Deaths in the workplace have risen 40 per cent in the first four months of the year.
The statistics from the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) today coincide with the publication of a study showing stress levels in the workplace are on the increase including among those who work from home.
HSA chief executive Tom Beegan expressed "deep concern" about the death of 23 people in work-related accidents in the first quarter making it one of the worst starts to a year this decade.
Speaking on World Health and Safety Day, Mr Beegan said: " I am very concerned that the lessons have not been learned and that people are dying needlessly simply because proper measures have not been taken to ensure workplace safety."
The figures show construction and agriculture remain the most dangerous sectors to work in. Nine people have been killed in construction - up seven on 2004. Seven people have died in the agriculture sector - up four compared to last year.
The figures emerge just days after a Co Clare farmer was convicted after failing to comply with enforcement notices served by the HSA. Mr Beegan said the court's ruling should serve as a warning to errant employers.
Meanwhile, the Equality Authority has said stress levels in the workplace could be dramatically reduced if workers felt they were being treated fairly by their employer.
With half of all employees working in increasingly pressurised environments, the authority claimed job satisfaction would improve if all staff believed they were on a level footing when it came to promotion, pay and rights.
Chief executive Niall Crowley called for company's to adopt formal policies rather than "ad hoc, informal and reactive approaches to workplace equality."
But Tony Briscoe, assistant director of IBEC, claimed stress was not always dangerous. "We need good communications, and good training to tackle stress. We need to ask if it is a negative thing or is it likely to cause harm. No two people will deal with it the same," Mr Briscoe said.
He noted ESRI found four-out-of-10 workers in Ireland do not have enough time to get their work done. And according to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions 90 per cent of voluntary sector workers considered their job to be stressful, while 88 per cent of teachers and 82 per cent of health service workers reported high levels of stress.
But the IBEC director claimed stress could be effective so long as it was not constant.
The report, Equality at Work - Workplace Equality Policies, Flexible Working Arrangements and the Quality of Work, found:
- Staff believe recruitment, pay, conditions, promotion opportunities are fair and equal when formal equality policies are in place
- Stress is reduced when formal equality policies are adopted
- Job satisfaction and organisational commitment rises with good equality strategies
But the study of 5,000 workers warned that flexible working arrangements were not a cure-all for stress - part-time work and flexitime may ease work pressures but working from home increases stress levels, the report found.
The report authored by Philip O'Connell and Helen Russell found employees who work from home experience significantly higher levels of stress and greater work pressure compared to workers with similar jobs and working conditions who do not work at home.
Dr Philip O'Connell, of the ESRI, claimed: "This report provides the evidence that promoting equality through workplace employment equality policies entails wide ranging benefits for both employers and employees.
"As such it makes the business and social case for equality."