Industrial environment maintenance experts SP Group has reacted to figures showing 47 deaths in Ireland industries in 2013 which cost millions in fines for those responsible.

The figures, which were recently released in the Annual Report for 2013 from the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), showed a total of 28 individual occurrences where serious breaches of health and safety resulted in heavy prosecutions taking place, with imposed fines totalling €2.1m.

Figures show 47 deaths in the workplace for 2013, one less than the previous year but not a true indication that such incidents were falling significantly. Sectors that posed the biggest risk and hazards were Construction, Fishing and Agricultural, which are often the primary contributors to workplace accidents and classed as dangerous environments with many risks and hazardous factors associated with them.

However, there was a notable decline in the recorded number of total accidents in the workplace, down from 6,804 in 2012 to 6,598 in 2013. These accidents caused non-fatal injuries, with slips, trips and falls accountable for 18% and incorrect manual handling as the cause of 33% of recorded injuries.

Antrim based provider of industrial and commercial property maintenance products, SP Group, often react to industry news, research and studies. A company spokesperson believes the drop in non-fatal accidents in workplaces is encouraging but more education and awareness could see the number of deaths in such industries fall even further:

“As hopeful as the news is that accident numbers are dropping within the workplace, we believe that more can be done within Ireland’s most hazardous sectors to lessen the number of fatal incidents, even if they resulted from actions that were not caused by poorly maintained surfaces or lack of identified warnings.

“The services we provide ensure businesses easily identify critical areas of their working environment, taking care to best educate them on what products we can supply to minimise non-fatal occurrences.”

Adding that the 47 recorded deaths last year in Ireland resulted in the 28 listed accounts of serious H&S breaches, one would have to question whether better environment maintenance would have resulted in lower death figures.

SP Group actively assist in raising awareness to companies and business owners to ensure all aspects of their operations are correctly maintained, whether in relation to machinery or work premises to further lessen trips, slips and falls that result in loss of productivity and of course worse cases, where fatalities occur. For further details on the range of products available from SP Group, visit their website at http://s-pgroup.ie today.