Sir, `The Kevin Myers's piece' (August 14th) about insurance claims should not take away from the reality of workplace accidents and ill health. Employers voluntarily report over 5,000 accidents each year to the Health and? Safety Authority which keep people out of work for more than three days. There are actually about 14,000 people injured at? work each year and this costs the economy about 750,000 work, days.
The authority, as much as anybody else, wants to know why accidents happen at work so that they can be prevented. We identify what needs to be done to prevent accidents from the reports we receive. Are employers at fault? Are workers at fault? No doubt there are many factors land even human error, if it is the cause of an accident, must be planned out for the future. Human error is a fact of life and matter whether you are newly employed or a skilled worker. It, can be triggered if someone is distracted, if instructions are not clear, if there is time pressure, a lack of training or no safety culture. Where human error could? result in accident or injury it is? too simplistic to brand it as carelessness. The contributing factors must be identified and improved upon.
Such statute law as exists on worker health and safety is aimed at preventing workplace accidents and, consequently, costly claims on employers and other costs as well as pain and suffering to those injured. Yours, etc., Director General, Health and Safety Authority, 10 Hogan Place, Dublin 2.