IRISH HEALTH AND SAFETY AUTHORITY PUBLISHES ANNUAL REVIEW OF WORKPLACE INJURIES, ILLNESSES AND FATALITIES 2023-2024

In December 2025, the Health and Safety Authority’s (“HSA”) Annual Review of Workplace Injuries, Illnesses and Fatalities 2023-2024 was published.

We have set out a summary of the findings of the Review below, with a particular focus on the construction industry.

In the foreword from the Chief Executive Officer of the HSA, he points out that Ireland’s workforce grew to 2,776,400 in 2024, an increase of 2.6% on the previous year. There was a marginal increase in non-fatal workplace incident reports to the HSA in 2024 from 2023. 36 workplace fatalities occurred in 2024, which is a decline from the previous year, when there were 43 fatal accidents.

For the first time, the construction sector has been surpassed by a sector other than agriculture in terms of the number of fatalities recorded, namely the sewerage, waste management and remediation activities sector. This does not diminish the high risk associated with the activities carried out by construction workers.

It is emphasised that Construction Safety Week is an important initiative. There was a focus on working at height, equipment handling and psycho-social issues among construction workers.

In 2024, there were 10,441 non-fatal incidents reported to the HSA. Furthermore, there were:

• 36 work-related fatal incidents,
• 688,000 days lost due to work-related injuries
• 1,330,000 days lost to work-related illnesses.

It was pointed out that in terms of non-fatal incidents, there was an increase of 3% from the previous year, and it was 14% higher than the previous five year average. It is likely that this can be explained by the COVID-19 related business closures that were in place during 2020 and 2021, with a lower than usual number of workplace injuries in those years impacting the five year average.

The sector with the highest rates of work-related injuries (leading to four or more days of absence from work) is construction.

29 of the 36 fatal incidents involved worker victims and seven involved non-worker victims. This is a decrease of 16% on the figure of 43 fatal accidents recorded in 2023. This rate has been declining over the past 20 years. The highest number of fatal accidents occurred in agriculture, forestry and fishing (12). Water supply, sewage, waste maintenance and remediation accounted for 17%. The sector with the next highest number of fatal incidents in 2024 was construction, where three employees and two self-employed persons (a total of five) lost their lives.

Construction and the Injuries Reported by Economic Sector in 2024

There were 730 reports of such injuries in the construction sector which represented 7% of the overall number of injuries. It is pointed out that there is a significant degree of under-reporting of incidents by self-employed people and small businesses.

In terms of construction, the top three reported non-fatal triggers in construction were: –

• Slipping and falling – 237
• Manual handling (internal injury) – 230
• Loss of control of object, machine, vehicle etc. – 120

The most injured body part for workers in 2024 was the back, which was associated with 18% of non-fatal incidents reported to the HSA.

In terms of the top five working environments for worker and non-worker instances in 2024, 7% of those were in construction and 2% of non-workers were in construction.

In 2023, male workers reported more work-related injuries leading to four or more days of absence from work (10.1 per 1000 workers) than female workers (5.5 per 1000 workers).

Fatal Injuries

The rate of fatal incidents has been declining over the past 20 years from a rate of 2.6 per 100,000 workers in 2004 to 1.3 in 2024.

In the construction sector in 2024, three employees and two self-employed persons lost their lives.

Conclusion

The fact that the number of fatalities is decreasing year on year does not negate the fact that any fatality is one too many and this is a point that is well made in the report. However, as we move further away from the COVID pandemic, it is clear that the decrease can be attributed in part to supervision and enhanced safety measures being observed on construction sites and in workplaces, for example. It is to be hoped that this will continue.

For legal support in relation to Irish Health and Safety matters or for further information on any of the issues covered in this article, please contact Sarah Conroy.