Personal injury solicitors in Ireland may have noticed a decrease in the number of people making claims for a personal injury at work last year.
According to Injuriesboard.ie, personal injury compensation awards totalling nearly €210 million was paid out last year to 9,833 personal injury claimants. The largest award was for €829,444, the highest ever.
Although the number of successful personal injury claims increased 17% year-on-year, the average pay-out decreased by 3.8% to €21,339.
Patricia Byron, the chief executive of Injuriesboard.ie, said fewer work-related claims were processed in 2011 and reduced salaries meant that claimants incurred lower earnings losses.
She went on to explain that injuries in the workplace were driven by the construction sector. Construction workers were more likely to suffer complex, high value injuries than workers in other sectors. Decreased employment and downward pressure on salaries due to turbulent economic conditions has fed into lower personal injury claims, she added.
More then 75% of the personal injury compensation awards in Ireland last year were for road traffic injuries. Injuries in the workplace accounted for 8.4% of awards and public injuries for the remaining 15.1%.
It’s a mixed bag of news. It’s good to see that fewer people are being injured at work, but is that simply a reflection of a high unemployment rate? But with accidents on the road contributing to more than 75% of Irish personal injury awards, motorists will have to be prepared to carry on paying high premiums for their car insurance.