of occupational accidents covered

All types of reported occupational accidents.

The statistics also include commuting accidents (when the means of transport is provided exclusively for travelling to and from work) and occupational diseases.

Concepts and definitions

(Source: National Pensions Act).

Industrial accident:

An accident arising out of and in the course of employment or by the nature of employment.

Industrial injury:

Personal injury arising out of industrial accident or prescribed disease due to the nature of employment.

Period of incapacity:

Period of inability to carry on normal occupation as evidenced by a medical certificate for absence from work for one day or more.

Fatal accident:

Death occurring as a result of an industrial accident.

Temporary incapacity to work:

Temporary period of inability to work preceding or following medical or surgical attendance or treatment.

Disablement:

A residual permanent loss of mental or physical faculty of not less than one per cent.

Minimum period of absence from work: three days.

Maximum period for death to be considered a fatal occupational injury: 30 days.

Types of information compiled

(a) personal characteristics of persons injured: none;

(b) amount of worktime lost: none;

(d) characteristics of injuries: nature of injury, bodily location of injury and duration of temporary incapacity, agency of injury;

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

Measurement of worktime lost

Worktime lost as a result of occupational accidents is not compiled. Information is collected only on whether the period of incapacity exceeded two weeks, and, if less than two weeks, the number of calendar days of incapacity, including the day of the accident.

Short absences from work are considered as resting time before the injured worker goes back to work. This is usually the case for minor injuries. However, they may occasionally be followed by a loss of worktime covered by a medical certificate if the injury becomes worse.

Classifications

(a) fatal or non-fatal accidents;

(b) extent of disability:

duration of temporary incapacity: less than three days, three to seven days, over seven days up to ten days, over two weeks, unspecified;

(c) economic activity:

agriculture (sugar), other agriculture, mining and quarrying, manufacturing, construction, electricity, gas, water and sanitary services, commerce, transport, storage and communication, services, activities not adequately described;

(d) occupation:

none;

(e) type of injury:

:ptype of injury: abrasions and contusions, burns and scalds, concussions, cuts and lacerations, punctured wounds, amputations, dislocations, fracture, sprains and strains, asphyxiations, tearing of internal organs, electric shock, fatal, unspecified;

location of injury: head, trunk, upper extremities, lower extremities, general, unspecified;

(f) cause of accident;

cause of injury: machinery; transport; explosions or fire; poisonous hot or corrosive substance; electricity; falls of persons; stepping or striking against objects; falling of objects; falls of ground; handling without machinery; hand tools; animals; miscellaneous, unspecified;

(g) characteristics of workers: none;

(h) characteristics of accidents: none;

(i) characteristics of employers or workplaces: none.

Reference period

One month and one year.

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

Worktime lost is recorded in the period (month) in which the accident occurred, as a tentative record of the first period of incapacity. This may be followed by several periods of absence covered by medical certificates, but these are not recorded in the accident notifications.

Estimates

Total number of occupational injuries.

No rates are calculated.

Historical background of the series

The statistics were first compiled in 1979, for information purposes. There has been no change in the methods used since then.

Documentation

Tabulations:

The data have not been published for the past 15 years.

Bibliographic references:

Up to 15 years ago, the data were published in:

Ministry of Social Security and National Solidarity: Annual report.

Ministry of Labour: Annual report.

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 (including commuting accidents and occupational diseases) according to major division of economic activity: number of persons fatally injured, number of persons injured with lost workdays, total of these two groups.

Confidentiality:

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

International standards

Not available.

Method of data collection

Legislation:

National Pensions Act.

Reporting:

The employer is required to notify the Industrial Injury Branch of the Ministry of Social Security and National Solidarity of the occupational accident as soon as possible. A standard form is used for this. The information supplied in the form should also be entered in a book kept for this purpose by the employer. The injured employee should submit a claim for compensation to the regional office of the Industrial Injury Branch of the Ministry of Social Security and National Solidarity within six months of the accident.

Data reported:

The form used by the employer for submitting the notification consists of the following:

Part A:

name of employer;
particulars of the employee: name, address, social security number, sex, age, normal occupation;
date and time of accident;
date accident reported;
place of accident;
kind of work being performed at the time of accident;
cause and particulars of accident;
particulars of injury;
witnesses of accident;
rate of remuneration (basic pay, where applicable, or average wages where there is no basic pay);
whether period of incapacity exceeds two weeks;
number of days of incapacity if less than two weeks.

Part B:

address of employer and telephone number;
registration number;
number of normal working days of employee per week or month.

Changes planned:

None.