Accident figures for Suva insured persons remain stable
Suva insures around half of all employees and a fifth of all companies in Switzerland against occupational and leisure accidents and occupational illnesses. Last year, over 490,000 accidents and occupational illnesses were reported to Suva. The difference compared to the previous year is small. In general, more accidents occur during leisure time than at work.
In 2023, the insured companies reported around 494,000 accidents and occupational illnesses to Suva. The difference compared to the previous year's figures is small, with an overall increase of 0.3%. Occupational accidents and illnesses rose by 0.8 percent to around 186,000 cases, while leisure accidents increased by 0.7 percent to around 292,000 cases. The number of accidents involving persons registered as unemployed and persons undergoing IV measures fell by 10.6%. Among other things, this can be attributed to the good labor market situation with unemployment figures continuing to fall.
Cases registered with Suva under compulsory accident insurance:
"The fact that the number of accidents at work and during leisure time has remained stable compared to the previous year is encouraging," says Alois Fässler, statistician at Suva. "We suspect that the accident risk, i.e. the number of accidents per 1000 full-time employees, has decreased slightly. This is because, according to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), the number of people in employment rose more sharply than the number of accidents in the first three quarters of 2023. We will be able to provide more precise information on this in the spring when the definitive figures are available."
More leisure accidents than occupational accidents
While occupational accidents were clearly in the foreground in earlier years, Suva registered more leisure accidents than occupational accidents for the first time in 1991. Since then, leisure accidents have predominated. In 2023, 61% of reported accidents occurred during leisure time and 39% at work. "People today invest more time in their active leisure time, which is why the number of accidents in the leisure sector is higher than in the world of work," says Alois Fässler. "Other reasons include ongoing prevention work in the areas of occupational safety and health protection as well as the decline in workplaces with a high accident risk, for example due to increasingly automated processes."
Source: Suva
