Definition: Accident having only a medical origin in the cours...

Category: Social statistics

Accidental injuries having only a medical origin are excluded from the ESAW (European Statistics on Accidents at Work) methodology. This applies to, for example, cardiac or cerebral incidents, or any other sudden medical disorders, which have occurred during work, but having a priori no link with the occupational activity of the victim and the injury being only related to the medical disorder. 
 
Nevertheless, such cases should only be excluded if there is no other work-related causal element identified. For example, if a bricklayer felt faint (medical cause) and fell down from scaffolding (work-related causal element), the accidental injury should be included in the ESAW (European Statistics on Accidents at Work) methodology. This is the case, even if the fall would not have occurred without the discomfort of the worker, because the gravity of its consequences was sharply increased by the presence of the person on scaffolding, which is a purely work related causal element.