Injury Compensation News

A girl, who tripped and fell in a hole due to the alleged negligence of an international construction company, has had her settlement of child trip and fall compensation approved at the Circuit Civil Court.

Kodie Geoghegan Dowdall (12) of Ballymun, Dublin was on her way to visit her aunt in December 2006, when she tripped and fell into a hole which had been dug by the construction company SIAC. Sustaining a cut to her head which has since developed into a permanent scar, Kodie made a child accident claim against the company through her mother.

Circuit Civil Court President, Mr Justice Matthew Deery, heard that SIAC Construction denied that they had been negligent but were willing to offer a settlement of 20,000 Euros in child trip and fall compensation. After hearing that the scar could be treated with excision and resuturing once Kodie turned eighteen, Mr Justice Matthew Deery approved the compensation settlement.

A teenage girl, who tripped on a faultily repaired step outside her home, has accepted an offer of slip, trip and fall compensation from Dublin City Council amounting to 32,300 Euros.

Sarah O´Mahony (18) was just nine years of age when the accident happened in October 2002 outside of her residence in Dublin. Walking up the concrete steps to her home, Sarah tripped on a poorly repaired stair and fell – hitting her central incisors on a higher step and forcing the teeth back into her gum.

At the Dublin Circuit Civil Court, Circuit Court President Mr Justice Matthew Deery heard that Sarah´s original claim for slip, trip and fall compensation had been adjourned in 2006 because of a need to obtain further dental reports; however now the Injuries Board Ireland had assessed her claim at 32,300 Euros and Dublin City Council was in agreement with the figure.

Mr Justice Matthew Deery heard from Sarah´s legal council that she was also prepared to accept the assessment of slip, trip and fall compensation, and the judge agreed that it was in her best interests to accept the offer.

A report published this week by the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) has revealed that absenteeism is costing the country 1.5 billion Euros each year in lost productivity.

The findings were based on a survey conducted in 2010 in which absenteeism levels in 2009 were examined across 635 companies employing a total of 110,000 people.  It was estimated in the report that 11 million working days were lost annually due to “unplanned” sick days although the report gave no indication of how many of these were due to accidents in the workplace and work illnesses.

Defining absenteeism as an “unscheduled disruption of the work process due to days lost as a result of sickness or any other cause not excused through statutory entitlements or company approval”, the report revealed that high-pressure rewards driven call centres recorded the highest absence rate (3.67%), while software companies had the lowest rates of absenteeism (1.56%). It also cited the main reason given for absence from work was minor illnesses.

However, the figures are much higher than those issued each year by the Health Safety Authority (HSA) in their annual “Summary of Workplace Injury” which, although a more accurate reflection of occupational health in Ireland (the IBEC conclusions were drawn by studying less than one half of one per cent of the workforce), are reliant on employers reporting work injury and illnesses of four or more days to the HSA.

The wide difference between the HSA figures and those estimated by IBEC could be due to an employer´s reluctance to report injuries and illness caused by their negligence. Although claims for injuries at work are declining in the farming and construction industries, those related to falls at work and repetitive strain injuries are on the increase, and if an employer reports injuries which are due to his breach of health and safety regulations, he could be inviting a visit from HSA investigators.

The publication of the report also coincides with a similar Health and Safety Executive release in the UK, which estimated that 560,000 employees in England and Wales took a total of 13.4 million days off last year due to stress in the workplace. Proportionately, it would appear that the situation is far worse in the Republic.

A young boy from Dublin, who received severe cuts when falling on broken glass in a laneway, has been awarded 20,000 Euros in compensation.
Christopher Connors of Rathfarnham, Dublin, had been playing soccer with his cousin in a laneway near his halting site home in October 2009, when he fell and lacerated his left arm on broken glass. He suffered deep cuts to his forearm and wrist in the accident, and a tear to his tendon had to be surgically repaired.
Judge Matthew Deery, sitting at the Circuit Civil Court, heard that a claim for personal injury compensation had been made against South Dublin County Council, who were responsible for keeping the halting site clean and safe.
The council had agreed with the Injuries Board Ireland’s assessment of damages amounting to 20,000 Euros, with a further 1,206 Euros in special damages, and the case was before Judge Deery for approval as Christopher is still under the age of eighteen.
Christopher has made a good recovery from the surgery, but may experience problems with his arm later in life. He also has major scarring on his forearm.

A female bus driver, who had to take early retirement due to slipping and falling on the bus company’s stairwell, has been awarded 553,000 Euros in personal injury compensation. Susan Conaty (52), of Arklow, County Wicklow, was taking a rest break from her driving duties at the Dublin Bus Donnybrook depot in December 2003, when she slipped walking up the stairwell which led to the canteen. She subsequently fell eight to ten steps and landed upside down – suffering severe personal injuries that were made worse by an existing back condition.
Mr Justice Iarhflaith O’Neill in the High Court heard that Ms Conaty had tried to return to work after the accident, but had to take early retirement in 2006 because of her injuries. Ms Conaty filed a claim for personal injury compensation against Dublin Bus because, she claimed, they had not provided her with a safe environment in which to work.
The court heard that Dublin Bus had permitted the unsafe practice of allowing drinks to be taken from the canteen, and that this had lead to liquid being spilt on the landing area which had a slippery vinyl surface. Mr Justice Iarhflaith O’Neill found that Dublin Bus had failed in its duty to provide Ms Conaty with a safe place in which to work and awarded damages of 553,000 Euros.

New statistics from the Injuries Board Ireland show women accounted for 72 per cent of the 1,443 personal liability awards in 2009 that were settled for the amount recommended by the Injuries Board Ireland.

However, when presenting the compensation award statistics, there is no explanation whatsoever regarding the cases that were not settled through the Injuries Board Ireland process but went to the High Court, where the awards can be significantly higher or were settled by negotiation with an insurance company.

The true statistics do not in fact exist, since the vast majority of injury compensation claims that go to court are settled privately.   Presenting a subset of the overall statistics without qualifying explanations is somewhat misleading.

The data only covers awards that were proposed by the Injuries Board Ireland and then accepted by both parties – and therefore does not include certain categories of injury compensation (cases where the defendant does not admit full liability, medical negligence claims, complicated cases – perhaps involving contributory negligence, defamation cases, phycological injuries like PTSD,  etc).

What the published statistics do not reveal the reasons why women represent such as high percentage of the settlements made by the Injuries Board Ireland.

Are women more likely to accept the Injuries Board Ireland recommendation whereas men are more likely to want a higher compensation amount? It seems highly likely that this is in fact the case.

It should be remembered that the statistics only represent a small subset of the injury compensation claims in Ireland because they are only award recommendations by the Injuries Board Ireland that have been accepted by both parties.

The category of personal injury known as “slips, trips, and falls” accounted for two thirds of all public liability awards. But perhaps this seemingly very high percentage is because they are precisely the type of small, straightforward personal injury claim that the Injuries Board Ireland is able to handle efficiently. The comparatively fast processing times for these types of simple claim is one of key benefits of the Injuries Board Ireland.

Just over half of the incidents occurred in privately owned buildings such as pubs or cinemas and just under a quarter of the awards were made against public authorities. However, the statistics might perhaps simply mean that public authorities are just more likely to accept the recommendations of the Injuries Board Ireland, whereas private building owners are more likely to defend compensation claims. The only way of determining the true percentage of claims against public authorities is additional statistical information.

The Injuries Board Ireland statistics show that 57 per cent of compensation claims were for amounts of less than €20,000.  However, this is certainly a self-serving statistic aimed at reducing the injury award expectations of the general public. In fact, the Injuries Board Ireland seems keen to promote its role in reducing the costs of injury compensation claims, stating that it is “delivering €100m in savings each year”.  If the figure is great, it is great news for insurance companies and also beneficial to the general public, but comes at the cost of victims receiving lower amounts of compensation.

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) of Ireland has published a new guide, Stop Slips and Trips – Get a Grip, for employers and employees to help reduce workplace injuries caused by simple slips, trips, and falls. Although this type of injury might initially seem very minor compared with industrial accidents involving heavy machinery, about one fifth of the workers injured from falls stay absent from work for over one month.
Injuries at work due to falls account for about half of all claims for injuries at work that are made by the Injuries Board Ireland.
As with all types of workplace injury prevention programs, the HSA recommends that employers should track all incidents, assess the risks, and concentrate on prevention.  The preventative measure for slips or trips are fairly obvious: placing safety signs in places where trips might occur like unexpected steps, providing protective equipment and appropriate shoes to staff that might regularly be exposed to the risky areas like loading bays, ensuring that there is sufficient lighting so hazards are visible, ensure workers can dry any wet shoes, deal with liquid spills immediately, and most obviously, ensuring there are no bumps and holes on the floor.

The HSA always highlights that workplace safety is a joint responsibility between workers and employers, with both groups responsible for ensuring that there are as few accidents as possible.  However, employers have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their workers.  Not just to prevent injury claims and because it’s a legal requirement, but because employers have a duty of care for their employees.