Work Injury Trends Ireland 2001-2014

@ESRIDublin #ESRIevents#ESRIpublications www.esri.ie
Work-related Injury and Illness in the Health,
Industry, Construction, Transport, Agriculture,
forestry and Fishing sectors in Ireland,
2001 to 2014
DATE
19th Apr 2018
EVENT
Launch sectoral reports,
HSA
AUTHORS
Oona Kenny
Bertrand Maitre
Helen Russell

www.esri.ie @ESRIDublin #ESRIevents #ESRIpublications19 April 20182
Motivation
• Work related injury imposes significant costs on
individuals, employers and society.
• Major change in Irish labour market over the last 15 yrs.
• Recent growth in industry, health, transport, agriculture
and especially in construction.
• These 5 sectors high risk sector for injury and fatalities.
• In 2014 they accounted to 41% of employment & 56%
of injuries.
• Part of research programme with HSA to contribute to
evidence base for policy.

1. Research questions
2. Labour market context-boom, bust & recovery
3. Trends in occupational injury
4. Determinants of work related injuries 2001-2014
5. Summary and policy implications
Outline

Research Questions
 How has the likelihood of experiencing a work-
related injury or illness changed over the period
2001 to 2014 overall and across these 5 sectors?
 What factors are important in accounting for the
risk of work related injury and illness: including
personal characteristics, job characteristics and
macro-conditions?
 Presentation – fatal and non fatal-injuries analysis
only.
 Report includes analysis of work-related illness

0.0
50.0
100.0
150.0
200.0
250.0
300.0
350.0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Employment(1,000s)
Agriculture Industry Construction
Health & social work Transport & storage
Boom to Bust in the Irish Labour Market,
2001-2016

Methods & Measures
• Non-Fatal Injuries and Illness
• QNHS annual module collected by the CSO. Household survey
• N=217,700 respondents over 14 year period
• Injury: has respondent incurred any injuries at work (excluding
commuting) over the previous year. Not defined by absence.
• Illness: experienced illnesses or disabilities believed to be caused or
made worse by work over the previous year.
• Limitation – those most severely injured and out of employment for
over a year exclude.
• Fatalities
• Health and Safety Authority data. Employer reports.
• Sector relates to the main business of the organisation

Rates of injury per 1000 workers by sector,
2001-12

Rate of Illness per 1000 workers by sector,
2001-12

www.esri.ie @ESRIDublin #ESRIevents #ESRIpublications
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Rateper1,000workers
Annual%EmploymentChange
Annual % change in employment Total injury rate Construction injury rate
Injury Trends in the Construction Sector

Injury Trends in the Agriculture Sector
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
-20.0
-15.0
-10.0
-5.0
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Rateper1,000Workers
Annual % change in employment Total injury rate Agriculture injury rate

Injury Trends in the Industry Sector
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
-12
-10
-8
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4 2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Rateper1,000Workers
Annual % change in employment Total injury rate Industry injury rate

Statistical Model of Risk of Injury, 2001–2014
 Logistic regression to estimate the probability of an event
 Pooled QNHS data 2001 to 2014.
 Dependent variable: risk of injury; takes value of 0 (No) or 1
(Yes).
 Independent variables: characteristics of the workers (gender,
age, nationality), work patterns (hours worked, tenure,
shift/night work) and period.
 Report the probability (%) of experiencing an injury for each
characteristic by taking account of all other characteristics.

Modelled Probabilities (%) of work-related
injury by sector and period
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Health Industry Transport Agriculture Construction
Economic boom (2001-2007) Recession (2008-2011) Recovery (2012-2014)

Probabilities (%) of work-related injury by
sector and work pattern, 2001-2014
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
No shift or night work Shift or night work

• Many studies do not adjust for exposure
• Follow methodology of Davies and Jones (2005)
• Adjustment for tenure: annual equivalent or injury
risk per month worked
• Adjustment for hours: full time equivalent or injury
risk per hour worked
Adjusting for hours worked and tenure
exposure

0.0%
0.5%
1.0%
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
4.0%
4.5%
5.0%
Hours vary 1 to 29 hours 30 to 39 hours 40 to 49 hours 50+ hours
Probabilities (%) to experience work-related injury by
working hours corrected for exposure (per hour worked)

0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
12.0%
14.0%
16.0%
18.0%
20.0%
< 6 months 6 - 12 months 13 mths to 2 years 3 to 5 years > 5 years
Probabilities (%) to experience work-related injury by
job tenure corrected for exposure (per month worked)

346
559
669
342
712
292
329
282
766
413
532
216
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Health Industry Transport Agriculture Construction All other
sectors
Boom (2001-2007) Later period (2008-2014)
Days lost due to injury by sector per 1,000 workers
2001–2014 (annual average)

0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
All economic sectors Agriculture
Construction Transportation and storage
Industry
Three-year rolling rate of worker fatalities per
100,000 workers by sector, HSA data 2001–2014

Number of worker fatalities by sector, HSA data
2001–2014
129
104
62
38
151
49
39
26
Agriculture Construction Industry Transportation and
storage
Boom (2001-2007) Recession & earlier recovery (2008-2014)

0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
50.0
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Transport Construction Health Agriculture Industry All sectors
Inspection rates per 1,000 workers by
sector, 2003-2015

Implications for policy and practice
• Considerable costs of work related injury (& illness)
• General pro-cyclical trend: injuries higher in the
boom period and lower in recession period.
• Risks with recovery
– Increased in number of new recruits (and younger
workers) who have higher risk of injury.
– Existing employees can be affected by increased
demand/pressure
– Need for training and supervision for new entrants

Implications continued
• Findings on hours suggest need to focus attention for
prevention on both long hours and on those working
short hours (do part-timers have less access to
training?)
• Inform workers and employers of risks associated
night word, shift hours (benefits of alternative
scheduling)
• Across economy as a whole higher inspection rates are
associated with lower levels of injury. Decline in
inspections potentially negative consequences.

Thank You

589
450
424
556 553
524
351
507
358
313
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Boom (2001-2007) Later period (2008-2014)
Days lost due to illness by sector per 1,000 workers
2011–2014 (annual average)

Work Injury Trends Ireland 2001-2014

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