Accidents at work with leave

The data on accidents at work are drawn up upon the basis of the notifications of accidents that companies and management entities are required to submit to the labour authority, in accordance with the Order of the MTIN (Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Security) of 16 December 1987 and Order TAS/2926/2002 of 19 November. Order TRI/10/2004 of 26 January approves the procedure for the electronic notification of accidents at work via the portal of the AOC (Open Administration of Catalonia).

An accident at work is regarded as any specific event that causes a physical or mental bodily injury suffered by a worker as a result of the work performed. All the accidents of workers who contribute for this contingency are included.

Notifications of accidents at work with leave must be submitted when there is an accident that results in the worker being off work for a minimum period of five working days, starting from the date on which the accident occurs or the date of the medical leave. Accidents at work involving an absence from work for at least one day, excluding that of the accident, are included following the medical leave. Relapses, understood as the medical leave of a worker as a direct consequence of a previous accident, are not included.

The statistical accounting, according to the time reference, starts on the date of acceptance of the notifications by the labour authority, which is the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Families in Catalonia. In the case of Spain, until December 2008 the MTIN tabulated the accidents in accordance with the date of acceptance by the labour authority (as the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Families does) but, since January 2009, the MTIN has tabulated the data in accordance with the date of the medical leave. This means that the data for Spain and Catalonia are not directly comparable from 2009 onwards.

Accidents at work of people affiliated to any of the Social Security systems that specifically cover these contingencies are included, as they are the only ones obliged to submit the above-mentioned documents and notifications. The statistical coverage is partial in some economic sectors, professional situations and occupations (e.g. self-employed workers, family and household workers, the public administration and education). The systems in which the protective action specifically includes the contingency of accidents at work are as follows: the General System, the Special Coal Mining Regime, the Special Agricultural System and the Special Regime for Workers at Sea. In accordance with the regulations, the Special Agricultural System and the Special Household System have been included in the General System since 1 January 2012. Workers affiliated to the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers may voluntarily opt for coverage of the contingencies.

The incidence rate represents the number of accidents per 100,000 workers exposed to risk.

The accidents are classified in accordance with the place in which they occur:

• on a working day: if they take place during the working day, in the workplace itself or on a journey. Traffic accidents and other accidents in any means of transport and accidents that occur outside the company are included, but only if they occur during the working day.
• in itinere: if they occur during a journey from the place of residence to the place of work or vice versa outside working hours.

The chief economic activity of the workplace in which the worker conducts his/her activity was classified until 2008 by means of the 1993 Rev.1 (CCAE-93 Rev.1) Catalan classification of economic activities. Since 2009 it has been classified in accordance with the new 2009 Catalan classification of economic activities.

Accidents are classified as mild, severe or deadly in accordance with their seriousness.

All the data are definitive except for those for last year, which are provisional.