Firms cover up work accidents

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7: Workplace injuries and sicknesses are routinely swept under the carpet due to employers’ ambivalence and ignorance of the law, according to a Government watchdog.

This failure to report thwarts efforts to improve safety measures.

Senior Health and Safety Officer Doris Foley told the Sun she received much of her initial information about accidents in the workplace from the 911 call centre and then had to chase up firms for details.

Mrs Foley, who has been working in the department since it was created in 1984, said: “We still have a gross under-reporting of accidents.

“In many ways we are no further down the road than we were 20 years ago despite a massive push on our education campaign.

“More of the bigger companies understand they are legally obliged to report workplace injuries and have their own in house health and safety committees.

“But it is the smaller firms, especially in the construction industry, that we have problems with.

“They either do not understand the rules or take no notice of them.”

In 2011 the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOHS) received a total of 40 accident reports, three of which were deemed to be dangerous occurrences.

Painter fell

They ranged from an employee cutting himself with a chain saw to a warehouse worker suffering head and back injuries when he fell out of a container.

The list also included divers being assessed for the bends after a small leak in air regulator, an employee being attacked by a dog and a painter falling off a roof.

The 2009 Occupational Safety and Health Regulations state that employers must inform the government watchdog of any workplace accidents.

While medical practitioners are also under a duty to provide information to the DOSH if they suspect it has been caused in the workplace.

Mrs Foley said: “We received slightly more accident reports in 2011 than the year before.

“But it is difficult to say whether that is because a few more firms have reported the accidents or there have simply been more workplace accidents.

“What we can say is that there is still a number of employers who are not doing what they should and reporting these accidents.

“The employer should get in touch with us when a person is hospitalized or suffers a serious injury that prevents an employee going to work.

“Our annual report is supposed to help us get information about major injuries and dangerous incidents.

“If companies do not report these accidents and illnesses to us it hampers what we can do to prevent further injuries in the workplace.”