Occupational safety and health in Europe - state and trends 2023 
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA 68 
Table 17: Self-reported work accidents during the last 12 months (EU27) – LFS Ad hoc modules 
 
Note: In 2020, in total 0.4% responded that they had more than one accident; these data are not available for 2007 
and 2013. 
 
In 2007, 3.2% of the respondents reported an accident, in 2013 this fell to 2.8%, and in 2020 2.3% of 
the ‘Person in labour force’, aged 15- 64, responded with a ‘Yes’. This corresponds to a decline of 28% 
from 2007 to 2020. The decline of the total estimated number of work accidents shows a similar trend, 
a 24% decrease from 5.89 million to 4.46 million (if the persons with more than one accident from the 
2020 survey are not taken into account to achieve a better comparability with 2007 and 2013).  
For 2020, an estimate of the number of accidents based on the Ad hoc module results in a figure 
of 5. 24 million. The number of ESAW -registered non-fatal accidents in 2019 was 3.14 million , 
approximately 60% of the self-reported. One reason for this difference surely is that the respondents to 
the question in the LFS Ad hoc module might refer to every work accident, including those resulting 
in under four days of absence.153  
 
Estimations  
Eurostat itself estimated in 1999 that approximately 37% of the non- fatal accidents did not need to be 
registered because they resulted in fewer than four days of absence: ‘Around 37% of accidents at work 
in the EU result in fewer than 4 days’ loss of work.’ 154 .In the estimate above the figures are in a similar 
range. The LFS surveys also reveal strong differences between occupational groups . The ISCO 
groups 1-3 have less than half the accidents compared to groups 6-7 and 8-9.155