40% drop in public liability claims in past four years
There has been a 40% drop in public liability claims between 2019 and 2023, the body which resolves personal injury claims has said.
The development follows the introduction of new guidelines in 2021 recommending lower awards for many injuries and new anti-fraud measures.
Close to half of all trip, slip and fall accidents occurred on roads and footpaths.
The Injuries Resolution Board published a report which examines public liability accidents between 2019 and 2023 and analysed 30,000 claims.
The most common cause of accidents are falls on the same level – accounting for 15,000 claims and €90m of compensation.
Pedestrian injuries due to unsafe walking environments resulted in over 6,000 claims between 2019 and 2023, the IRB said.
That outnumbered collisions with motor vehicles which resulted in 3,412 claims.
This shows the “significant personal and economic cost of unsafe walking environments”, the board said.
The leading cause of injuries was uneven footpaths, followed by potholes, broken footpaths, defective manhole covers and drains.
The IRB, formerly the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, says that more than half of claims related to roadways/footpaths, shops/stores and cafés/hotels/restaurants.
The board said the drop in claims is not only caused by the pandemic because the 40% fall has continued in 2024 according to preliminary figures.
There was a 22% fall in the value of public liability awards, excluding fatalities, from €20,000 to €26,000 between 2023 and 2020.
The only locations where public liability claims increased were in residential institutions where there was a 22% rise which has been attributed to fatalities in long term care during Covid-19.
There was also a 10% increase in assault claims in 2023 compared to 2022.
Three quarters of assault claims were made by males.
The most common location for an assault claim was a café, bar or a restaurant where the claimant frequently took action against the management for failing to provide sufficient security.
The board said there is a “relatively low” number of claims in childcare settings with 256 claims, while 177,000 children are enrolled in such services.
Public liability accidents related to falls are not experienced equally by all age groups, with older people more likely to sustain injuries of greater severity.
It says Dublin and Limerick show a disproportionate number of claims in comparison to populations.
Reacting to the report, the Alliance for Insurance Reform has criticised what it says is the increase in insurance company profits at a time when claims were falling.
It said businesses, sports and voluntary groups are currently facing crippling costs and called on the incoming government to take action on the issue.
Insurance Ireland’s CEO Moyagh Murdock said she welcomes the report and its insights.
She added that she is cautious about the period covered in the report because it overlapped with Covid-19 lockdowns when many businesses had restricted access.
The majority of claims still go through the courts as opposed to the IRB, she said.
IRB Head of Research and Policy Dr Lauren Swan said the report gives “a really comprehensive view of the full person injury claim landscape.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, she said that more respondents, insurers, businesses are opting into the IRB’s process.
Dr Swan said there has been no bounce back in 2024 that might have been expected after the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic was accounted for.
She said the pandemic had a “massive effect on business, on footfall, on reduced trading hours, and ultimately if you’ve less people in the business, then you’re going to have less accidents.
“That’s why the data from 2024 is really important, because it shows that we would have expected in 2024 to see some level of a bounce back if the reduction in claims was solely being driven by the Covid-19 pandemic. And we haven’t seen that.”
Article Source – 40% drop in public liability claims in past four years – RTE
