Life after an accident

This report describes the working life, income and health in 2007of people who have had an accident outside work. The report shows that people who lose more than 15 per cent of their ability to work, experience significant deterioration in quality of life. Furthermore, the report shows that the possibility of maintaining a pre-accident standard of living depends on the degree to which the injured person has been able to work again after the accident. Less than half of the people who have lost more than 15 per cent of their ability to work and who are not in ordinary full-time employment, i.e. disability pensioners, the unemployed, non-working persons (e.g. housewives), or persons in flexjobs (jobs on special conditions, often subsidised) have been able to maintain their pre-accident standard of living. The study is based on a questionnaire survey of injured people whose ability to work was assessed by the National Board of Industrial Injuries in 1997 or 2002 and an analysis of the income support benefits these persons are receiving.