DEATHS IN work-related accidents rose by almost one-third last year, according to the Health and Safety Authority’s (HSA) annual report which was launched yesterday by Minister for Labour Affairs Billy Kelleher.
Some 67 people lost their lives in work accidents during 2007, compared to 51 the previous year.
Speaking at the launch in Dublin, HSA chief executive Martin O’Halloran said they were happy that progress was being made in making the work environment safer, but that some tragedies, notably in the fishing industry, accounted for the increase.
“Although that figure for 2006 was a particularly good one compared to 74 in 2005, it is disappointing that it has increased, but we must remember that these figures are all individual tragedies and we must strive to constantly emphasise the safety message”.
He said: “we are in the first year of a three-year strategy of significantly increasing awareness of industrial safety among our employers and 2.1 million workers”.
“This involves educational and advisory programmes aimed at preventing accidents, and we are now happy that the legislation is in place to enforce and back up this initiative.”
Farming accidents accounted for 11 deaths. Although this was down on the previous year, it was the sector with the highest per capita fatalities.
A total of 13,361 workplace inspections were carried out during 2007 – 6,496 in the construction sector, 1,965 in manufacturing and 1,313 in agriculture. Successful prosecutions were brought in 31 cases.
Overall, there was 7,800 accidents causing absences of four days or more reported to the HSA across all industries, with 14 per cent involving non-national workers.
The HSA says there were 1.7 million working days lost, at a cost of €4 billion to the economy.
Mr Kelleher said the work of the HSA was important in averting tragedies which affect families not only on a very emotional level, but when the main earner in a family was killed or badly injured it could leave many facing poverty.
He referred to the farming industry as a particularly difficult sector to deal with, because of the numbers working individually who were not easily accessed with details of a safety programme.
He said “there are a lot of elderly farmers still working who are maybe no longer as quick of limb as they are of mind, and they can be in danger doing even relatively straightforward tasks”.