Norway

Organization responsible for the statistics

Statistics Norway.

Periodicity

Annual.

Source

Reports of occupational injuries transmitted by the National Insurance Administration to the Directorate of Labour Inspection, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate and the Norwegian Maritime Directorate.

Objectives and users

For the protection of workers against injuries and diseases.

Major users:

Labour Inspection, government departments and directorates, employers and employees.

Coverage

Persons:

Paid employees, unpaid family workers and self-employed workers in agriculture and construction.

About 2,100,000 persons were covered in 1996.

Economic activities:

All economic activities and sectors.

Geographic areas:

All areas.

The statistics cover Norwegian and foreign-national citizens who are normally resident in the country, including Norwegian and foreign-national citizens normally resident in Norway and employed on Norwegian ships registered in the ordinary Norwegian Ship Register or in the Norwegian International Ship Register and all persons working on Norwegian fishing vessels.

Establishments:

All types of establishments.

Types of occupational accidents covered

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

Statistics of occupational diseases are compiled separately. However, certain illnesses are recognized as equivalent to an occupational injury, for example, illness caused by solvents, asbestos or other minute particles, poisoning or other effects from chemicals, and allergic skin and lung diseases, and are covered as such in the statistics.

Commuting accidents are not included. Accidents occurring while employees are travelling by car or some other means of transport as required by the nature of their work are covered.

Concepts and definitions

(Source: National Insurance Act).

Occupational injury:

a bodily injury or illness which is caused by a work accident.

Work accident:

a sudden and unexpected external strain or load which lies outside the scope of normal working activities, and which occurs during work, at the place of work, during working hours.

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, age group;

(b) amount of worktime lost: none;

(c) characteristics of accidents;

(d) characteristics of injuries;

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

Measurement of worktime lost

Worktime lost is measured in calendar days, but is not compiled for all occupational injuries.

Temporary absences for medical treatment are not counted as worktime lost.

Classifications

(a) fatal or non-fatal accidents;

(b) extent of disability:

none;

(c) economic activity:

from October 1997, according to the new Standard Industrial Classification SIC94 (agriculture; forestry; fishing and sealing, etc.; mining and quarrying; oil extraction; manufacturing; construction; electricity, gas and water supply; wholesale and retail trade; restaurants and hotels; financial institutions and real estate; transport and communication; government administration and military defence; community and business services; personal services; other activities);

(d) occupation:

none;

(e) type of injury:

contusions and crushings, lacerations/open wounds, amputations, sprains and strains, fractures, heat-induced injury, cold-induced injury, chemical burns, acute poisoning, other;

part of body injured: head; eye; teeth; shoulder, arm; hand, wrist; fingers; breast, stomach; back; hip, leg, knee; ankle, foot; multiple locations; other;

(f) cause of accident:

striking against or struck by object (including falling objects), struck by splinters from machinery or tools, caught in or between objects, falls of persons on the same level, falls of persons from heights, contact with sharp object, exposure to or contact with electric current, exposure to heat, exposure to cold, exposure to or contact with harmful substances, explosion/blow-up/fire, other;

(g) duration of absence from work;

(h) characteristics of workers:

sex; age group (four groups);

(i) characteristics of accidents:

none;

(j) characteristics of employers or workplaces:

none.

Crossclassifications:

  1. fatal or non-fatal, by economic activity and sex
  2. economic activity and age-group

Reference period

Year.

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

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

Estimates

Total number of occupational injuries.

Rates of fatal injuries per million hours worked and per thousand employees.

Rates of nonfatal injuries per million hours worked and per thousand employees.

Historical background of the series

Information not available.

Documentation

Series available:

The following tables are published:

Bibliographic references:

The data are published in:

Statistisk Sentralbyra (Statistics Norway): Statistisk Arbok (Statistical Yearbook) (annual).

Not all the data are published. Detailed information on the rates of injuries, the number of injuries by part of body, type of work, type of accident and type of injury are available on request, in printed form, on diskette or on magnetic tape.

Data published by ILO:

The following data are furnished regularly to the ILO for publication in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics, relating to reporting injuries according to major division of economic activity: the total number of persons injured and the number of persons fatally injured; 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:

There are no restrictions on the use of data on occupational injuries.

International standards

The current statistical standards and guidelines were followed when the concepts, definitions and methods used for compiling the statistics were designed and last revised.

The representative organizations of employers' and workers' were consulted when the concepts, definitions and methods used for compiling the statistics were designed and last revised.

Method of data collection

Legislation:

National Insurance Act.

All occupational injuries should be reported within three days of the date of the accident to the local National Insurance Office.

Reporting:

The employer should report the injury or illness using a standard form comprising five copies. Copies 1, 2 and 3 are sent to the local National Insurance Office, which forwards copy 3 to the Directorate of Labour Inspection. The employer retains copy 4 and gives copy 5 to the injured person. Separate forms are used for accidents aboard ship or on fishing vessels. Instructions for completion are included on the forms.

Data reported:

The form consists of the following:
  1. information about the injured person: date of birth and national identity number, name, address, nationality, date from which employed, present position, duration of employment in present position;
  2. information about the employer: name, address, national employer identification number, economic activity, type of enterprise (description), accident site if the accident did not occur at the address of the employer;
  3. information about earnings: basic wage; sum of regular increments, overtime pay, etc., in present position during the last 12 months, type of employment at the time of the accident (regular, temporary, etc.);
  4. information about the time and place of the accident: date and time; whether the accident happened during daytime; whether the accident happened while working overtime; type of wages (fixed wage, piece rate, etc.); place of accident (regular workplace, on the way to or from work, during normal working hours, etc.); whether the accident was reported to the Labour Inspection (in the case of serious accidents), and whether the injury was fatal;
  5. information about how the accident happened and the nature of the injury: type of work at the moment the accident occurred: maintenance, repairs, assembly work using machines or cranes, etc., cleaning, handling of cargo, internal transport, production work, other;
  6. description of the accident (free text);
  7. signature of the reporting employer.

Changes planned:

No changes are planned for the near future.

Additional information

Act No. 4 of February 1977 respecting workers' protection and the working environment, as amended to Act No. 2 of 6 January 1995 also sets out obligations for reporting occupational injuries. Employers should ensure that all injuries occurring during performance of work are registered. The register should be accessible to the Inspectorate of Labour, safety delegates, the working environment committee and the safety and health personnel. If, as a result of an occupational accident, an employee loses his life or is seriously injured, the employer should immediately, and by the quickest possible means, notify the Inspectorate of Labour and the nearest police authority. The employer should confirm its notification in writing, and the safety delegate should receive a copy of the confirmation. The Directorate of Labour may also require such notification to be given in other cases, such as acute poisonings and near accidents. Any medical practitioner who through his work gains knowledge of an employee suffering from an occupational injury should report this in writing to the Inspectorate of Labour.