Repetitive strain, hearing loss and work stress claims

Not every work injury happens on a day. A wrist that gives out after years at a keyboard or a production line, hearing that fades after years beside a machine, a mind that stops coping after months of a job that was set up to break it: these are personal injuries too, and the law treats them the same way, with one difference that matters more than any other. The clock starts from the date of knowledge, not from an accident, because there was no accident. This guide sets out that clock, the Guidelines' brackets for these injuries, the threshold the courts set for stress, and the Board's role.

The date of knowledge

Section 3 of the Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Act 1991 allows two years from the date the cause of action accrued or, if later, the date of knowledge. Section 2 defines that date as the first day you knew:

• that you had been injured;
• that the injury was significant;
• that it was attributable in whole or in part to the act or omission alleged against the employer;
• the identity of the employer.

Knowledge includes what you could reasonably have found out, including with medical or other expert advice that it was reasonable to seek. So the date of knowledge for a gradual injury is usually the date of diagnosis, when a doctor named the condition and connected it to the work, but it can be earlier where the connection was plain and a doctor was not consulted.

The practical rule is that the two years run from the diagnosis unless there is a reason to think you knew before. The time-limit checker takes the date of knowledge as its starting point, and the guide on the two years and the date of knowledge explains the section 2 facts with examples. The one-month letter under section 8 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 runs from the same date.

Repetitive strain and upper-limb disorders

The Guidelines have a section for "other upper limb disorders", covering tenosynovitis, De Quervain's tenosynovitis, tenovaginitis stenosans, carpal tunnel syndrome and epicondylitis. Its considerations include whether the condition is one-sided or bilateral, the severity and duration of the symptoms, the treatment, the impact on work and leisure, the ability to avoid recurrence, and the prognosis. The brackets, at the 2021 figures:

A separate section covers vibration white finger and hand arm vibration syndrome, caused by vibrating tools, from €1,000 to €5,000 for occasional symptoms in a few fingers up to €25,000 to €45,000 for persisting symptoms in both hands that interfere significantly with daily life.

Each is the Guidelines' bracket for an injury described like this, for general damages only; vouched loss of earnings and treatment are added. The injury checker shows the sections in full and the guide on the head, shoulder, wrist, knee and ankle brackets covers the neighbouring orthopaedic sections.

The duty in a repetitive strain claim is the employer's duty under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and the General Application Regulations on display screen equipment and manual handling: a workstation assessment, breaks, training, equipment adjusted to the worker. The Health and Safety Authority (HSA, see the glossary) publishes guidance on each, and whether the employer followed it is usually the centre of the case.

Hearing loss

Noise-induced hearing loss is the oldest of the gradual work injuries and the one the courts have dealt with most. The Guidelines' deafness section notes, among its considerations, whether the injury occurred over time as with noise exposure, its effect on speech and balance, whether technology or treatment helps, and whether tinnitus accompanies it and how severe it is. The brackets, at the 2021 figures:

The partial hearing loss brackets depend, as the Guidelines say, on the severity of the hearing loss. That is measured by an audiogram, and the Board or a court will place the injury in a bracket on the audiological evidence, allowing for the hearing loss that comes with age. The employer's duty is under the 2005 Act and the noise regulations: assessment of noise levels, hearing protection, and health surveillance where the levels require it. Records of noise assessments and of hearing tests the employer arranged are documents to ask for, and the GDPR right of access covers your own test results.

The date of knowledge for hearing loss is often the first audiogram that shows a noise-induced pattern, or the first occasion a doctor connected the loss to the work. Hearing loss noticed years earlier and not investigated can bring the date forward, which is why the question is worth a solicitor's attention early.

Occupational stress

A claim for stress at work is a personal injury claim, but the courts have set a threshold for it that does not apply to a broken wrist. In the Berber and Hatton line of authority, which Irish courts follow, the courts require:

• a recognised psychiatric injury, diagnosed by a doctor, rather than stress, distress or upset in the ordinary sense; and
• that the injury was reasonably foreseeable to the employer, which usually means the employer knew, or should have known, that this employee was at risk of psychiatric harm from the work and did not take reasonable steps.

Foreseeability is where most stress claims are decided. An employer may generally assume an employee can withstand the normal pressures of the job unless it knows of a particular vulnerability or a particular problem, so what was said to the employer, when, and what the employer did in response are the facts that matter. A complaint made in writing, a doctor's note, a return-to-work meeting: each is evidence that the employer knew.

Where the threshold is met, the Guidelines' psychiatric damage section applies: minor €500 to €15,000, moderate €15,000 to €40,000, serious €40,000 to €80,000, severe €80,000 to €170,000, at the 2021 figures, with a separate section for post-traumatic stress disorder. The guide on psychiatric injury and PTSD brackets explains the considerations. Since the 2022 Act commenced in 2023 the Board can assess a claim for psychological injury alone, and 15% of its 2025 awards involved a psychological injury; the figures page carries that figure.

Bullying, harassment and the way a grievance was handled are matters for the Workplace Relations Commission under employment law, and may be the right route where there is no diagnosed injury or where what is wanted is a remedy at work rather than damages. EmploymentWise covers your rights at work: dismissal, sick pay and the WRC.

The Board

All three kinds of claim go to the Injuries Resolution Board first, under section 12 of the 2003 Act, on the Board's form with a Medical Assessment Form from the treating doctor and the identity documents the Board lists. For a gradual injury the medical report carries more weight than usual, because it is the document that dates the injury, names it and connects it to the work. The guide on the Medical Assessment Form explains what the doctor records.

The Board assesses on the assumption of full liability and with regard to the Guidelines; the respondent, through its employer's liability insurer, may decline to consent where it means to contest the connection between the condition and the work, in which case an Authorisation issues and the question goes to a court. The guide on the employer's duty, the HSA and your evidence sets out the records that bear on that question, and the guide on claiming against your employer sets out the protection in section 27 of the 2005 Act against being penalised for making a claim.

Where this leaves you

A gradual injury has a clock like any other, but it starts from the date of knowledge, which is usually the diagnosis and can be earlier. The Guidelines bracket upper-limb disorders, hearing loss and psychiatric injury by severity and recovery, the courts require a diagnosed injury and foreseeability for stress, and the Board assesses all three. The time-limit checker takes the date of knowledge and gives the last safe day and the date for the one-month letter.