MORR™ : An International Comparisons Review
Ireland
A contact from the Health and Safety Authority (HAS) stated “our work programme will not include any initiatives on public road transport and work related safety... The chairman feels we cannot examine new areas at the present time.
However the following excerpt from an article from the ‘Irish HSR’ Vol. 6, Issue 8 (October 2001), entitled “Work-related road traffic accidents: over 760 victims” states that:
At least 17 people were killed and 751 were injured in work-related road traffic accidents last year, according to the National Road Authority's (NRA) latest report, ‘Road Accident Facts Ireland 2000’. The report reveals that during the year 415 people were killed and 12,043 were injured in road accidents, including work-related road traffic accidents. The report highlights contributory causes of road traffic accidents. The figures, which are based on Gardai accident reports, show that drivers were identified by the Gardai as a contributory factor in 82% of all accidents. Among the other contributory factors identified were pedestrians (10%), environment (3%) and vehicles (1%). These figures relate to all road traffic accidents, but are probably indicative of the factors contributing to work-related road traffic accident causation. While the report does not list specific figures for work-related road traffic accidents, considering the classification of accidents, it is reasonable to assume that goods vehicles involved in accidents were by and large being used in connection with work. Seventeen users of goods vehicles were killed in road traffic accidents, and 751 were injured, 126 seriously, with the remainder (625) suffering minor injuries. In addition to the goods vehicle users involved in accidents, 153 users of public service vehicles (buses and taxis) were injured - 18 seriously and 135 suffered minor injuries. Some of these (the drivers at least) are likely to have been working at the time of the accidents.
A further breakdown of the accident figures show that the average injury rate per accident is about one and a half persons per accident, while just over one person per accident (1.1) were killed in fatal accidents. The 12,043 people injured were injured in 7,395 accidents and the 415 people killed were killed in 362 accidents. This indicates that there were about 500 work-related road traffic accidents. Accidents are classified as fatal, serious injury, minor injury and material damage accidents. The cost of accidents is estimated at £974,350 for a fatal accident, while serious and minor accident costs are estimated at £120,915 and £11,586 respectively. This would suggest that the total cost of work-related road traffic accidents is in the region of £38m. The figures for the year show a slight drop on the previous year's fatalities, down from 23 to 17, but a rise in the number of injured, from 685 to 751. The figures may also be contrasted with the HSA's road traffic accident figures, which showed that 233 road traffic accidents were reported to the HSA last year. This suggests that just under half of work-related road traffic accidents are reported to the Authority.
Unfortunately we have no information relating to the proportion of accidents involving vehicles being driven for work purposes. The road accident information that is published on our website is derived from Garda (police) accident report forms, known as C(T)68s. Unfortunately C(T)68s do not have a question relating to whether the purpose of the trip is work-related or not.
Statistician,
Safety Division,
National Roads Authority,
St. Martin's House,
Waterloo Road,
Dublin 4
Email: Ftrace@nra.ie
Phone: (01) 6602511 - ext 243
Fax: (01) 6680009
National Road Authority www.nra.ie http://www.nra.ie/full/blue/safety.html#12
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