Work-related ill-health statistics need to be approached with caution, not least because they can be gathered without the benefit of confirmed medical diagnosis, according to IBEC.
Mr Tony Briscoe, assistant director of social policy at IBEC, notes that there are four sources of statistical data on workplace injuries and ill health in the Republic.
The sources are the Central Statistics Office (Labour Force Survey), the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs (occupational injury benefits), the Health and Safety Authority (reported injuries) and the Irish Insurance Federation (employer and public liability claims for personal injury).
The Labour Force Survey comprises a random sample survey of some 39,000 households or 3 per cent of the total households in the State. Its results are extrapolated to give national estimates. Mr Briscoe says that the level of injuries at work resulting in more than three days lost in 1999 shows a 10 per cent reduction in actual terms compared with previous years. For instance, 16,600 days' absences of greater than three days were reported in 1997 while the equivalent figure for 1999 was 14,900. And this against the backdrop of an increase in employment from 1,379,900 in 1997 to 1,591,900 in 1999.
While acknowledging that the CSO figures are useful for looking at trends over a period of years, he says that as it is a random survey "the values do not represent actual levels but provide an approximate indication, subject to statistical parameters".
Moreover, the CSO figures "show a significant level of inconsistency" with the trends indicated by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, the Health and Safety Authority and the Irish Insurance Federation, he says.
The data on illness "must be regarded with a high degree of caution" and they require further analysis "before any critical observations may be drawn from it", he says.
Reasons he proposes for treating the CSO figures with caution include:
the terms ill health, illness and disability are not defined in the questionnaire;
terms used to describe a person's illness/disability such as bone, joint, muscle problem could equally describe accidents which are additionally and separately provided in the survey, leading to double counting;
questions about whether illness or disability were made worse by an interviewee's work could give rise to non-occupational health complaints being seen as occupational in origin.
Eurostat figures show that 6,000 people were killed in workplace accidents in the EU in 1996, while five million were absent from work for more than three days due to workplace accidents. Workplace accidents resulted in 200 million workdays being lost across the EU.
According to the Health and Safety Review (HSR), the Eurostat figures would suggest a workplace fatality rate of 60 in the Republic but in fact as many as 68 people lost their lives in workplace accidents here last year.
Nevertheless, in a recent analysis of occupational accident and ill-health statistics, HSR concluded that the Republic's safety performance measured in terms of days lost was good, given "an estimated 1,295,000 as against the 2,000,000 that might be expected if our national safety performance was on par with the average EU member-states".
However, work-related health problems remain a serious health issue, with the top three causes of work-related illnesses in the Republic being: (a) bones/joints/muscles; (b) stress and (c) breathing and lungs. The top three consequences of Irish workplace accidents are (a) sprains (b) cuts and (c) broken bones. It is estimated that more than 106,000 people in the Republic suffered either a workplace accident or an illness caused by or made worse by their work."
Employers are obliged to report accidents to the HSA resulting in injury or ill health where an employee is absent from work or unable to carry out their normal duties for more than three consecutive days. However, the HSA itself estimates that only about half of employers comply with this legal obligation, rendering the HSA statistics of reported accidents deficient.
The latest HSA reported accident figures are expected in April, as are the Irish Insurance Federation's employer liability statistics.
The Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs assesses claims for absences from work of more than three days. Some 11,311 claims were accepted last year, a decrease from 11,686 in 1998.
For a free sample copy of Health & Safety Review, telephone 01 497 2711.
jmarms@irish-times.ie
