69 killed in work accidents last year

Sixty-nine people died in work-related accidents last year, continuing a downward trend in the number of people killed at work in the Republic, despite a rapidly increasing workforce.

However, the Health and Safety Authority's annual report issued yesterday notes that more than one million days were lost due to injury or ill health, much of which was "entirely preventable".

The HSA, responsible for promotion and enforcement of safety in the workplace, said numbers at work grew by 30 per cent to 1,670,700 between 1995 and 2001.

The highest number of deaths at work was in the construction industry, where 18 people lost their lives during the year - 15 workers and three members of the public. In 1999 the corresponding number was 18 and in 1997 it was 20, against the background of a smaller workforce. The construction industry was followed by agriculture, which also includes hunting and forestry. In this area, 16 people lost their lives. Nine people lost their lives in manufacturing.

For the self-employed, agriculture was the most dangerous industry, as 13 of the 16 killed were described as self-employed. It tied with the construction industry as the most dangerous industry for members of the public, the figures recording three deaths in each industry. The HSA particularly warned farmers of the danger of attempting to do too much work in the wake of foot-and-mouth disease, which it stressed was a recipe for accidents.

For employees, the construction industry was again the most dangerous with 11 deaths recorded, while manufacturing industry was next, recording the deaths of five employees.

By region, the highest number of deaths were recorded in Dublin, a total of 17, just two of them in construction, a figure which indicated a high level of safety compliance on Dublin's construction sites. Three people lost their lives in construction in Cork while two lost their lives in that industry in Roscommon.

In Dublin, the highest number of deaths by industry was four, which occurred in manufacturing and public administration. There were 12 deaths in Cork, seven of them in the fishing industry. In the six Border counties, there were eight work-related deaths; 13 in the south-west; four in the south-east (Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny); 10 in the west (Galway, Mayo, Roscommon); five in the midlands (Laois, Longford, Offaly and Westmeath); and five in the mid-east region (Meath, Kildare and Wicklow).

According to the chairman of the HSA, Mr Frank Cunneen, the general decline in fatal and non-fatal accident rates is encouraging, but did not mean the State could be complacent: "The trend is to encourage us away from fatalism towards a belief that it does not have to be this way," he said.