THE HEALTH and Safety Authority has said it hopes to continue with its policy of co-operation rather than coercion in a bid to further reduce work-related deaths.
The authority’s annual report for 2009 recorded 43 fatal accidents, the lowest number since it was set up in 1989, which was also a 25 per cent drop on the 2008 figure of 57.
There was also a reduction in the number of non-fatal accidents reported – 6,707 compared to 8,390 in 2008, according to the report.
But Minister for Labour Affairs and Public Service Transformation Dara Calleary and Martin O’Halloran, chief executive of the Health and Safety Authority, described the agriculture sector as “a blackspot”.
Mr O’Halloran said while there had been a decline in last year’s farm figures to 11, a 50 per cent fall on the previous year, there had been already 13 farm accidents so far in 2010, accounting for more than 50 per cent of all fatalities so far this year.
The Minister urged farm families to be extremely careful when the harvest season started. Mr Calleary said he regarded every work death as avoidable if proper care was taken.
While the authority said there was a link between the drop in employment in the other problem area, construction, and the number of deaths were down from 15 in 2008 to 10 last year, there was no room for complacency.
The figures in the report showed that the numbers employed in construction fell from 268,596 in 2006 to 136,700 in 2009.
The authority reported an increase of 15 per cent in the number of inspections it carried out, which increased from 16,009 in 2008 to 18,451 last year.
There was a total of 6,874 written advice during inspection, 1,140 responses to requests for information and 302 responses to land use planning queries, the report states.
Enforcement powers were applied in 11 per cent of inspections and 44 files were sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions. Thirty eight prosecutions were completed in 2009, with fines totalling €708,850 imposed.
It also reported the successful first prosecution on indictment under section 80 of the 2005 Act, relating to the liability of directors and officers of an undertaking.
Figures in the report showed 86 per cent of the reported worker fatalities in all sectors last year were Irish, 8 per cent were from other EU countries, 3 per cent were non-EU and 3 per cent were of unspecified nationality.
A total of 68 per cent of those who died were employees, 16 per cent were self-employed, 14 per cent were non-workers and 2 per cent were trainees.
One of the biggest shifts in trends in 2009 saw the percentage of fatalities involving the self-employed fall from 39 per cent (22) in 2008 to 16 per cent (7) of all fatalities in 2009.
Dublin had the highest number of fatalities in the workplace with eight, Louth and Kerry had four each and Monaghan, Meath and Cork and Tipperary had three deaths each.
Loss of control of means of transport or handling equipment emerged as the most common trigger of fatal accidents in 2009.
Analysis of the accident circumstances suggested 18 of the 2009 fatalities involved vehicle activity of some sort at 42 per cent.