INJURIESBOARD.IE PUBLISHES RESEARCH ON WORKPLACE INJURY LIABILITY [“EL”] AWARDS IN 2008

- 972 EL AWARDS TOTAL €31MILLION IN 2008

- MEN ACCOUNT FOR 3 OF EVERY 4 EL AWARDS IN IRELAND

- SLIPS, TRIPS AND FALLS CAUSE MOST EL ACCIDENTS

The total value of employer liability ['EL'] Awards made by InjuriesBoard.ie in 2008 was €31.4million. The figures were released today by Patricia Byron, Chief Executive of InjuriesBoard.ie (the operating name for the Personal Injuries Assessment Board).

The construction and manufacturing industries accounted for almost half of all workplace injury awards made in 2008. The analysis indicates that men accounted for three out of every four workplace accidents resulting in an award.

According to the study, total compensation of €31.4million was awarded in respect of 972 claims for workplace accidents in 2008. In 2007, InjuriesBoard.ie made 953 awards for workplace accidents with compensation totaling €25m.

The decline in employment in the economy has resulted in a slow-down in the volume of new workplace accident claims being submitted to Injuriesboard.ie in 2009, according to Ms. Byron. "In the first ten months of 2009 we have seen 3% fewer employer liability claims submitted."

"This review of 2008 Employer Liability awards provides a valuable insight into workplace accidents in Ireland and specifically highlights the most significant causes of accidents and those sectors most at risk" commented Ms Byron.

"This data will assist health and safety professionals in their risk assessment and enable them to focus scarce resources on the most critical areas. Significant steps have been taken in recent years across the economy to improve health and safety in the workplace, but vigilance must be constant. Cutting down on investment in a safe workplace can be an expensive false economy".

Commenting on the figures, Martin O'Halloran, Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Authority, said, "Unsurprisingly, the awards made by InjuriesBoard.ie reflect the types of accidents and injuries we see in our inspection activity every day. These accidents are foreseeable and preventable and I urge all employers to ensure they have the appropriate safety, health and welfare measures in place. Apart from the legal duties all employers have, it's always far more cost effective to prevent an accident happening in the first place than to deal with the consequences afterwards."

Other findings in the review indicate:

  • Location: 28% of awards arose from accidents in the construction sector, 20% were in manufacturing and 13% occurred in hotels and restaurants. Other sectors where accidents arose include wholesale/retail (12%), public bodies (9%) and transport/storage (5%).
  • Causes: The major causes of workplace accidents reviewed were slips, trips and falls (44%), lifting/handling (18%), machinery and defective equipment (16%), cuts, burns and scalding (7%).
  • Injury type: A review of the types of injuries sustained indicates that many accident victims sustain at least two injuries. Sprains (42%) are the most common injury, followed by fractures (25%), cuts/lacerations (24%), bruising (19%) and crushing injuries (12%),
  • Age: People of all ages can be the victim of an accident. Almost one third of awards went to people in the 25-34 age group with one quarter going to workers aged between 35 and 44.
  • Region: The geographic spread of claimants across the country shows that 60% of awards went evenly to Munster and Dublin, with 28% in the Rest of Leinster and just 12% in Connaught/Ulster.
  • Award value: The total value of EL Awards made by InjuriesBoard.ie in 2008 was €31.4m. The average award in the period was €32,266. Two thirds of the awards were for amounts of less than €38,000. The highest award was €582,000, while the lowest was €2,500.
  • Delivery time: Almost one in nine (11%) of all awards made by InjuriesBoard.ie in 2008 related to Employer Liability. The average compensation delivery time of 7 months was four times faster than the prior adversarial system, with a substantially lower administration cost.

A full copy of the Review can be seen here.

Ends

Thursday, 19th November 2009

For reference:

InjuriesBoard.ie Gerry Naughton 01 4634565 / 086 803 2891

*Note for Editors:

Back to Top