1. Analysis of the results
National data
Occupational accidents
This section analyses the results obtained in the Tables from the National Tables
document. Module 2007.
Tables 1.1 to 1.4 refer to persons aged 16 years old and over, who were employed or
who, unemployed, stopped working one year ago or less, in comparison with the
accidents that they may have had, in the twelve months prior to the Sunday of the
reference week.
Table 1.1 shows the distribution of the population surveyed, according to whether or
not they had had an accident during the working day or on one of the commutes to or
from their workplace, both in the total and differentiated by sex and age group.
The percentage of the total persons who had had an accident as compared with the
total surveyed persons was 4.96%, in contrast with the 94.87% who declared not to
have had one, and the 0.16% who responded "do not know". Among the persons who
responded that they had had an accident, by sex, the percentage of men was higher
than the percentage of women (5.90% and 3.71%, respectively).
Analysed by age, we observe that, as age increased, the accident rate was reduced in
the case of men, whereas the opposite was true for women.
Table 1.2 shows that, of the total persons who declared to have had an accident
during the working day or commutes, the majority, 1,038,100, had had one during the
reference period, 90.65% of the total, while only 9.35% claimed to have had two or
more. Considering those persons who had had a single occupational accident, 67.96%
were men and 32.04% were women. This proportion remained in persons who had
had two or more accidents (68.35% and 31.65%, respectively).
By age group, the bracket aged 16 to 24 years old showed the greatest discrepancies
as compared with the totals, both for those who had responded one, 86.68% as
compared with 90.65%, and for those who had responded two or more, 13.32% as
compared with 9.35%. In both cases, the difference was 3.97 points, although in the
first it was greater than the total, while in the second it was greater for the group aged
16 to 24 years old.
Table 1.3 refers to the group described in 1.2, by number of accidents, according to
how they took place, during the working day or commutes. Thus it is observed that
69.23% of persons had an accident during the working day, 21.42% during commutes
and 7.68% two or more during the working day. The percentage of persons who had
had one during the working day and another during commutes, or the percentage of
those who had had two or more during commutes, were far from the previous
percentages, with 1.19% and 0.47%, respectively.
By sex, while men surpassed the percentage of women in accidents during the
working day, the opposite was true for those accidents taking place during commutes.
The percentage of accidents during the working day was therefore 74% for men as
compared to 59.10% for women; in two or more accidents during the working day, it
was 8.26% in comparison with 6.46%. In contrast, the percentage of persons with one
accident during commutes was 16.60% for men, as compared with 31.66% for women;
in two or more accidents during commutes, it was 0.18% in comparison with 1.10%.
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By age group, for both sexes, worth noting was the bracket aged 45 to 54 years old,
given that the corresponding figures varied more as compared to the average for each
of the sections of one single accident during the working day and during commutes,
and among the persons who had had two accidents or more during the working day.
The bracket aged 16 to 24 years old, with 11.26%, exceeded the average of 7.68% by
more than three-and-a-half points.
Table 1.4 shows the distribution of the persons who had had an accident during the
working day, whether or not it was a traffic accident, by sex and age group. Of the total
894,400 persons who comprised this group, 648,000 were men and 246,500 were
women; the corresponding percentages were 72.45% and 27.56%, respectively. It can
be observed that most of the accidents, 92.24%, were not traffic accidents; only 7.69%
were traffic accidents.
Among the persons who responded that they had had a traffic accident, by sex, the
percentage of men was greater than the percentage of women (8.74% and 4.93%,
respectively). By age group, the bracket aged 55 years old and over, with 11.54%, was
that presenting the highest percentage, followed by 8.46% and 7.78%, corresponding
to the brackets aged 35 to 44 and 16 to 24 years old, respectively. The lowest
percentage corresponded to the group aged 25 to 34 years old, with 6.15%.
Table 1.5 refers to the distribution of employed persons aged 16 years old and over,
who had had an accident during the working day in the last 12 months, by occupation
in which it happened and sex.
By occupation, we will begin by subtracting the figure of 159,900 from the total,
corresponding to no data recorded. The new figures are reflected in Table 1.6. The
new percentage reference total thus stood at 734,500 persons. Worth noting was the
figure of 227,100, the heading for Artisans and industry, construction and mining
workers; followed by somewhat more than half, 116,300, by the heading for Unskilled
workers; with somewhat less than this, 111,700, for Workers in catering, personal, and
protection services and trade salespersons and finally, with 106,300 for Installation
and machinery operators; fitters. The four together summed a total of 561,400
persons, representing 76.43% of the total number of persons who had had accidents.
If we bear in mind the total number of employed persons in the EAPS in 2007, the
percentage of the same corresponding to these last four headings was 55.18% (see
Table 1.7). The difference between this and the 76.43% of persons who had had
accidents, showed the importance that the accident rate had in these headings.
Continuing with Table 1.6, by sex, the most relevant information was the higher
incidence of men (71.02% of the total) as compared with women (28.98% of the total).
It was higher for men in the category of: Artisans and industry, construction and mining
workers, with 42.00%, Installation and machinery operators; fitters, with 18.67% and
Unskilled workers, with 11.16%.
In turn, among women, the highest incidence was recorded in the group of Workers in
catering, personal, and protection services and trade salespersons (31.36%), and
Unskilled workers (27.32%).
Table 1.8 shows the distribution of persons who had had an accident during the
working day in the last year, according to the economic sector to which they belonged
and sex. Here as well, as with the occupations, the results of the EAPS are borne in
mind, in such a way that calculating the percentage distribution by sector of the total
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persons who had had accidents from Table 1.9, and comparing it with that obtained
from the employed persons from the EAPS, we observe that: out of the 20,356,000
employed persons in the EAPS, 66.33% corresponded to the services sector. In this
sector, 51.29% of the persons had had accidents. 16.38% and 22.92% were the
respective figures of the industry sector. 12.87% and 21.43% were the corresponding
figures for construction, and finally, 4.42% and 4.36% were the figures for agriculture.
All of this gives us an idea of the importance that the accident rate had for each sector.
Thus, it can firstly be observed that the figure for construction, representing 12.87% of
the employed population, accounted for 21.43% of the said population that had had an
accident. This was followed by the industry sector, which, representing little more than
one sixth of the total, accounted for 22.92% of the persons who had had an accident.
For agriculture, we see that the accident rate was almost the same as the specific
weight of the sector (4.42% and 4.36%, respectively). Finally, that for services with a
corresponding relative index of 51.29% of the population that had had an accident, in
that it reached 66.33% of the employed persons.
The breakdown by sex shows the unequal distribution presented by the figures of
women with accidents in comparison with the sectors, inequality that is also clear in
the EAPS figures referring to employed women.
Table 1.10 distributes the group, described by professional situation and sex.
Without considering the no data recorded, we observe that, out of the 862,400 persons
with an accident, 79.95% were employees of the private sector. In terms of the total
employed persons, employees of the private sector accounted for 67.32%.
10.17% of the persons with an accident were freelance workers and 9.83% were
employees of the public sector. The weight of these groups within the total employed
persons was, respectively, 17.74% and 14.87%.
By sex. worth noting are the differences in the percentage figures of the persons with
an accident who were employees of the public sector, given that these had recorded
the greatest difference between them. For men, the figure reached 8.04% and for
women, it was 14.44%.
Table 1.12 indicates the moment at which the persons who had had accidents during
the working day returned or could have returned to work, in the twelve months prior to
the Sunday of the reference week.
The persons who had not returned to work due to an accident were 76,900, that is,
8.60% of the total. Of these, 71,900 hoped to return to work once they had recovered
from the accident, and only 5,000 persons did not expect to return to work. At the other
end of the spectrum, that is, those who did not miss work or returned the same day,
were 158,400 persons, or 17.71%. The brackets of those persons who returned to
work after the fifth day after the accident, presented higher figures, between 114,400
and 157,500; these encompassed periods of time between five and thirteen days after
the accident, and more than one month but fewer than three months after the accident.
In total, they accounted for 410,000 persons and reached 45.85% of the total.
Of the total 894,000 persons who were part of the group, 648,000 were men and
246,500 were women. By sex, the greatest differences in percentages between men
and women were observed for those persons who did not stop working or who
returned to work the same day of the accident, being somewhat more than seven
points higher for women than for men (22.87% and 15.75%, respectively), and in those
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who had not yet returned to worked because they had not yet recovered (9.97% and
7.30%, respectively), more than two and one half points higher for women than for
men. In addition, a difference of more than two and one half points was observed
among those persons who returned between their first and third months after the
accident, but in this case, the higher percentage corresponded to men (13.52% as
compared to 10.89%).
Tables 1.13 and 1.14 provide, for persons with accidents, information by Autonomous
Community.
Table 1.13 allows for observing the accident rate in the different Communities. Without
considering Ceuta and Melilla, we see that, as compared with the 4.96% of persons
who had had an accident during the working day or commutes, there were
Communities that exceeded 6%, these being C. Foral de Navarra and País Vasco,
with 6.14% and 6.07%, respectively. At the other end of the scale were the figures of
Cantabria and Illes Balears, with 3.65% and 3.70%.
In the percentage breakdown by sex, we observe a greater incidence in men, except
in Illes Balears, where the percentage of women who had had an accident was higher.
Data 1.14 offers data on the persons who had had an accident during the working day
or commutes, by sex and Autonomous Community. Without considering Ceuta and
Melilla, we see that, as compared with the national average of 69.23% of the persons
who had had an accident during the working day, there were Communities that
surpassed 77%: Cantabria, Aragón and Extremadura, with 82.06%, 79.85% and
77.69%, respectively. At the other end of the scale were the figures of 60.47%,
61.90% and 63.57%, from Comunidad de Madrid, Illes Balears and Principado de
Asturias. Regarding the persons who claimed to have had an accident during
commutes, the Communities that were the farthest from the average of 21.42% were:
Región de Murcia above, with 29.11%, and La Rioja below, with 12.39%.
Work-related illnesses
Next, we will focus on the rest of the module, referring to work-related illnesses. Firstly,
it would be convenient to highlight that the group to which this part of the module was
aimed was larger than the group of accidents since, in addition to employed persons,
unemployed persons who had had previous professional experience were also
included, and not only those who had left their last employment one year ago or less,
as in the case of the accidents.
As with the accidents, the illness results were crossed with characteristics obtained
from the EAPS, corresponding to the persons surveyed in the module. In total, eleven
tables were compiled, the analysis of which was as follows:
Table 2.1 presents the total persons surveyed, whether or not they had had an illness
in the twelve months prior to the Sunday of the reference week, both in the total and
differentiated by sex and age group.
The percentage of persons with an illness as compared to those surveyed was
17.82%, in comparison with the 82.01% who claimed not to have had any and the
0.18% who responded "do not know". Among the persons who responded to having
had an illness, by sex, the amount of men was less than the amount of women
(16.68% and 19.06%, respectively).
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By age, we observe that as they aged, the persons who claimed to have had an illness
also increased, especially for the group aged 55 years old and over, for both men and
women.
Table 2.2 reflects the persons who had had an illness, according to whether it was
caused or worsened by work, classified by the number of illnesses, sex and age
group.
On analysis of the figures, we see that 27.26% (1,627,600 of the total of 5,970,700)
had had an illness caused by work, 5.18% (309,500 of the total) had had two or more
illnesses caused by work and 67.56% (4,033,600 of the total) had had an illness, but
not caused by work.
As for percentages by age group in both sexes, it is observed that, for those persons
who responded that they had had an illness caused by work, the highest percentage,
38.19%, was recorded for the bracket aged 35 to 44 years old; the highest percentage,
6.80%, was recorded for the bracket aged 45 to 54 years old, for those who responded
two or more illnesses caused by work, and in the case of those who responded that
they had had an illness, but not caused by work, the highest percentages
corresponded to the brackets aged 55 years old and over and 16 to 24 years old, with
75.35% and 71.56%, respectively.
Table 2.3 distributes the persons who had had a work-related illness, in the twelve
months prior to the Sunday of the reference week, by type of illness and sex.
Regarding the type of illness, very worth noting were respiratory or pulmonary
problems, suffered by 545,700 persons, accounting for 28.17% of the total. The figures
corresponding to bone, joint or muscular problems mainly affecting the hips, legs or
feet and mainly affecting the back differed very little between them and represented
17.34% and 17.25%, respectively, of the total. Also worth noting were headaches
and/or eye fatigue, representing 13.94% of the total (270,100 persons).
In terms of sex, worth noting was the high percentage of women who suffered bone,
joint or muscular problems mainly affecting the legs, hips or feet, 21.32%, in
comparison with the 13.51% of men. However, men were more affected by infectious
diseases and dermatological problems; in both cases, the figures exceeded those of
women by more than 3 points.
Table 2.4 refers to the group described in Table E.3, classified by the degree to which
the illness limited daily activities, age group and sex.
Of the total 1,937,100 persons who comprised this group, 987,000 were men and
950,100 were women; the corresponding percentages were 50.95% and 49.05%,
respectively. In general, a high degree of limitation is observed, with 792,300 persons
who found themselves to be considerably limited in their daily activities (40.90% of the
total) and another 497,000 who thought themselves to be somewhat limited (25.66%
of the total). The remaining 32.86% responded "do not know".
By age group, worth noting was the bracket aged 45 to 54 years old, with 43.59% who
responded that they had a considerable limitation, and the high percentage, 46.14%,
that was reached by the group aged 16 to 24 years old, who felt themselves somewhat
limited.
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By sex, among those who claimed to be somewhat limited, the highest percentage
was recorded in the bracket aged 16 to 24 years old, for both men and women, with
43.36% and 49.75%, respectively. Among those who responded to be considerably
limited; for men, the percentages were above average for all ages except the bracket
aged 55 years old and over; however, women surpassed their average for the
brackets aged 45 to 54 years old and 55 years old and over.
Table 2.5 analyses persons aged 16 years old and over who stopped working more
than one year ago from the Sunday of the reference week, and who had suffered a
work-related illness, according to whether the reason for unemployment was illness or
not, by the time since they had left their last employment, age group and sex.
In this group, 835,500 persons were studied; the largest proportion of them, 55.79%,
claimed that the reason for unemployment was other than work-related illness; 41.51%
stated that the reason for unemployment was due to the illness. Of these persons,
34.85% did not believe that they could return to work for this same reason, whereas
6.66% had just returned to work or expected to do so in the future.
By age, this group of persons who had suffered a work-related illness was
concentrated especially in the bracket aged 55 years old and over (564,200 persons),
representing 67.53% of the total, followed by the bracket aged 45 to 54 years old
(114,400 persons), with 13.69% of the total. The age group that presented the highest
percentage of persons who, due to the work-related illness that they suffered, would
not return to work, was the group aged 45 to 54 years old, for both men and women.
Of the persons making up the group, 46.87% were men and 53.13% were women. By
sex, it is worth noting that, for all of the age groups aged 16 to 24, 25 to 34, 35 to 44
and 45 to 54 years old, while the illnesses arising for reasons other than work were
lesser in percentage for men than for women, the behaviour of illnesses arising for
reasons relating to work was the opposite.
Table 2.6 offers, for the total and for each sex, information on the time of absence from
work in the last twelve months.
Of the group studied, 52.67% corresponded to men and 47.33% to women. It is
observed that, by sex, the relative figures did not differ much from those of their total.
Of the 1,256,300 persons with a work-related illness, the highest value corresponded
to the persons who did not miss a single day of work, 419,500; next in importance was
the figure of 196,000, the persons who had missed between one and three months
and 166,000 persons who missed between four and thirteen days, with 33.39%,
15.60% and 13.21%, respectively, of the total considered.
Table 2.7 refers to the distribution of employed persons or those who, unemployed,
stopped working at most eight years before the Sunday of the reference week, who
had had a work-related illness, by occupation that caused or worsened the illness.
In order to study occupations, we will begin by subtracting the figure of 295,900 from
the total, corresponding to no data recorded. The new figures are reflected in Table
2.8, with the new percentage reference standing at 1,273,800 persons. Worth noting
for the amount, 227,500, was the heading of Unskilled workers; this was followed, with
similar figures, 220,300, by Artisans and industry, construction and mining workers;
with somewhat less that this amount, 198,900, was Workers in catering, personal, and
protection services and trade salespersons. The three together totalled 646,700
persons, representing 50.77% of the total. When bearing in mind the total employed
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persons in the EAPS in 2007 (Table 2.9), the percentage corresponding to these three
headings was 45.65%.
By sex, for men who had suffered an illness, the occupations with the highest
percentages were: Artisans and industry, construction and mining workers, with
28.61% and Installation and machinery operators; fitters, with 16.10%. The highest
relative figures for women corresponded to the headings of Unskilled workers
(24.86%) and Workers in catering, personal, and protection services and trade
salespersons (23.55%).
Table 2.1 shows the distribution of the persons with a work-related illness, according
to the economic sector they belonged to and sex.
By sector, we will begin by subtracting the figure of 968,200 from the total,
corresponding to no data recorded, the employment of which is not described in the
EAPS. The new percentage reference total thus stood at 601,500. The new figures are
reflected in Table 2.11, observing that the majority of the group was concentrated in
services, 361,000 persons, accounting for 60.01% of the total.
On adding to this information that which was obtained in accidents, and comparing the
two with that of employed persons in the EAPS, we arrive at Table 2.12, which shows
the following:
On taking into account the specific weight of each sector, we see that the agricultural
sector was the one most punished by illness. This sector represented 4.42% of the
employed population and more than twice (9.51%) the total persons with an illness. In
accidents, as we have seen, this first place was occupied by construction, while the
agricultural sector was third. Industry took second place in illness, with 17.52%, and
second in accidents as well, although the latter percentage was greater (22.92%).
Construction took third place in illness, with 12.96%. Last place corresponded to
services, which, though it encompassed 60.01% of the total persons with illnesses,
represented 66.33% of the total employed persons. We have seen that, in accidents,
this sector also took last place, with its figure (51.29%) being lower than that for
illnesses.
The same table shows that, by sex, for both men and women, the agricultural sector
was the most punished by illness, even if the incidence was higher for women
because the percentage of employed women in the sector was smaller than that of
men (2.86% and 5.51%, respectively), and however, the percentage of affected
persons was similar for both (9.64% for women and 9.36% for men).
For men, construction occupied second place in illnesses, with 26.38%, while for
women this sector came in last place, with 0.87%.
Table 2.13 distributes the group of employed persons or persons who, unemployed,
stopped working at most eight years before the reference Sunday, who had had an
illness, by professional situation and sex.
In this case, the no data recorded figure reached 139,900 persons. After removing this
category, the new figures appear in Table 2.14. This way, we shall consider a total of
1,429,900 persons.
By professional situation, worth noting is the figure of persons with an illness who were
employees of the private sector who, as with the employees of the private sector of the
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EAPS, accounted for more than half of the total (64.86% in the case of persons who
suffered illnesses, and 67.32% for the total employed persons in the EAPS. For this
last figure, see Table 2.15).
Freelance workers with illnesses represented 18.13%, while, as can be observed in
Table 2.15, freelance workers in the EAPS accounted for 17.74% of the total
employed persons.
Finally, employees of the public sector affected by illnesses reached 16.94%, whereas
employees of the public sector represented 14.87% of the total employed persons of
the EAPS.
By sex, for women, the professional situation with the highest incidence of illnesses,
compared with the total of employed persons of the EAPS, was that of employee of
the public sector, with 21.44% of persons with an illness, while this category was
18.79% of employed women. For men, and also comparing the total employed
persons of the EAPS, it was the freelance worker situation that which presented the
highest incidence of illness, with 21.96%, when the weight of this category was
20.60% for the total of employed men.
Table 2.16 analyses employed persons aged 16 years old and over, exposed to
adverse factors for mental well-being, according to the factor with the greatest
negative effect, by sex and age group.
Of the factors analysed, that which had the greatest negative effect over mental wellbeing was, without a doubt, time pressure or excessive workload, with 81.63%. This
was followed, at a distance, by violence or threats of violence, with 10.98% and
harassment or intimidation, with 7.39%.
The total number of persons making up this group reached 5,072,900; of whom
3,103,200 were men and 1,969,700 were women.
The factor with the greatest adverse effect was time pressure or excessive workload,
affecting men more than women, their percentages being 83.42% and 78.81%,
respectively.
By age group, the affecting factors changed. It can be observed that the groups aged
25 to 34 and 35 to 44 years old were those which presented the highest percentages,
with 83.80% and 82.61%, respectively, within which time pressure or excessive
workload was claimed to be the factor most affecting them; for those who responded
that it was the violence or threats of violence factor, the groups aged 55 years old and
over and 45 to 54 years old reached the highest percentages, with 12.94% and
12.02%, respectively; for those who responded that it was the harassment or
intimidation factor, the group recording the highest percentage, 10.10%, was the group
aged 16 to 24 years old.
Table 2.17 analyses those employed persons aged 16 years old and over, exposed to
adverse factors for physical health, according to the factor with the greatest negative
effect, by sex and age group.
Of the factors analysed, those which had the greatest adverse effects over physical
health were the risk of accidents, with 36.58% and the adoption of postures, difficult
movements that are part of the work, or carriage of heavy weights, with 35.23%.
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These were followed, at a distance, by chemical substances, dust, smoke or gas and
by noise or vibration, with 17.11% and 11.07%, respectively.
Of the factors with the most adverse effects, the risk of accidents affected men more
than women, with their percentages being 43.46% and 20.88%, respectively. With the
adoption of postures, difficult movements that are part of the work, or carriage of
heavy weights, the opposite was true, affecting women more, with 51.72%, as
compared with the 28.00% registered for men.
By age group, we observe that for men in the group aged 35 to 44 years old, the
percentage of risk of accidents was higher, with 44.87%. In the case of women, it was
in the groups aged 16 to 24 and 55 years old and over that the highest percentages
were recorded for the adoption of postures, difficult movements that are part of the
work, or carriage of heavy weights factor, with 56.29% and 55.81%, respectively.
Tables 2.18 and 2.19 provide, for persons with illnesses, information by Autonomous
Community.
Table 2.18 allows us to observe employed persons or those with prior professional
experience, in the twelve months prior to the Sunday of the reference week, who had
had an illness, whether or not this was caused or worsened by work, by number of
illnesses, Autonomous Community and sex.
Without considering Ceuta and Melilla, it can be observed that, in comparison with the
national average of 67.56% of persons who had had an illness not caused by work,
were the Communities that exceeded 74%: Comunidad Foral de Navarra,
Extremadura and Principado de Asturias, with 74.71%, 74.70% and 74.33%,
respectively. At the other end of the spectrum were the figures of 61.11% and 62.02%
corresponding to Illes Balears and Canarias. The Communities farthest from the
national average of 27.26%, among the persons who had had an illness caused by
work were: Canarias (34.90%) above and Principado de Asturias (21.20%) below.
Regarding the 5.18% of persons who had had two or more illnesses caused by work,
were the Communities the farthest in both senses: Comunidad de Madrid (7.63%)
above and Cantabria (2.67%) below.
Table 2.19 presents data on the group of persons aged 16 years old and over who
stopped working more than one year ago from the Sunday of the reference week, and
who suffered a work-related illness, according to whether or not the reason for
unemployment was the illness, by sex and Autonomous Community. Without
considering Ceuta and Melilla, we observe that, as compared with the 55.79% of
persons for whom the reason for unemployment was other than work-related illness for
the whole of Spain, Aragón reached the upper extreme of 67.24%, while La Rioja
reached the lower extreme of 46.91%. In terms of the persons who claimed that the
reason for unemployment was the work-related illness and did not believe that they
could return to work for that same reason, the Communities differing most from the
average (34.85%) were: La Rioja above, with 47%, and Castilla y León below, with
24.92%. Lastly, the Communities farthest from the 6.66% average of the persons who
responded that the reason for unemployment was work-related illness, but who had
just returned to work or expected to do so in the future were: Castilla-La Mancha,
which reached 10.19%, and Castilla y León, whose figure was 1.05%.
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