Slip-ups, trips and falls make public sector workers take more days off

PUBLIC sector workers miss more days off work because of slips, trips and falls than any other sector.

Figures from the Health and Safety Authority show that the number of public servants who missed three days or work or more because of slips, trips or falls reached almost 166 per 100,000 last year.

This is in sharp contrast to construction workers, where just 69 per 100,000 took three days or more off work after suffering a slip, trip or a fall – the lowest for any sector. It also far exceeds the 84 per 100,000 of manufacturing workers in similar cases.

Transport workers were the second most likely after public sector workers to miss three days or more because of a fall, with 157 per 100,000 last year. Yvonne Mullooly, a senior inspector at the HSA, told the Irish Daily Mail that 1,400 people missed three days of work or more last year because of a slip, trip or a fall – the second highest number in recent years.

Ms Mullooly said: ‘Five people were out of work for more than six months which is quite a lot. We have about six slips, trips or falls on every working day. On average it’s the second highest type of workplace accident after manual handling which is about 33 per cent. Slips, trips and falls are about 22 per cent of all accidents.’ And she stressed that the true figures of days missed could be far higher as employers are only obliged to report all accidents that result in absences of three days or more to the Health and Safety Authority.

‘There could be others that weren’t reportable... they are accidents that resulted in absences of less than three days,’ she said. Last month, the Irish Daily Mail revealed that public servants took more than two million sick days last year at a cost of almost €320million to the State.

Information released by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform showed that public servants took an average of 8.7 days’ sick leave last year, down on 9.5 the year before.