Most violent workplace incidents occur in health and care sectors

Almost 60 per cent of workplace incidents involving aggression and violence last year were in the health and care sectors. These sectors also accounted for almost one quarter of all workplace injuries according to new figures.

There were 8,700 workplace injuries last year, of which 2,050 occurred in health, social care and related areas, according to the latest Health and Safety Authority (HSA) statistics.

The figures show that employees such as nurses, carers and social workers accounted for almost 59 per cent of assaults and other incidents of violence – 398 attacks last year, up from 353 in the previous 12 months. In contrast, lifting and moving (the most common cause of injury generally) and slips or falls account for about one-fifth of injuries.

There are clearly a great many more workers in the health and social work sectors, compared to many other sectors. However, those in health and social care are far more likely to be involved in an incident that results in four or more days out of work, than say construction or an Garda Siochana. Only transportation has a marginally higher rate of such absences.

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About 13 per cent of people in employment in the State (350,000 out of 2.6 million) are in the health and social work activities sectors, according to the latest CSO statistics.

Overall, the HSA report, which is published today , records an 8 per cent increase year on year in non-fatal workplace incidents, the second increase in a row.

The number of fatalities was down significantly with the 28 work-related deaths the lowest figure recorded since the HSA was established in 1989. While these figures are more volatile – there had been 38 in 2021 – the latest numbers are in line with the longer term downward trend.

Agriculture, forestry and fishing accounted for half of those 28 fatalities with older, male farmers again featuring disproportionately among the deaths. In total, across all sectors, almost three-quarters of those who died were aged 55 or over. However, eight of the nine people over 65 who died last year were in agriculture, forestry and fishing.

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Construction, on the other hand, continues to have an improved record although seven people still lost their lives in the building industry last year.

The general trend is also encouraging. In 1998 there were 3.8 fatalities per 100,000 workers while last year, the equivalent figure was one.

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Within the global figure, however, the figures are very mixed across the key sectors. In construction, the fatality rate per 100,000 workers is a quarter of what is was 25 years ago. In agriculture it is almost entirely unchanged.

“Once again, our annual review is pointing to a worrying trend of increased injuries and fatalities among older, self-employed males involved in manual work,” said Conor O’Brien, the HSA’s recently appointed chief executive in his observations on the report. “We will continue our efforts of targeted interventions to drive home the importance of health and safety with this particular cohort.

“Each of the 28 individuals who sadly lost their lives in 2022 died as a result of a preventable work-related incident. This is the lowest number of fatal incidents recorded in any year since the foundation of the authority in 1989, and while this may sound like a positive development, it cannot be repeated too often that one death is one too many.

“Analysing our data effectively allows us gain a fuller understanding of our landscape, and enables us to evolve our regulatory processes appropriately and ensure our focus is placed in the right areas,” he added.

The Irish Farmers’ Association said it was saddened to again see people from the sector feature so prominently in the statistics.

“The latest figures demonstrate that farm safety remains a big challenge for the sector,” it said. “The demographics in farming will only add to that challenge. The Farm Safety Partnership is working to increase the awareness around risks on farms.

“We encourage farmers to make farm safety a way of life, to protect their families from life-changing and life-ending incidents by creating safer working environments. It is essential that farmers make farm safety a priority and put health and safety issues front and centre,” it said.

Accidents involving quad bikes have featured prominently in the HSA statistics in recent years and new regulations requiring farmers to undergo training and wear helmets when using the vehicles come into effect on Monday.

David Hughes, a former deputy general secretary of the nurses’ union the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation and now a member of Ictu’s Occupational Health and Safety Committee, described the ongoing high rates of fatalities in agriculture as “tragic” and suggested the deaths were often caused “by how farming has developed but attitudes to it haven’t changed”.

He said the HSA had been established with a particular aim of addressing workplace fatalities and while it continued to struggle to make headway on farms, it had achieved a great deal in its work with the construction industry.

“That’s a demonstration of the effectiveness of having an advisory committee on construction,” he said. “Standards were raised. We have seen the transformation of how construction sites are managed.

“You can’t get in and out without a safe pass, sites are fenced in and you don’t see ladders leaning against walls any more, you see scaffolding. There’s been a whole transformation in that industry with the big firms doing a lot of good work. Where you do get problems, it tends to be with smaller companies, some of whom might still try to cut corners.

Health, he said meanwhile, “is a dangerous place and we would hope that the advisory committee that has been agreed but not yet established will have the same impact on health and social services that the construction advisory had on that sector”.

Sean Fitzgerald, a solicitor with Homs Assist specialising in workplace incidents and also lecturer in health and safety law at the University of Limerick, said the fact the number of non-fatal incidents had again increased by 8 per cent, highlighted an underlying problem that was ongoing.

“It could be down to a number of factors including the fact that we have an older workforce, people are working longer and that makes them more vulnerable.

“But production demands can be a factor in these things too. Companies want their workforce to be productive because if they have a more productive workforce, then they have a more profitable workforce. And the pressures can be the same whether you are talking about a meat plant or a major multinational.

“It’s there in the report,” he said, “the word used is that these incidents, particularly the fatal ones, are preventable, that’s a very powerful word.

“In terms of the decline in fatalities, we are seeing the benefit of the really hard work and targeted inspections carried out by the HSA but that increase in non-fatal injuries, that’s another 700 or 800 workers who were injured in 2022.”