Comparison of fatal occupational injury surveillance systems between the European Union and the United States.

BACKGROUND Comparison of workplace injury statistics among countries is often problematic, mainly because work injury statistics are based on different national recording and notification systems. METHODS Definitions of fatal work-related injuries, identification of the reference population, and rates of fatal work-related injuries, from 1995 to 1998, were compared between the European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW) and the United States (U.S.) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI). RESULTS Similar definitions for workplace fatalities were found, but CFOI is based on an active search, and ESAW on passive notification. Daily fatal occupational injury numbers were similar in both: about 17 workers die per day, but average annual work-related death rates were higher in the U.S. CONCLUSIONS There are enough differences to allow direct comparisons between both systems. CFOI is likely to be more comprehensive than ESAW. It is conceivable that the true number of fatal occupational injuries in the European Union (E.U.) could be higher, and thus the apparent difference in U.S. and E.U. fatal injury rates may be an artifact of the different surveillance systems.