Unguarded machinery, loading bays, overloaded racking and busy aisles cause many factory and warehouse injuries. This page explains which safety rules apply and how a claim against your employer works.
A factory or warehouse accident claim is a personal injury claim against your employer where an unsafe machine, workplace or system of work caused your injury.
Most of the rules sit in Part 2 of the General Application Regulations 2007, which covers the workplace itself and the equipment used in it.
Typical accidents include a hand drawn into an unguarded roller or conveyor, a fall from a loading bay, stock falling from racking, and a collision with a lift truck in a shared aisle.
Lifting and carrying by hand falls under Chapter 4. See our page on manual handling and lifting injuries.
Your employer holds most of the evidence, so it should be asked for early.
Send a letter of claim to your employer within one month of the accident, as section 8 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 requires. We can send it for you.
Everything after the first item is claimed as "special damages" in addition to the injury award, so keep every payslip and receipt.
Contact us through our enquiry form, phone, or email. We’ll review your situation, answer your questions, and explain what to expect next. There’s no upfront fee to begin your claim.
Your case will be carefully reviewed by our legal team.
We assess the strength of your claim, advise on the documentation needed, and guide you through key steps such as attending an independent medical examination and preparing the information required for the Injuries Resolution Board (IRB).
Once you decide to move forward, we take care of everything. This includes gathering evidence, contacting the other party or their insurer, submitting your claim to the IRB, managing settlement discussions, and handling any court proceedings if needed.
Paul Kearney founded the practice and leads its personal injury work in Ireland. He is regulated by the Law Society of Ireland. Read Paul's profile.
We prepare your application to the Injuries Resolution Board, including the medical evidence, and advise you on any assessment before you decide whether to accept it.
You can meet us at any of our four offices, or deal with us by phone, email or video, wherever you live in Ireland.
There are no upfront fees. Before you go ahead, we set out in writing how legal costs work, as section 150 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 requires. No Win No Fee explained.
Your employer. Regulation 33 requires guards that are not easily removed or made inoperative, and section 8 of the 2005 Act requires safe systems of work.
If guards were routinely left off to meet production targets, that points to the way the work was managed, not to the person operating the machine.
A claim is possible where the racking was overloaded, damaged or badly stacked.
Section 8 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 requires your employer to provide and maintain a safe place of work and safe plant and equipment, so far as is reasonably practicable.
Photos of the racking and any earlier damage reports are useful evidence.
Section 8 of the 2005 Act applies an employer's safety duties to the temporary and fixed-term workers it uses.
The claim is often made against the business where you were placed, and sometimes against the agency as well. We work out who to name before the letter of claim goes out.
Tell your supervisor and make sure it goes in the accident book, however minor it seems.
Your employer must report it to the Health and Safety Authority if you are off for more than 3 consecutive days, not counting the day of the accident. A written record made at the time is valuable if the injury gets worse later.
You can still claim. If a court finds you were partly at fault, for example by reaching past a guard, compensation is reduced in proportion to your share under section 34 of the Civil Liability Act 1961.
The question is also whether your employer's training and supervision were adequate.
2 years from the date of the accident, or from the date you knew about the injury if that is later, under the Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Act 1991.
Time stops running while the Injuries Resolution Board has the claim, up to 6 months after it issues an authorisation.
Most workplace claims do. You apply with the application form, a medical report from the doctor who treated you and a fee of €45 online or €90 by post.
Your employer then has 90 days to agree to an assessment or to mediation. Read how the Injuries Resolution Board works.
We can't give a figure until we have the medical evidence.
The amount for the injury itself is set by the Personal Injuries Guidelines, adopted by the Judicial Council and in force since 24 April 2021. Lost earnings, treatment costs and travel are claimed in addition.
Workplace claims are run by Paul Kearney, who founded the firm and is regulated by the Law Society of Ireland, with trainee solicitor John Deeney. We have offices in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Letterkenny.
No. There are no upfront fees. Before you go ahead, we give you clear written terms explaining how legal costs work, as section 150 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 requires. Read No Win No Fee explained.
Regulated by the Law Society of Ireland
Kearney Law handles only personal injury and clinical negligence claims.
We act for clients across Ireland, including Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Letterkenny. See all the areas we cover.
Contact us to talk to a solicitor about your claim, or request a case review.
Email: [email protected]
Opening Hours:
Monday to Thursday 8am – 8pm
Friday 9am – 5pm
