Netherlands

Organization responsible for the statistics

Collection: Trade associations.

Compilation and publication: Statistics Netherlands.

Periodicity

Annual.

Source

Reports of occupational injuries submitted via trade associations to the Labour Inspectorate.

Objectives and users

To comply with legal requirements, including those of the Sickness Insurance Act.

Major users:

various users, including government and industry.

Coverage

Persons:

Employees insured with trade associations as required by law, including the Sickness Insurance Act. The self-employed are excluded.

The coverage of persons insured is defined in terms of workyears. In 1992, the last year for which data have been published, coverage corresponded to about 4,017,000 workyears.

Economic activities:

All branches of economic activity, excluding services provided by the government, public hospitals and public and subsidized education. Public servants with permanent appointments are also excluded.

Geographic areas:

Whole country.

As the statistics cover all persons insured with the trade associations, persons who live or work abroad who are insured with the trade associations are covered.

Establishments:

All types and sizes of establishments.

Types of occupational accidents covered

The statistics cover reported injuries due to all types of occupational accidents.

Commuting accidents are not included.

Statistics on occupational diseases were compiled and published separately from those of occupational injuries from 1968 to 1985.

Concepts and definitions

(Source: A ministerial disposition of 21 June 1967 issued as a result of Article 58 of the Sickness Insurance Act).

Occupational accident or injury:

an accident that happens to the employee, who is insured according to the Sickness Insurance Act, in the exercise of his work, which results in death or disability.

Minimum period of absence from work: none.

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

Types of information compiled

The following types of information were compiled up to and including 1989:

(a) personal characteristics of persons injured: age, sex, whether foreign employee;

(b) amount of worktime lost: duration of absence from work;

(c) characteristics of accidents: material cause of injury; workplace where accident occurred;

(d) characteristics of injuries: type of injury, site of injury, whether fatal;

(e) characteristics of employers or workplaces: trade association, economic activity;

(f) other characteristics: hospitalization.

Measurement of worktime lost

Duration of absence from work is measured in weeks, based on the doctor's estimate of the expected absence from work.

It is measured for all occupational injuries, except for accidents in which the person died immediately.

Classifications

(a) fatal or non-fatal accidents;

(b) extent of disability:

none;

(c) economic activity:

according to the national classification, which is compatible with the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities, Revision 2;

(d) occupation:

none;

(e) type of injury:

fractures; dislocations; sprains; traumatic amputations; open wounds; superficial injuries; bruises; burns; internal injuries; other injuries, including asphyxia, multiple and unknown injuries and part of body injured: head; trunk; upper limbs; hand; lower limbs; feet and toes; multiple sites; other sites;

(f) cause of accident:

material cause of injury (thermal contact and radiation; mechanical objects in operation; mechanical objects not in operation; traffic accidents; chemicals; live agents; excessive load on part of the body; other and unknown causes);

(g) duration of absence from work;

(h) characteristics of workers:

age (up to 25, 25-49, 50 and over); sex, whether foreign employee;

(i) characteristics of accidents:

worksite;

(j) characteristics of employers or workplaces:

none;

(k) trade association.

From 1990 to 1992, the only classification published related to economic activity.

Crossclassifications:

the following types of crossclassifications were published every year up to and including 1989:
  1. sex and age;
  2. material cause of injury, age and sex;
  3. trade association and:
  4. economic activity and:

Reference period

Year.

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

The amount of worktime lost is also included in the statistics for each of the periods (years) in which worktime was lost. The information on the expected duration of absence is estimated by the insurance physician and is limited to one year, the maximum period for which compensation is provided for an injury.

Estimates

Total number of persons injured.

Percentage distributions by sex, age, foreign employees, expected duration of absence, material cause of injury, type of injury, part of body injured and economic activity.

Rates of fatal occupational accidents per 1,000 occupational accidents, calculated as:

( number of fatal occupational accidents / total number of occupational accidents ) x 1,000

Rates of occupational accidents per 1,000 workyears, calculated as:

( number of occupational accidents / total number of workyears covered ) x 1,000.

Historical background of the series

Statistics of occupational injuries for 1963 were published in 1967 by the Social Insurance Bank.

On 1 July 1967, the Accidents Act 1921 and the Agricultural and Horticultural Accidents Act 1922 were suspended and a new Occupational Disability Act came into force. Under this new law, the registration of occupational injuries (including occupational diseases) and the payment of compensation were commissioned to 23 executive trade associations covering all economic activities.

The statistics were first compiled in 1968, covering both occupational injuries and occupational disease. The original objectives were:

Since 1986, data on reported occupational diseases have not been compiled by the General Directorate of Labour.

In 1989, a change in the registration method resulted in a drop of five per cent in the number of occupational injuries reported in comparison with the previous year. The drop was even greater in the butcher and meat products branch, where a switch was made to another registration system.

On 1 January 1994, a change in the Sickness Benefit Act came into force, aimed at reducing absenteeism. Since that date, an employer is required to continue to pay a sick employee's wage for two weeks, in enterprises with fewer than 15 employees, or for six weeks, in enterprises with more than 14 employees, before payment of sickness benefits by the trade association starts. This resulted in a reduced control of sickness absenteeism by the trade associations. The employer was still obliged to report to the trade association but, in practice, short absences from work do not always seem to be reported. Because sickness absenteeism due to occupational injuries is often short, this has resulted in a considerable underestimation of occupational injuries.

On 1 March 1996, the Law on the extension of the employer's continued obligation to pay wages came into force. An employer is now required to pay the wages of sick employees up to one year. He should report the absence from work to the trade association after 13 weeks of absence, with information about the absence. The current obligation to report the employee's return to work to the trade association continues.

Documentation

Series available:

The following tables were published up to 1990:
  1. number of persons injured, by:
  2. number of persons hospitalized due to occupational accidents, by sex;
  3. deaths due to occupational accidents, by sex;
  4. number of persons injured, by material cause of injury, age and sex;
  5. number of persons injured, by trade association and:
  6. number of persons injured, by economic activity and:
Many other tables were also published, with different crossclassifications.

From 1990 to 1992, on the following table was published: number of persons injured, by economic activity.

Bibliographic references:

The data were published in:

Statistics Netherlands: Statistiek der bedrijfsongevallen (annual, from 1968 to 1989).

idem: Statistiek der bedrijfsongevallen (series of tables: series 0 - 1972-1974, series 01 - 1975- 1989, series 02 - 1975-1989).

idem: Vademecum gezondheidstatistiek Nederland, 1993, 1994.

idem: Statistical Yearbook of the Netherlands.

Methodological information was published in Statistics Netherlands: Statistiek der bedrijfsongevallen.

Not all data were published. Data on the following variables can be made available, provided the confidentiality requirements regarding individuals and employers are fulfilled:

Data from 1972 to 1989 are available on diskette.

Data published by ILO:

The following data were furnished regularly to the ILO up to 1992 for publication in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics, relating to reported injuries according to major division of economic activity: total number of persons injured. Separate data on the number of persons fatally injured and the number of persons injured with lost workdays, as well as rates of fatal injuries were supplied up to 1989. The number of persons at risk (total number of persons insured) is also supplied and stored in the LABORSTA database.

Confidentiality:

Data can be published or released provided that the conditions of privacy with regard to the individual or company are fulfilled.

International standards

Since the statistics were first compiled in 1968, there has been no change in the definitions or methods used. They therefore do not take into account the latest international statistical standards.

Method of data collection

Legislation:

Ministerial disposition of 21 June 1967, in accordance with Article 58 of the Sickness Insurance Act. The employer is required to report to the trade association if the insured person is injured during the exercise of his employment, thereby resulting in disability or death. The report should be made not later than the second day after the accident.

Reporting:

An insured person who is injured in an occupational accident should report this to his employer as soon as possible, and no later than the second day of his incapacity to work. Once the report has been received, the employer should notify the trade association that the victim is unable to work as soon as possible, but not later than the third day of the incapacity to work. Once the person has returned to work, the employer should notify the trade association as soon as possible, but not later than the second day after the person has returned to work. The data are passed on to the General Directorate of Labour (Labour Inspection), which transmits the compiled data to Statistics Netherlands.

Data reported:

Up to 1990, the following types of information were notified:
  1. age, sex, whether foreign employee;
  2. expected duration of absence from work;
  3. material cause of injury, place of accident;
  4. type of injury, part of body injured;
  5. trade association, economic activity;
  6. hospitalization and fatal accidents.

Changes planned:

None.

Additional information

From 1997, questions on occupational accidents are being incorporated in the Permanent Survey on Living Conditions, one of the main household surveys.