Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Statistics
Employment data is used by HSE to calculate incidence rates of work-related injury; these are used to monitor trends over time and help to identify risks that need to be controlled and prevent further accidents.
HSE compile employment data from estimates produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) through three sources: for details on employees the Short Term Employment Survey (STES) is used to obtain top-level employment data at 2/3-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) level, and the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI) for 4-digit SIC data; for estimates for the self-employed the Labour Force Survey is used.
To produce ‘final’ and ‘provisional’ estimates, representative of the most recent two planning years that are available (covering 1 April – 31 March) HSE compile averages based on data for the June, September, December and March quarters received from ONS; final and provisional estimates are assembled annually in March and June respectively.
Data sent from ONS each quarter contains the latest quarters estimates as well as estimates for previous quarters that may have been revised; this may include data that HSE has already used to assemble finalised employment estimates and rates of injury. Similar to our datasets of workplace injury, HSE does not revise employment estimates we have finalised as this could have an adverse impact on published injury statistics using this data. However, when HSE finalises provisional employment these do take account of subsequent revisions to employment estimates received from ONS.
The table below details the ONS surveys, the frequency and use of data collection and the availability of HSE estimates.
| Survey | Frequency of data | HSE use | Availability of HSE estimates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short Term Employment Survey (STES) | Monthly | Employees in GB by 2/3-digit SIC code industry | March provides end of year final estimates, June provides end of year provisional estimates |
| Quarterly | Employees in England, Scotland and Wales by industry | April provides end of year final estimates, July provides end of year provisional estimates | |
| Quarterly | Government Office Regions by broad industry sector | April provides end of year final estimates, July provides end of year provisional estimates | |
| Annual Business Inquiry (ABI) | Annual | Employees in GB by 4-digit SIC code | December provides end of year estimates |
| Labour Force Survey (LFS) | Quarterly | Self-employed in GB by main industry sector | June provides end of year estimates |