Injured at work in Ireland: compensation, benefits and time limits

You have 2 years from the date of the accident, or from your date of knowledge if later, to bring a personal injuries claim against your employer (Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Act 1991, s. 3, as amended by s. 7 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004). A complete application to the Injuries Resolution Board stops that clock until 6 months after the Board releases the claim (Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003, s. 50). Serve a letter of claim on your employer promptly: s. 8 of the 2004 Act allowed 2 months as enacted and the period is now shorter, so aim for 1 month from the accident. Claim Occupational Injury Benefit as soon as you are certified unfit for work, as late claims can lose arrears. A non-fatal reportable accident must be reported by the employer to the Health and Safety Authority within 10 working days.

1. Report the accident inside the workplace the same day. Tell your supervisor or manager what happened, where, and how, and ask that it be recorded in the accident book or incident report system. Under s. 13(1)(h) of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 employees must report dangerous work practices and defects as soon as practicable, and a prompt report also protects your claim: an accident that was never recorded is much easier for an insurer to dispute. Ask for a copy of the incident report, or write your own account by email to your manager that day so there is a dated record. Note the names of colleagues who saw the accident or the conditions beforehand.
2. Get medical attention and tell the doctor it happened at work. Attend your GP or an emergency department promptly and describe the mechanism of injury precisely, for example "lifting a 20 kg box from floor level without a trolley". The first medical note is the starting point for every later report, and inconsistencies between what you told the doctor, your employer and the Board are routinely used against claimants. If you cannot work, get medical certificates covering the whole period. Keep receipts for prescriptions, physiotherapy, travel to appointments and any paid help at home; these are special damages and must be vouched with documents.
3. Make sure the accident is reported to the Health and Safety Authority. Under s. 8(2)(k) of the 2005 Act and the reporting rules in the General Application Regulations (as amended by S.I. No. 370/2016), the employer must report an accident to the HSA where an employee is unable to carry out normal work for more than 3 consecutive days, excluding the day of the accident. The report is made online on the HSA's IR1 form as soon as reasonably practicable and not later than 10 working days after the event. Ask your employer to confirm that it has been made. If it has not, you can contact the HSA yourself; s. 27 of the 2005 Act prohibits penalising an employee for raising a safety concern with the Authority.
4. Claim Occupational Injury Benefit. If you are an employee paying PRSI in insurable (occupational injuries) employment and you are unfit for work because of the accident, you can claim Injury Benefit from the Department of Social Protection. It is not paid for the first 3 days of incapacity (s. 74(2) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005) and is payable within the injury benefit period of 156 days, Sundays excluded, from the accident. Your employer completes part of the claim form to confirm the accident. If you are left with a lasting loss of faculty, Disablement Benefit may follow. Check the current weekly rates and claim form on gov.ie. Benefit received is taken into account against loss of earnings in any damages award (s. 96).
5. Secure the employer's safety documents. Workplace claims are usually won or lost on paper. Every employer must hold a written risk assessment (s. 19) and a safety statement (s. 20), and must provide training, including manual handling training, appropriate to the task. Ask in writing for copies of the incident report, the risk assessment and safety statement covering your task, your training records and any CCTV of the accident. A data access request under the GDPR obliges the employer to provide your own personal data, including reports about you, within one month. Photograph the equipment, floor, lighting or layout involved before anything is changed or repaired.
6. Send a letter of claim to your employer. A short letter by registered post or email, addressed to the employer's registered name and address, should state the date and place of the accident, what happened, why you hold the employer responsible (for example, no training, defective equipment, unsafe system of work) and that you intend to claim compensation. Section 8 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 lets the court draw adverse inferences and cut your costs if you fail to serve such notice in time without reasonable cause, so send it within 1 month of the accident. Keep proof of sending. The employer will normally pass it to its employer's liability insurer.
7. Apply to the Injuries Resolution Board. A claim by an employee against an employer for negligence or breach of duty in the course of employment is one of the claims that must go to the Board first (s. 3(a) of the 2003 Act); proceedings issued without the Board's authorisation will be struck out (s. 12). Apply online at injuries.ie with a medical report from your treating doctor, your PPS number and the employer's correct legal name and address. Only a complete, signed application stops the limitation clock. The Board then follows the procedure described in our guide to making a personal injury claim: consent, possible mediation, assessment under the Personal Injuries Guidelines, or release by authorisation.
8. If the claim goes to court, prepare for the liability fight. Where your employer rejects the Board process or an assessment, a solicitor issues a personal injuries summons. Expect the employer to deny liability and plead contributory negligence: that you ignored training, used equipment wrongly or failed to use protective equipment provided. You will swear a verifying affidavit confirming your particulars of injury and loss (s. 14 of the 2004 Act), and knowingly false or exaggerated evidence leads to dismissal of the whole claim (s. 26). Engineering evidence on the system of work, the employer's documents obtained by discovery and consistent medical evidence are usually decisive. Damages are reduced in proportion to your own share of fault under s. 34 of the Civil Liability Act 1961.

• Not reporting the accident at the time, or giving different accounts to your employer, doctor and the Board, is the most common reason workplace claims fail on liability or credibility.
• An incomplete Injuries Resolution Board application (no medical report, no PPS number, wrong employer name) does not stop the 2-year limitation period.
• Contributory negligence can cut an award substantially. In [2026] IEHC 287 a commis chef proved the employer gave no manual handling training and had no risk assessment, but was still held 35% to blame, reducing €45,000 general damages to €29,250.
• Injury Benefit and Disablement Benefit are deducted from loss of earnings in a damages award for up to 5 years (s. 96 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005), so do not count the same income twice when valuing a settlement.
• Exaggerating the injury or loss of earnings in an affidavit or in evidence can lead to the entire claim being dismissed under s. 26 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004, and employers' insurers frequently use surveillance.
• Self-employed people and contractors are generally not covered by Occupational Injury Benefit and may have to sue the principal contractor or site occupier instead of an employer; check your status early.
• Signing a settlement and discharge with the employer's insurer before your prognosis is clear ends the claim, even if the injury later turns out to be more serious.

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Last updated: 04/11/2026 · Sources: Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 (s. 8 employer's duties, s. 13 employee's duties, ss. 19–20 risk assessment and safety statement, s. 27 penalisation), Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003 (s. 3 employer's liability claims, s. 12 bar on proceedings, s. 50 limitation), Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 (s. 7 limitation, s. 8 letter of claim, s. 14 verifying affidavit, s. 26 false claims), Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Act 1991 (2-year period and date of knowledge), irishstatutebook.ie, EUR-Lex

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