Accident at work: the employer's duty, the HSA and your evidence

An injury at work is a personal injury claim like any other in one respect: it goes to the Injuries Resolution Board first, within two years, with a medical report. It differs in another: the duties the employer owes are written down in an Act, the employer must keep records that bear on the accident, and the employer must report serious accidents to a State body. This guide sets out those duties, the evidence they generate, and how the claim then proceeds.

The first-week steps, the doctor, the accident book, the letter and the clock, are in the chapter 1 guide on the first steps after an injury at work. This guide goes further into the law and the records.

The employer's duties under the 2005 Act

The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 sets out the employer's general duties in section 8. The employer must, so far as is reasonably practicable, ensure the safety, health and welfare at work of its employees. The section lists what that includes:

• managing and conducting work activities so as to prevent improper conduct or behaviour likely to put employees at risk;
• providing and maintaining a safe place of work, with safe access and egress;
• providing and maintaining safe plant and machinery;
• providing safe systems of work;
• providing the information, instruction, training and supervision needed for safety;
• providing suitable protective clothing and equipment where risks cannot be eliminated;
• preparing and revising emergency plans;
• reporting accidents and dangerous occurrences to the Health and Safety Authority (HSA, see the glossary).

"Reasonably practicable" is the test. The Act does not make an employer answerable for every injury on its premises; it makes the employer answerable for failing to take the measures a reasonable employer would have taken against a risk it knew of or should have known of. A claim is about whether that standard was met, on the facts of the accident, and a court or the Board's assumption of liability does not decide it in advance.

Section 13 sets out the employee's duties alongside: to take reasonable care for your own safety, to cooperate with the employer, to use protective equipment provided, and not to be under the influence of an intoxicant at work. These matter in a claim because a respondent can argue contributory negligence, which reduces damages by the share of fault found against the claimant.

The safety statement

Section 20 requires every employer to prepare a written safety statement, based on the risk assessment section 19 requires, which identifies the hazards, assesses the risks, and sets out the protective measures and the people responsible for them. It must be brought to the attention of employees at least annually and when it changes.

For a claim, the safety statement is the employer's own account of what it knew. If the hazard that injured you is in it, the question becomes whether the stated measure was in place. If it is not in it, the question becomes whether it should have been. Either way the document is central, and you can ask for a copy; the employer is required to have made it available to you in any case.

The HSA report

The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2016 require an employer to report to the HSA any accident at work that prevents an employee from performing their normal work for more than three consecutive days, excluding the day of the accident. The report is made online through the HSA's system within a set time, and the HSA's reporting page explains it.

The report is the employer's duty, not yours, and failing to make it is an offence under the Act. For you, the report is a dated, contemporaneous record of the accident made by the employer to a State authority. You can ask the employer for a copy of what was reported. The HSA does not investigate every reported accident; it does investigate some, and an HSA investigation report, where one exists, is a document a solicitor would want.

The accident book and your own record

Most employers keep an accident report book or an incident form. Make sure the accident is entered in it on the day, read what is written, and ask for a copy. Where the entry is wrong or incomplete, say so in writing at the time rather than later.

Your own record sits beside it:

• the date, time and place, and what you were doing;
• what happened, in plain words, without a conclusion about fault;
• who saw it, with names and roles;
• what equipment, surface, lighting or system was involved, and photographs of it before it is changed;
• what you told the doctor and when.

The chapter 1 guide on the first steps after an injury at work has the full list, and the first-week checklist turns it into dated reminders.

CCTV and other records the employer holds

Where there is CCTV, ask in writing at once that the footage of the accident be preserved, and make a request for access to it. The GDPR gives you a right of access to personal data, which includes footage in which you appear; the Data Protection Commission's right of access page explains the request and the one-month response period. Many systems overwrite within weeks, which is why the preservation request goes first.

The same right covers the accident book entry, any incident investigation report, training records, equipment inspection records and the HSA report. A respondent's insurer will have all of these; a request puts them in front of you too.

The Board

A work injury claim is made to the Board on its form, with the Medical Assessment Form from your treating doctor and the identity documents the Board lists, within two years of the accident or the later date of knowledge. The respondent named is the employer; its insurer usually deals with the Board on its behalf. The guide on how the Board works sets out the process from the form to the Order to Pay.

The Board assesses on the assumption of full liability and with regard to the Guidelines. Its July to December 2025 report records that the median employer liability award rose 27% year on year, with about 1,200 employer liability claims assessed in the half-year; the figures page carries it with its date. Before the application, the one-month letter under section 8 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 goes to the employer; the letter builder drafts it.

The insurer, not the employer

An employer meets a claim through its employer's liability insurance. The policy exists for exactly this purpose, the insurer handles the Board's Formal Notice and any court proceedings, and the award or settlement is paid by the insurer. The chapter 6 guide on claiming against your employer sets out the protections, including section 27 of the 2005 Act, under which penalising an employee for making a complaint or a claim is unlawful, and the route through the Workplace Relations Commission where it happens.

Time off work is a separate matter from the claim. Injury Benefit of €254 a week in 2026 is paid by the Department of Social Protection from the fourth day for up to 26 weeks; the guide on Injury Benefit and Disablement Benefit explains it, and the amount paid is later listed as a recoverable benefit in the Notice of Assessment. EmploymentWise covers your rights at work: dismissal, sick pay and the WRC.

Where this leaves you

The 2005 Act writes the employer's duties down, the safety statement and the HSA report put the employer's own account on paper, and the GDPR lets you read the records. A claim then goes to the Board within two years with a medical report, and the employer's insurer answers it. The first-week checklist builds the dated list of what to ask for and when, starting with the accident book and the CCTV.