The number of workplace accidents plummeted during the Covid pandemic as hundreds of thousands of people worked from home, a new report shows.

And just 38 fatalities were reported last year, the lowest number since the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) was established more than 30 years ago, as more manual and construction workers stayed at home.

The latest HSA report on workplace injuries shows there was an increase in the number of non-fatal injuries in 2021 compared to 2020.

"This increase is due in part to revived economic activity in 2021 after the public health measures imposed the previous year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic," the HSA reported.

However, the 8,279 non-fatal injuries last year represented a 12% decrease on the number in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic.

In Association with

"This suggests that imposed business closures and changes in behaviour due to the Covid pandemic may have continued to affect work-related health and safety in 2021," the report said.

In 2021, an increase in nonfatal injuries was reported in 12 of the 19 economic sectors compared to 2020, when there was a far more restrictive lockdown.

The biggest increase in injuries last year was in manufacturing, with 1,632 non-fatal injuries compared to 1,346 in 2020. The number of non-fatal injuries reported in accommodation and food services continued to decline, falling to 92 in 2021 compared to 110 in 2020 and 254 in 2019.

Manual handling and falls were the most common causes of injuries in 2021, as they have been in all years since 2017. Back problems were the biggest source of injury last year - reported in 21% of worker injuries but only in 5% of injuries among others. "More workers were involved in manual handling injuries, caused by lifting or moving heavy objects, than non- workers. For non-workers, the part of the body injured most frequently was the head (23%). These head injuries most often followed slips or falls," the report continued.

The three sectors with the lowest rates of non-fatal injury in 2020 - leading to four or more days' absence from work - were financial, insurance and real estate (1.6 per 1,000 workers), accommodation and food services (0.7 per 1,000 workers) and information and communication (no reported work-related injuries).

This low level of injuries in accommodation and food is a big change from 5.2 per 1,000 workers between 2016 and 2020, and is likely due to the pandemic.

The report also notes there is "clear evidence that older self-employed males undertaking manual work are overrepresented in injury and fatality statistics".

In 2020, there were 5.2 nonfatal injuries leading to four or more days' absence from work for every 1,000 male workers, compared to 4.7 per 1,000 female workers.

The most common kinds of injury for both males and females were wounds or superficial injuries (6.2 per 1,000 workers) and dislocation, sprain or strain (6.1 per 1,000).

The HSA said that, while a 30% reduction in work-related fatalities in 2021 is welcome, "the fact remains that 38 people lost their lives last year in work-related incidents". This compares to 54 in 2020.

The most common causes of deaths in workplace settings were the loss of control of a vehicle or its attachments (11 deaths) and falling from a height (also 11 deaths), which between them accounted for over half of all fatalities (58%).

According to Dr Sharon McGuinness, chief executive of the Health and Safety Authority, there have been improvements, "but unfortunately the farming and construction sectors are still over-represented in our fatality figures, accounting for half of all work-related fatalities between them.

"Both sectors will continue to be key priorities for us".