A report into the aging workforce in Ireland has found that workplace fatalities among older workers have decreased across all sectors of the economy since 2004 – except in agriculture, where older workers are 31 times more likely to die in the workplace than in other sectors.
The report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) – entitled ‘The ageing workforce in Ireland: Working conditions, health and extending working lives’ – noted that older workers were over-represented in the agriculture sector, and that fatality rates in the sector remain higher than in other parts of the economy.
The report suggests that there may be a need at a policy level to target safety information and interventions to high-risk areas of the economy, citing agriculture in particular.
Data source: HSA
As the bar chart above demonstrates, the report highlights that the highest number of workplace fatalities “by far” is in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector, which accounted for 45% of all deaths between 2004 and 2017.
Furthermore, the proportion of people over the age of 64 who have died in agriculture is considerably higher than in other sectors. In that 2004-2017 period, 36% of victims were in that age group.
The wholesale and retail sector had the second-highest proportion of fatalities in this age group – much lower at 10%, as shown in the chart below:
Data source: HSA
Causes of fatalities
The report outlines two types of incident that could result in a workplace fatality: A fall, break or collapse of a material agent (such as a tool and/or object) – for example, an object falling on a victim; and the loss of control of a machine, a vehicle, a tool, equipment or an animal – for example, a farmer loosing control of a tractor.
60% of workplace deaths in the agriculture sector are caused by the latter category of incident. This is consistent with other sectors of the economy, where older workers are generally more likely to experience a loss of control of a vehicle or other type of equipment.
The report said that the statistics show that there is a “continued need to focus efforts” to prevent fatal injuries to older workers.