The research included data from national surveys conducted over the course of 13 years.
Five sectors of the Irish workforce accounted for over 40% of employment and 56% of work-related injury in 2014, according to new research by the ESRI and the Health and Safety Authority.
Workers in the health, construction, transport and storage, industry (manufacturing and utilities), and agriculture, forestry and fishing industries were deemed to have persistently high risks in relation to work-related injuries and illness, with the health sector reporting the highest total number of days lost due to work-related injury.
92,000 days per year were lost in the health sector due to work-related injury in the years 2008-2014, a significantly higher number than the transport sector, which recorded the second highest amount of days lost to work-related injury (82,000 per year).
Adjusting for the numbers employed in each sector, however, the report found that, between 2008 and 2014, the highest annual average number of days lost to injury per 1,000 workers occurred in the transport sector (766), followed by construction (532), agriculture (413), health (329) and industry (282).
The figure for all other sectors was 216 days per 1,000 workers.
The health sector, meanwhile, had the highest number of days lost per worker due to work-related illness (524 days lost per 1,000 workers), followed by transport (507), agriculture, forestry and fishing (358), and industry (351), while the lowest number of all the sectors examined in the report was (313).
Night workers, shift workers, part-time workers and new recruits were all deemed to have a higher risk of injury in all sectors except construction, while longer working weeks were also associated with injury.
In the construction sector, for example, construction workers working between 40 and 49 hours a week faced a greater likelihood of injury per hour worked, after adjusting for worker and job characteristics.
The rate of fatalities, the report found, is highest in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector.
The number of fatalities increased from 129 in the 2001-2007 period to 151 in the 2008-2014 period, while the combined fatalities in industry, construction, transport, and agriculture, forestry and fishing accounted for 85% of all worker fatalities in Ireland in 2014.
Commenting on the report, Pat Breen, TD, Minister of State with special responsibility for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection, said: “I welcome the work produced as part of the research programme between the ESRI and the Health and Safety Authority.
“It is vital to protect the health and safety of all employees while they are at work. The research published today will greatly assist in identifying employees across a range of sectors who might be at risk of workplace related injury or illness.
“This will enable businesses to improve health and safety standards in the workplace and to reduce staff absences which also ultimately affect the productivity and growth of a business. In addition, the availability of the NALA versions of the reports will ensure wider and easier access to these reports.”
The report in full can be read here.
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