More than a million working days were lost due to workplace injuries and work-related ill health last year, much of it "entirely preventable", the Health and Safety Authority has said.
"Sixty nine people died in work-related incidents during 2000 and more than a million days were lost due to workplace injuries and ill health. This was an unacceptable toll in human suffering, much of it entirely preventable," said Mr Frank Cunneen, chairman of the HSA. He was speaking at HSA headquarters in Hogan Place, Dublin last week to mark the publication of the authority's annual report 2000.
"I want to see penalties and fines substantially increased," the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Tom Kitt said. He said the current level of fines and penalties was inadequate. He added that he wanted to see "prompt action" on increasing penalties and said he expected a development on this at the end of the summer.
Mr Eric Fleming of SIPTU said he was "anxious that people didn't get carried away with themselves" following the reported fall in workplace accident rates. "Seven hundred people have died since 1989. Not one person has spent an hour in prison as a result of those deaths," said Mr Fleming. He regarded as derisory fines of £700 or £800 following workplace fatalities.
Mr Tom Walsh, director-general of the HSA, said that two cases in the last week had seen fines of £5,000 (€6,350) imposed, so even within existing legislation stiffer penalties were possible.
"Anyone found with a child in a tractor should be prosecuted and banned for two years. I honestly believe the law has to be changed about it," said Mr Eddie Colfer of the National Parents Association. The real rate of childhood injuries and fatalities is higher than HSA figures suggest because tractor accidents on roadways are regarded as road traffic accidents rather than workplace incidents, he said.
The HSA reported 16 lives lost in the agriculture sector last year, half of which were machinery-related. The number of reported child fatalities on farms fell from nine in 1999 to two in 2000. Of the 60 workers killed at work in 2000, more than half - 31 - were self-employed. Nine of the 69 fatalities were members of the public. All 13 fatalities within agriculture, hunting and forestry were self-employed. Six of the seven fatalities in the fishing industry, four of the 15 killed in construction and three of the eight who died in manufacturing were self-employed.
The labour force expanded in the last few years, rising by 30 per cent between 1995 and 2000. Fatal and non-fatal incidents in the workplace nevertheless declined during the period. In 1995, the fatality rate per 100,000 workers was 5.46 but by 2000 the risk of dying at work fell to 3.59 per 100,000.
The improved performance was also recorded in high-risk sectors such as construction and agriculture. Construction fatality rates fell from 16.64 per 100,000 in 1998, through 11.25 in 1999, to 9.02 in 2000.
However, despite fewer recorded child fatalities on farms, the risk of dying in the agriculture and fishing sectors increased from 1999 to 2000. In 1999, the fatality rate per 100,000 workers was 11.77 but this rose to 15.28 by 2000. The total number employed in agriculture and fishing dropped from 135,900 in 1999 to 130,900 in 2000.
Manufacturing suffered more than twice the number of fatalities in 2000 than in 1998. Four people died from workplace incidents in the manufacturing sector in 1998. There were seven fatalities within the sector in 1999, while a further nine people died from work-related incidents in 2000. Taking mining, manufacturing and electricity sectors as one, the fatality rate actually rose from 1.65 per 100,000 in 1998, through 3.23 in 1999 to 4.19 in 2000.
For the first time, the HSA annual report analyses complaints received by the authority. More than one in three complaints were about construction.
Of the 18 deaths in the construction sector last year, almost half (eight) resulted from falls. One in three fatalities in the construction sector occurred in the north-west area, in counties Roscommon, Galway, Donegal and Sligo. More than one in six workplace deaths occurred in Cork, where 12 of the 69 fatalities occurred. One in four workplace deaths occurred in Dublin.
Mr Kitt paid a warm tribute to Mr Walsh who is due to retire soon and thanked him for his expertise and commitment to the safety and health of all who work.
Web: www.hsa.ie jmarms@irish-times.ie
