Figures released in January by the Health and Safety Authority in Ireland reveal a 23% decline in work-related fatalities in 2018 compared to 2017.
Dr Sharon McGuinness, Chief Executive Officer of the Health and Safety Authority, said: “I very much welcome the decline in work related fatalities in 2018. The fatality rate of 1.6 deaths per 100,000 workers is particularly significant given it was as high as 6.4 per 100,000 workers in the early 1990’s.
Even the farming sector, consistently the most dangerous to work in, recorded a decline in deaths per year, from 25 in 2017 to 15 in 2018.
“Due to the efforts of employers, employees and key stakeholders, there has been a huge improvement in health and safety standards since then. However, with 37 people losing their lives in work related activity in 2018 there is clearly still more to be done,” added Sharon.
The construction, transportation and storage sectors each recorded five deaths last year, followed by fishing and aquaculture, which saw four deaths.