Over 4,000 nurses and midwives were assaulted in the course of their work between January 2023 and February of this year, according to figures released to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) by the HSE.
The range of incidents ranged from verbal abuse right up to career changing or ending physical assaults, according to the union which published the figures to coincide with an event marking Workers Memorial Day in Dublin on Monday.
The event, at the Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square was attended by representatives of employers groups and trade unions as well as politicians.
Also present were some of those who have lost family members including Denise and Bernard McCann whose father, John, died in 2019. Ms McCann’s son Adam also attended.
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Deirdre Byrne, who lost her son James the previous year was there as well as Marian Deasy whose son Lorcan also died in 2018 and Jillian Brennan who lost her husband, Paddy Byrne, in 2011.
“One death in the workplace is one too many,” said INMO general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha who officiated at the event. “This is also a day to reflect on how we can limit the number of injuries in the workplace.”
“Far too many nurses and midwives are assaulted in the workplace, over 4,106 nurses were verbally, physically or sexually assaulted in their workplace last year. We know that this is a conservative figure as many nurses and midwives do not report these incidents, nor indeed do their employers.”
She said overcrowding in emergency departments was one of the more significant factors that contributed to assaults on what is a mainly female workforce and “it is imperative that each hospital reflects on its own security arrangements and what they are doing to keep nurses, midwives and other frontline healthcare workers safe while at work”.
The union welcomed the establishment of an advisory division for health and social care services within the Health and Safety Authority which met for the first time in recent weeks and said it hoped this would contribute an improvement of safety in the sector.
Advisory committees already exist in the farming and construction sectors but they continue to drive the figures for workplace fatalities, typically accounting got almost half and nearly 20 per cent of deaths annually.
In total 459 people were killed at work in the decade up until the end of last year and there have been 10 fatalities to date this year.
Speaking at the commemorative event in Dublin on Monday, Health and Safety Authority chief executive Conor O’Brien said it was still too early to judge what impact new legislation requiring training and safety equipment for those using quad bikes around farms was having. The vehicles have featured in a growing number of accidents in recent years and a man in his 20s was killed while driving one this week after a collision with a tractor.
He said the circumstances of the specific incident would be reviewed and that wider data on the impact of the legislation is still be compiled.
Paddy Kavanagh, general secretary of the Connect trade union which represents the majority of tradespeople in the construction sector, said bogus self-employment was a growing factor in the underreporting of accidents on building sites as those affected felt they were not in a position to do so.
“What’s happening is they are not reporting the near misses but it’s by learning from them that you prevent the accidents in which people are injured or killed,” he said.
Recently appointed Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise Emer Higgins said she was not aware of the issue being a significant factor but “I would encourage anybody who finds themselves in that position to report the incident because in that way we can better identify the landscape in which we are operating”.
Mr O’Brien said such reports could be made confidentially.
Responding to a call by Irish Congress of Trade Unions for an increase in the number of workplace health and safety representative gives, Ms Higgins said she supported the idea.
“Absolutely, this is best practice, it’s the best way of identifying and dealing with the risks that are out there and minimising them. That has to be in the best interests of every employer and I’d encourage them to take that on board.”
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