Sweden

Organization responsible for the statistics

Collection: National Social Insurance Board.

Compilation and publication: National Board of Occupational Safety and Health.

Periodicity

Collection and compilation:

the register of occupational injuries is continuously updated and data compiled for shorter reports.

Publication: twice a year: one preliminary report, and one final report.

Source

Reports of occupational injuries submitted to social insurance offices in accordance with the Work Injury Insurance Act.

Objectives and users

Information for the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases.

Major users:

Labour Inspectorate, National Board of Occupational Safety and Health, external actors such as occupational health centres.

Coverage

Persons:

All workers: employees, self-employed persons and family workers, including apprentices and persons receiving vocational training in so far as their training involves risks. All economically active persons regardless of nationality are compulsorily insured for occupational injuries; some special conditions apply in the case of self-employed persons.

About 3,800,000 persons were covered by the statistics in 1994.

Economic activities:

All economic activities.

Geographic areas:

The whole country.

Workers injured in occupational accidents outside Sweden are covered if they were sent by a Swedish company, up to a certain time limit (one year).

Persons normally resident outside Sweden, who are injured in occupational accidents in Sweden are not included.

Establishments:

All types and sizes of establishments.

Types of occupational accidents covered

All types of occupational accidents are covered.

Statistics on occupational diseases are compiled and analysed separately from those of occupational injuries, but are published in the same reports.

Occupational injuries only include accidents occurring on the way to or from the workplace if the journey was occasioned by and closely connected with the person's work.

Concepts and definitions

Occupational accident (arbetsolycka or arbetsolycksfall): an accident during the course of work. (Source: Work Injury Insurance Act).

Occupational injuries:

injuries resulting from accidents or other harmful influences at work. (Source: Arbetssjukdomar och arbetsolyckor).

Harmful influence at work:

factors in the working environment that with a high degree of probability can be the cause of the type of injury. (Source: Arbetssjukdomar och arbetsolyckor).

Worktime lost because of occupational accidents or diseases (sjukdagar, sjukersättningsdaga or sjukfrånvaro).

Fatal occupational accident (dödsolycka i arbetet, dödsfall i arbetsolycka or dödsfall i arbetet): an occupational accident with a fatal outcome (immediately or later).

Temporary incapacity to work (tillfällig arbetsoförmåga).

Permanent incapacity to work (bestående arbetsoförmåga or invaliditet).

Minimum period of absence from work: at least one day after the day of the accident, except for injuries to teeth. In addition to the official statistics, injuries caused by violence and threats which do not result in any absence from work are also registered.

Maximum period for death to be considered a fatal occupational injury: none; even if a death occurs a long time after the injury, it is registered as a fatal injury (such cases are rare).

Types of information compiled

(a) personal characteristics of persons injured: birth date, sex, age, occupation, number of years in occupation;

(b) amount of worktime lost: days lost;

(c) characteristics of accidents: date, weekday, time, activity and location of accident, type of accident and event which led to the accident; a short text with information understandable by all readers is also registered;

(d) characteristics of injuries: type of injury and part of body injured, specifying left or right;

(e) characteristics of employers or workplaces: location, economic activity and size (number of employees) of establishment;

(f) measures taken or planned to avoid similar accidents.

Measurement of worktime lost

Worktime lost is measured in workdays from the day after the day of the accident, up to a limit of two weeks, then in calendar days. It is compiled as:

the number of days of absence from work for persons with temporary incapacity to work;
the number of days of absence from work until a disability pension is paid, for persons with permanent incapacity to work; and
the number of days of absence from work until death in the case of a fatal injury (this is normally zero).

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

Classifications

The following classifications and crossclassifications appear in the regular publications, but all variables recorded (see Types of data reported below) may be used for these purposes:

(a) fatal or non-fatal accidents:

(b) extent of disability:

none;

(c) economic activity:

according to the Swedish Standard Industrial Classification 1992, SE-SIC 92, which is based on NACE Revision 1 (the revised version of the statistical classification of economic activities of the European Union);

(d) occupation:

according to the 1997 Swedish Standard Occupational Classification, which is based on the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-88);

(e) type of injury:

type of injury: skeletal injury; sprain, strain; brain injury; injury to internal organs; wounds; dental injury; loss of part of the body; crushing, pressing, tissue injuries; burns; poisoning, effect of substance; corrosion injury; other injury;

main part of body injured: face, arm, shoulder, leg, chest, abdomen, pelvis, fingers, foot, ankle, neck, hand, wrist, multiple locations of the body, head, hip-joint, knee, back of the head, back except nape of the head, toes, eyes;

(f) cause of accident:

not used as a separate variable, but as part of the main event (see under (i);

(g) duration of absence from work:

no absence; 1-7 days; 8 or more days; death;

(h) characteristics of workers:

sex; age; status in employment (employees, self-employed persons, conscripted personnel);

(i) characteristics of accidents:

main event: electrical accidents (one group); explosion, blasting, fire (four groups); injured by heat (seven groups); injured by chemical element (five groups); injured by machine, object in motion (three groups); struck by flying object (three groups); struck by falling object (one group); accident with vehicle (four groups); injured by person or animal (three groups); fall of person (two main groups, with eight subgroups each); misstep (two groups); overexertion of body part (two groups); handling injury (two groups); impact against stationary object (two groups); remaining (two groups);

principal external agency: hand-held tools and implements; lifting machines and appliances, transmission machinery; vehicles, mobile machinery; other converting machines; electrical equipment; vessels, pumps, ovens and furnaces, pipings; technical aids, blasting agents; construction parts, interior fittings, scaffolding, ladders; materials, goods, packaging, container; chemicals, physical or biological factors; other person and live animals;

(j) characteristics of employers or workplaces:

location, size of establishment.

Crossclassifications:

a number of crossclassifications are prepared and published, including:

economic activity, by sex, main event, age and workdays lost;
occupation, by sex and main event;
main event, by principal external factor.

Reference period

One year.

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

Worktime lost is included in the period (year) in which the accident occurred. In the case of a short absence, the amount of worktime lost is recorded on the first report, and registered at the same time as the other accident data. In the case of longer absence, supplementary information is provided later, once the case has finished and the total lost worktime reported by the Insurance Office. The numbers of days are added, to arrive at the total length of absence from work. In the case of a relapse, the number of days of further absence is also added. This is rare for occupational accidents, but may occur for occupational diseases.

Estimates

The following are calculated separately for occupational accidents and diseases:

Total number of occupational injuries.
Total amount of worktime lost.
Average number of compensated days per injury.
Rates of all injuries, using the economically active population as the denominator.
Rates of fatal injuries per 100,000 persons employed.

Historical background of the series

Occupational injury statistics were first compiled and published at the beginning of the century, when the first occupational injury insurance was introduced. They covered employees only. The main objective was actuarial, for the determination of insurance premiums. The statistics were compiled and published by the National Social Insurance Board. Over time, many changes have been introduced, concerning coverage and classifications.

In January 1979, a completely new information system (ISA) for collecting information on occupational injuries was instituted, under the authority of the National Board of Occupational Safety and Health. Its aim is to provide the basic information required for injury prevention measures. The definitions follow the Work Injury Insurance Act of 1977, and at the outset the main classifications used were: the 1969 Swedish national industrial classification, based on the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities, Revision 2; the Nordic classification of occupations, based on the International Standard Classification of Occupations, 1968; and Sweden's own classification of the event, based on the guidelines in the Resolution on statistics of employment injuries adopted by the Tenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians, 1962.

Changes in classifications have been introduced as follows: in 1993, the 1992 Swedish standard classification of economic activities, based on the NACE Revision 1; in 1990, the modified Nordic classification of occupations, based on ISCO-58; in 1997, a new Swedish Standard classification of occupations, based on ISCO-88; and in 1992, the revised classification of the event.

The concept of a work injury was tightened, when the Work Injury Insurance Act was revised in January 1993. The term harmful influence at work refers to factors in the working environment that with a high degree of probability can be the cause of the type of injury incurred by the insured person. This high degree of probability was introduced in 1993. At the same time, the terms of the work injury insurance were tightened up in an additional respect. If it is clear that the insured person has suffered an accident or some other harmful influence at work, his injury must be presumed to be a result of the harmful influence only if there are stronger grounds for such a presumption than the contrary. Before 1993, this rule of evidence was formulated inversely, i.e., the presumption was made if there was no stronger evidence against it. New rules concerning compensation for occupational injuries were also introduced in 1993. The work injury insurance is now fully coordinated with the general health insurance, and there is no extra compensation for occupational injuries (except for permanent incapacity or death).

Documentation

Series available:

The following tables are published regularly:

number of persons injured, number of fatal injuries, average number of days lost per person injured and injury rate per 1,000 person in the economically active population, by economic activity, sex and employee or self-employed;
number of persons injured, by economic activity, sex and main event;
rates of occupational injuries per 1,000 persons employed, by economic activity, sex and main event;
number of persons injured, by economic activity, sex and age-group;
rates of injuries per 1,000 persons employed, by economic activity, sex and age-group;
number of persons injured, by occupation, sex and main event;
number of persons injured, by principal external agency and main event.

Bibliographic references:

The principal data are published in:

Arbetarskyddsstyrelsen (National Board of Occupational Safety and Health) and Statistiska Centralbyrån (Statistics Sweden): Arbetsskador: Preliminära uppgifter (Occupational injures: Preliminary report), Series: Statistiska meddelanden, Am (annual).

idem: Arbetssjukdomar och arbetsolyckor (Occupational diseases and occupational accidents) (annual).

Methodological notes appear in each of these publications along with the data.

Only the major classifications are published, giving a general overview. Detailed information on special topics are produced in separate studies, for general use or on request. Detailed data are available on request, on diskette, magnetic tape and by e-mail.

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 according to major division of economic activity: number of persons fatally injured, number of persons injured with lost workdays, total of these two groups; number of workdays lost by persons injured with lost workdays, rates of fatal injuries. The number of persons at risk (total economically active population) is also supplied and stored in the LABORSTA database.

Confidentiality:

The information should be disseminated in such a way that individuals may not be identified, if this is presumed to be harmful.

International standards

The classification of main event and principal agency are based on the ILO recommendations included in the Resolution on employment injuries adopted by the Tenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians (1962).

A consultative group is continuously linked to the ISA system.

Method of data collection

Legislation:

Work Injuries Insurance Act.

All occupational injuries, whether or not there has been a loss of worktime, should be reported to one of the 25 regional social insurance office within 14 days of the accident. In principle, there is one local social insurance office in every county council area, each with several local offices.

Reporting:

The employer should report the occupational injury to the local social insurance office, which forwards a copy of the report to the Labour Inspectorate, for both registration and for the Inspectorate's own measurements. A standard form is used for making the report. Specialized staff at the Labour Inspectorate examine, code and register the information provided. Instructions for its completion are attached to the form. Accidents are registered only if the injured person is absent for at least one day after the day of the accident.

Data reported:

The form for reporting an occupational injury consists of the following:

information about the injured person: name, personal number, address, union, occupation, number of years in occupation, number of years of employment in the enterprise, employment status;
information about the employer: name, registration number, address, economic activity, whether there is an occupational health service;
information about the injured person's working conditions: usual working hours; whether normal schedule, shiftwork, irregular hours or other; type of wage;
information about the injury: part of body injured, nature of injury, number of days of absence, final diagnosis;
location of accident: indoors or outdoors; normal workplace or other workplace; activity when the accident happened; type of machine, tool, material, etc., being handled, etc.; description of the accident and possible causes; other factors;
investigation at the workplace: employer, employed, others e.g. machine manufacturer present; whether safety representative participated in the investigation.

The reported information is supplemented by data from surveys carried out by the National Board of Occupational Safety and Health in cooperation with Statistics Sweden.

Changes planned:

Changes in the insurance system will be introduced in the next few years, which may result in changes in data collection.