Romania

Organization responsible for the statistics

Collection and compilation: Ministry of Labour and Social Protection.

Publication: Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and National Statistics Commission.

Periodicity

Compilation: Quarterly and annual; daily, as concerns fatal accidents.

Publication: Quarterly and annual; daily, as concerns fatal accidents (in newspapers and the Information bulletin; on request of the various institutions).

Source

Reports of occupational injuries submitted to the State Inspectorate for Labour Protection.

Objectives and users

statistics on occupational injuries constitute one of the most important factors in the decision-making process. The following are carried out on the basis of statistics:
- employment protection policies;
- legislation;
- measures aimed at reducing or eliminating risk factors responsible for causing accidents;
- determination of the economic, financial and social implications of occupational injuries;
indicators referring to labour protection activity constitute a measure of:
- efforts in this area;
- the effectiveness of prevention programmes;
- the degree of danger in the workplace;
data bank for activities relating to the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases.

Major users:

State Inspectorate for Labour Protection, employersk associations, trade union associations, various ministries and other interested bodies, enterprises, the Scientific Research Institute for Labour Protection.

Coverage

Workers:

All workers: full-time and part-time, temporary and permanent, paid employees, regardless of the nature of their contract; members of legitimately established family associations; members of cooperatives; self-employed workers; unemployed persons during retraining; apprentices and students during practical training; employers. (However, the statistics furnished to the ILO cover only paid employees.)

In 1996, approximately 6,900,000 paid employees were covered.

Economic activities:

All economic activities and sectors, except the activities of certain ministries and institutions (Ministry of National Defence, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Justice (General Directorate of Prisons); Ministry of Finance; Romanian Information Service; Foreign Information Service; Special Telecommunications Service; Protection and Security Service) stipulated in the legislation, which compile statistics separately.

Geographic areas:

The whole country.

The statistics include:

persons working outside the country injured in accidents arising out of and in the course of work;
persons conducting affairs of State or business in the public interest outside the country injured in accidents arising out of or in the course of the performance of such duties;
Romanian workers sent outside the country to perform work who are injured during the period specified in their travel documents;
Romanian workers performing duties and services outside the country (in accordance with contracts or agreements or under other conditions provided by legislation enacted with foreign partners) injured in accidents arising out of or in the course of the performance of such duties.

Establishments:

All types and sizes of establishment.

Types of occupational accidents covered

The statistics relate to reported injuries due to all types of occupational accidents, including traffic accidents if the injured person was carrying out work-related duties.

Statistics on occupational injuries are compiled and published by the Ministry of Health, separately from those of occupational diseases.

Commuting accidents are included.

Concepts and definitions

(Source: labour legislation).

Occupational accident:

A violent injury to the body, including acute poisoning, arising out of or in the course of work, without taking into account the legal nature of the work relationship under which the work is performed, and the consequence of which is a temporary incapacity to work of at least three days, invalidity or death.

Occupational injury:

Death, bodily injury or sickness caused by an accident arising out or or in the course of work which prevents the worker from working normally, and the result of which is a temporary or permanent incapacity to work, or death.

Commuting accident:

An accident occurring on the usual route taken by the worker between the workplace and:

his/her place of residence;
the place worker usually takes his or her meals (if the accident occurred during the time of remunerated employment);
the place where the worker usually receives his or her wages; or
the health-care centre for medical check-ups, if the worker's health was affected by work, or for a periodic check-up,

with the means of transport stipulated in legal provisions, and which leads to death or to bodily injuries.

Loss of working time:

Lost workdays.

Fatal occupational injury:

Occupational injury leading to death.

Temporary incapacity to work:

The loss of working time for a temporary period, owing to an occupational accident and confirmed by a medical certificate.

Permanent incapacity to work:

The total or partial loss of capacity to work (owing to an occupational accident) confirmed by the decision of the competent medical commission concerning the extent of disability, after a period of time specified in the legislation.

Minimum period of absence from work: three consecutive calendar days; the day noted on the medical certificate of the injured person is considered the first day of absence.

Maximum period for death to be considered a fatal occupational injury: none. (However, the statistics furnished to the ILO cover only deaths that occur during the same year in which the accident occurred.)

Types of information compiled

(a) personal characteristics of workers injured: sex, age, occupation, length of service in post and at workplace, civil status, number of dependent children; for fatal injuries only: status in employment;

(b) amount of worktime lost;

(c) characteristics of accidents: time, day, month, year, shift (in the case of shift work), agency relating to the injury, type of accident, work duties being carried out at time of accident, occurrence that caused accident, place, total number of victims, cause of accident;

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

(e) characteristics of employers or workplaces: economic activity, size of workplace, type of ownership;

(f) other characteristics: date and manner in which the temporary incapacity to work was concluded.

Measurement of worktime lost

Time lost is measured as consecutive calendar days, from the first to the last day recorded on the medical certificate. It is compiled for all occupational injuries, including fatal injuries, as follows:

in case of temporary incapacity to work: from the first day of incapacity until the resumption of duties;
in case of permanent incapacity to work: from the first day of incapacity until the issuance date of the medical certificate attesting to the extent of disability; the legislation establishes a scale for the period of incapacity to work.
in case of fatal injury: from the first day of incapacity until the date of death.

Temporary absences of less than one day for medical treatment resulting from an occupational injury are not counted as worktime lost.

Classifications

(a) fatal or non-fatal accidents;

(b) extent of disability;

(c) economic activity;

(d) occupation;

(e) type of injury;

(f) cause of accident;

(g) duration of absence from work;

(h) characteristics of workers;

(i) characteristics of accidents;

(j) characteristics of employers.

Crossclassifications:

the data may be cross-tabulated for all the above-mentioned characteristics.

Reference period

Month, quarter and year.

An injury is included in the statistics for the period in which the accident was reported to the relevant authority.

Worktime lost as a result of injury is included in the statistics for the period in which the injured person returned to work.

Estimates

Totals.

Frequency rate = (Total number of injuries / Average number of paid employees) x 1,000

Severity rate = (Total calendar days of temporary incapacity to work / Average number of paid employees) x 1,000

Average duration = Total calendar days of temporary incapacity to work / Total number of injuries in which temporary incapacity to work ended during the reference period

Historical background of the series

The statistics were first compiled in 1992 for the purpose of facilitating occupational accident prevention efforts.

Since 1992, the following changes have been introduced:

new definitions;
new forms;
new classifications of divisions of activity, occupations, activities carried out at the time of the accident, etc.

Documentation

Series available:

Information not available.

Bibliographic references:

The data are published in:

Commission Nationale Statistique: Annuaire statistique (annual).

idem: Statistique sociale (annual).

Gouvernement de la Roumanie: Rapport du développement humain en Roumanie (annual).

Ministère du Travail et de la Protection Sociale: Bréviaire statistique dans le domaine du travail et de la protection sociale (quarterly).

idem: Bulletin statistique dans le domaine du travail et de la protection sociale (quarterly).

idem: Analyse statistique d'accidents du travail en Roumanie (annual).

General data appear in national publications. Detailed data are published in the Analyse statistique d'accidents du travail en Roumanie. Upon request, general or detailed data may be provided on diskette.

Data published by ILO:

The following data are furnished regularly to the ILO for publication in the Yearbook of Labour Statistics relating to reported occupational injuries (including commuting accidents), according to economic activity: number of persons fatally injured, number of persons injured with lost workdays, total of these two groups; rates of fatal injuries; number of workdays lost by persons injured with lost workdays. The number of persons at risk (total number of paid employees) is also supplied and stored in the LABORSTA database.

Confidentiality:

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

International standards

The international statistical standards and guidelines were followed and the representative organizations of employers and workers and other users were consulted during the last revision (1995-1996) of the concepts, definitions and methods used to compile the statistics.

Method of data collection

Legislation:

The Labour Market Act.

Reporting:

The employer or head of enterprise is required to notify the State Inspectorate for Labour Protection of all occupational accidents. This information is then sent to the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and Labour Protection. A standard form is used for reporting the injury, it is accompanied by instructions.

Data reported:

The form used for submitting the accident notification consists of the following information:

information about the employer: name, economic activity, size, type of ownership;
information about the person injured: age, sex, occupation, number of years of service in job and at workplace, civil status, number of dependent children and, in the case of fatal accidents, status in employment;
information about the accident: time, day, month, year, shift (in the case of shift work), agency relating to the injury, type of accident, duties being performed at the time of the accident, occurrence that caused the accident, place, total number of victims, causes of the accident;
information about the injury: part of body injured, type of injury, extent of disability;
information about the type of accident, worktime lost, date and manner in which the temporary incapacity to work was concluded (return to work, invalidity or death).

Changes planned:

None.