The Irish Health and Safety Authority (HSA) has published a detailed statistical report ‘Summary of fatality, injury and illness statistics 2004–2005’, which provides a statistical portrait of the numbers, types and causes of occupational injuries and illnesses in Ireland. Among the key findings of the report are that the number of people killed in workplace accidents increased by almost 50% between 2004 and 2005, while back injuries are the most common result of accidents. Particular risk groups have been identified and the HSA has issued a series of targeted risk alerts as part of an action programme to address the high number of accidents and fatalities.
The Irish Health and Safety Authority (HSA) is a government agency with statutory responsibility to advise the government on occupational health and safety, and to promote awareness of and to enforce occupational health and safety legislation. Earlier in the year, the HSA published its annual statistical report, Summary of fatality, injury and illness statistics 2004–2005. The report presents a comprehensive picture of the state of occupational health and safety management in Ireland. The HSA uses the report’s findings to guide policy development in relation to inspections, and to warn employers and employees about high risk activities.
Sources of information
The statistics published in the report are drawn from the following two main sources:
- information gathered by the national Central Statistics Office (CSO) as part of the CSO’s Quarterly National Household Survey;
- accidents reported to the HSA by employers.
The report also mentions another set of statistics, the occupational injury benefit claims figures published by the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
Key findings
The HSA report outlines developments in 2004–2005 in the field of health and safety in the Irish labour market, as well as providing a benchmark against which annual progress may be measured. The latest report particularly looked at the situation of non-Irish national workers and young workers.
Among the findings, the report highlights the following key figures:
- 73 people, 64 of them workers, were killed in workplace accidents in 2005, compared with 50 people in 2004;
- 7,880 accidents were reported to the HSA – only accidents involving an absence of more than three days are reported – compared with 7,469 reported accidents in the previous year;
- 57,500 people were absent from work because of injury for a day or more, which represents 3,000 per 100,000 workers; 21,800 workers were absent for more than three days, according to the CSO data for 2004;
- 59,800 people were absent from work due to illness for a day or more, which represents 3,100 per 100,000 workers; 23,700 workers were absent for more than three day (CSO data for 2004);
- 11,759 occupational injury benefit claims for absences of more than three days from work were admitted as being valid by the Department of Social and Family Affairs in 2005;
- manual handling and slips, trips or falls on the same level were the main accident triggers, at 32.1% and 15.3% respectively (HSA reported accident figures, 2005);
- back injuries were the most common result of accidents (23%), followed by finger injuries (12.3%), hand injuries (8.7%) and leg injuries (8.4%) (HSA reported accident figures, 2005);
- workers in the mining, construction and transport sectors suffered most injuries (27.3%) while workers in the 25–29 year age group were most likely to suffer injury (16.5%) (HSA reported accident figures, 2005);
- in 2004, 3.6 injuries and 3.2 illness cases were reported per 100 male workers, compared with 2.2 injuries and 3.1 illness cases per 100 female workers. Compared with previous years, the gap in injury and illness rates between men and women is declining, according to CSA data.
Risk alerts
Based on the report’s findings, the HSA has drawn up an action programme and established a list of high-risk issues. These so-called ‘risk alerts’ highlight areas for consideration and action by all stakeholders in the field of safety and health at work – the HSA, policymakers, employers, trade bodies and unions among others.
Risk alerts are areas that warrant regular monitoring and are divided into general, victim-related, incident-related, workplace-related and fatality-related risks.
Among the general risk alerts, the HSA refers to:
- increasing injury and illness rates;
- a high injury rate in the construction sector;
- a high illness rate in agriculture.
The victim-related risks particularly highlighted are:
- risks to non-national workers in the hotel and restaurant sector;
- risk of injury to workers in the 15 to 24 year age group.
The incident-related risk alerts include:
- manual handling incidents;
- violent incidents in specific economic sectors, such as public administration and social work.
The persistent under-reporting of accidents by smaller organisations is mentioned as a workplace risk.
Moreover, the HSA expresses concern at the increased rate of worker fatalities and at the high rate of fatalities among non-Irish workers. While non-Irish workers account for just 8% of the workforce, 14% of the fatalities were among this group. The HSA is also concerned about the high number of fatalities in the mining and quarrying sector, and among workers over 65 years of age in agriculture.
Increasing numbers absent from work
One aspect of the report has given rise to particular comment, namely the increase in the numbers of workers absent from work owing to work-related illnesses. Sylvester Cronin, Health and Safety Adviser to the country’s largest trade union, the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU), stated that a ‘massive’ 129% increase in work-related illnesses has occurred over the eight-year period 1998 to 2005 for which figures can be compared. He added that, in the previous year, the number of workers taking work-related sick leave rose by 29% in gross terms or 24% in net terms if the figure is adjusted for the increased numbers of people in employment. Such figures are, Mr Cronin emphasised, ‘completely unacceptable’.
Historically, the CSO figures have included a figure for the numbers of workdays lost owing to injury and illness. Over the years, the figure would have varied from 1.1 million to 1.4 million days lost. This year, however, the HSA report did not include a figure for workdays lost. Explaining the reason for this omission, the HSA states in the report that ‘the CSO has identified fundamental flaws in the data for days lost in 2004 and has declined to publish the data. Consequently, the Authority presents only headline figures and indicates that the data should be interpreted with caution’ (p. 10).
Herbert Mulligan, IRN Publishing