Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698136225461.pdf (Ireland)
54023001296554 AN BILLE LEASU SHOISIALAIGH (DIOBHALACHA CEIRDE), 1965 SOCIAL WELFARE (OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES) BILL, 1965 EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 1.

The object of the Bill is to introduce a system of Occupational Injuries Insurance in substitution for the Workmen’s Compensa­ tion Scheme in respect of accidents happening after the new system comes into force.
This is being done by extending the existing State Social Insurance Scheme to include provision for compensa­ tion for disablement or loss of life following occupational injury.

2.

Persons Covered : The new scheme, which will come into operation on a day to be appointed under section 1 of the Bill, will apply compulsorily to persons now covered by the Workmen’s Compensation Acts and some not at present covered by those Acts.
Under sections 2 and 3 it will cover all persons who are com­ pulsorily insurable under the Social Welfare Acts (including non- manual workers with a remuneration of up to £1,200 a year) with certain specified exceptions.

In addition certain classes not now insurable under the Social Welfare Acts will become insurable for Occupational Injuries purposes only, e.g.

persons under age 16 or over age 70.


Provision is made to enable coverage to be extended by regulation to persons who are members or trainee members of fire brigades or other rescue parties, whether under contract of service or not, and to persons whose employment is not insurable under the Social Welfare Acts because it is deemed by regulations to be a subsidiary employment or employment of inconsiderable extent.
Power is also taken to exclude by regulation any specified employment under a local or other public authority and to include or exclude any employment for the purpose of removing an anomaly in the operation of the scheme.

3.

Conditions for benefit: There will be no contribution con­ ditions for benefit, which, as heretofore, will be payable in respect of an accident “ arising out of and in the course of employment ”.
This general condition is however being liberalised and provision is now made (section 4) that an accident arising in the course of employment shall be deemed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, also to have arisen out of the employment.
In addition : (а) an accident happening to a workman in the course of employment which is caused by another person’s mis­ conduct, skylarking or negligence, by an animal, or by the workman’s being struck by any object or by lightning will be treated as arising out of the employ­ ment if the workman in no way contributed to the accident; (б) a workman meeting with an accident on a journey to or from work while using a vehicle provided by his employer will not be required, as under the Workmen’s Compensation Acts, to show that there was a con­ tractual obligation to use the vehicle; (c) as well as covering fire brigades and other rescue parties there will be protection for individual workmen meeting with accidents at their places of employment whilst taking steps to rescue or protect persons or property; (d) an accident happening to an apprentice while he is in attendance at a Technical School or other place for training or instruction will, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, be deemed to arise out of and in the course of his employment; (e) a workman will not be disqualified for benefit because he is at the time of the accident acting in contravention of regulations applicable to his employment or of his employer’s orders or without instructions, if the act is done for the purposes of and in connection with the employer’s business and would otherwise be covered.
This provision is not, as in the existing Workmen’s Compensation Acts, limited to cases where the injury results in death or serious and permanent disablement.

(The existing Acts also limit payment of compensation to cases involving death or serious and permanent dis­ ablement where an accident is due to a workman’s serious and wilful misconduct.

No such limitation is proposed in this Bill).


Provision is made in section 5 under which benefit may be paid to an injured person even if his contract of employment is void because of some statutory provision for the protection of employed persons.

4.
4.

As a general rule benefit will not be payable for an accident happening outside the State (section 6) but this may, by virtue of provisions in the Social Welfare Acts, be modified by regulation in relation to persons employed on ships and aircraft and persons ordinarily resident here but temporarily employed abroad by an Irish employer, or under reciprocal arrangements with other countries.

5.
5.

Benefits: Particulars of the occupational injuries benefits to be provided, which will, under the provisions of section 7, be treated as benefits provided under the Social Welfare Act, 1952, are given in the following paragraphs.

6.

Injury Benefit: Section 8 provides that injury benefit will be a weekly payment in respect of incapacity for work and may be paid from the day of the accident for up to twenty-six weeks.
The standard weekly rate of benefit will be 115/- but a reduced rate (77/6) will be paid in the case of a married woman (other than a married woman living apart from and unable to obtain any financial assistance from her husband or a married woman with a dependant) and a person under the age of 18 without a dependant.

Injury benefit will not be paid for the first three days of incapacity unless the incapacity lasts for not less than 12 days (excluding Sundays).
Increases will be payable in respect of adult dependants and child dependants under the same conditions and at the same rates as will apply in relation to disability benefit and unemploy­ ment benefit under the Social Welfare Acts from January 1966, i.e.

40/- for an adult dependant, 13/- for each of the first two qualified children and 8/- for each other qualified child.
A special concession enables payment to be made for children between 16 and 18 years of age if they are at school or serving an apprentice­ ship or are invalids.

(Provision for these increases is made in sections 10 and 11 of the Bill).

7.

Disablement Benefit: Provision is made in section 9 for the payment of disablement benefit, which is not related to incapacity for work, but requires only loss of physical or mental faculty 2 (including disfigurement) i.e.
impairment of the power to enjoy a normal life.

The benefit will be payable from the fourth day following the accident if the insured person is not rendered incap­ able of work by the accident but otherwise it will not be paid until injury benefit is exhausted.

Where the insured person becomes capable of work again in less than 26 weeks and is then awarded disablement benefit he will not be entitled to claim further injury benefit in the 26 week period.
Disablement benefit will take the form of a pension or a gratuity depending on the degree at which the person’s disablement is assessed.

A pension will be payable in respect of disablement assessed at 20% or higher, while a lump-sum gratuity will be paid in respect of a disablement of less than 20%.

The maximum rate of pension will correspond to the standard rate of injury benefit, viz.

115/- a week, with a reduced maximum of 77/6d.


in the case of certain married women and persons under 18 without dependants.

The rate of pension payable where disable­ ment is less than 100% will be proportionate to the degree of dis­ ablement.

A pension of 23/- will be payable to a man with 20% disablement.

Assessment may be for life or a more limited period and assessments may be reviewed where necessary.
The amount of a gratuity will be determined by reference to the expected duration and the degree of the disablement, subject to a maximum payment of £380.

No benefit will be payable for disablement of less than 1%.

In assessing the extent of a person’s disablement, account will be taken of his condition resulting from the disabilities suffered as a result of the accident as compared with the condition of a person of the same age and sex in normal health.
Provision is made for further defining by regulations the principles on which the extent of disablement will be assessed and for prescribing a degree of disablement for a particular loss of faculty.

Disablement benefit will be payable even if the insured person resumes work and, since it is related solely to loss of faculty, may be paid con­ currently writh other social welfare payments.

8.
8.

Provision is made in sections 12 to 14 for the payment of certain additional allowances to a recipient of disablement benefit wrho is virtually unemployable, requires constant attendance for his personal needs, or is receiving hospital treatment.
A person in receipt of disablement benefit may qualify, in the circumstances stated, for additional allowances as follows:— (i) Unemployability Supplement: Provision is made in section 12 for the payment of unemployability supple­ ment to a recipient of disablement benefit who as a result of his loss of faculty is regarded as permanently incapable of work or of earning more than £104 a year.
The supplement is, in effect, a substitute for disability benefit under the Social Welfare Acts for persons who do not qualify for that benefit or who would qualify for payment only at a reduced rate.

The supplement will be paid at the rate of 52/6d.


a week (40/- a week in the case of certain married vromen and persons under 18 without dependants) being the maximum rate of disability benefit which will be payable from January, 1966, wdth allowances for adult and child dependants as in the case of injury benefit.
(ii) Constant Attendance Allowance : It is provided in section 13 that an allowance of up to 40/- a week (or 80/- a week in extreme cases) will be payable to a person with a 100% assessment of disablement if, as a result of the loss of faculty, he is in need of constant attendance for his personal needs.

The amount of the allowance will be determined under regulations having regard to the nature and extent of the attendance required.
The attendance need not be paid attendance and a person could qualify for an allowance in respect of attendance 8 given by his wife or other member of his family.

The allowance would not be payable for any period during which the beneficiary is in hospital undergoing treat­ ment.
(iii) Hospital Treatment Allowance : Section 14 provides that where a person is awarded disablement benefit in respect of a disablement assessment of less than 100%, the assessment will be increased to 100% for any period during which he is receiving approved hospital treatment for his injury.

Allowances for adult and child dependants will under sections 10 and 11 also be payable for any such period.

9.
9.

Successive Accidents : Provision is made in section 15 that where a person suffers two or more accidents as a result of each of which he would be entitled to benefit, his combined rates of injury and disablement benefits or of disablement benefits will be limited to the maximum rate payable for a single accident.
Pro­ vision is also made in this section whereby days of incapacity aris­ ing from successive accidents not separated by more than thirteen weeks will be combined for the purpose of the rule that injury benefit is not payable for the first three days of incapacity unless there are twelve such days.

10.
10.

Death Benefit: The benefits payable on death are as follows:— i(i) Widows : It is provided in section 17 that the widow of an insured person who dies as the result of an occupa­ tional accident shall be entitled to a pension at the rate of 95/- a week for life or until re-marriage, if at the date of his death she was either living with him or was, or would but for the accident have been, wholly or mainly dependent on him.
Allowances for child depen­ dants will, under the provisions of section 19, be paid with the widow’s pension at the same rates as under the existing Social Insurance Scheme i.e.

13/- for each of the first two qualified children and 8/- for each other qualified child.

(ii) Widowers: Provision is made in section 18 for the pay­ ment of death benefit to the widower of a woman who dies as a result of an occupational accident if he was being wholly or mainly maintained by her.
Benefit for a widower in respect of his wife’s death will be in the form of a weekly pension of 95/- for life if he is permanently incapable of self-support by reason of some physical or mental infirmity, or a gratuity of £247, being the equivalent of one year’s pension, if he is not so incapable.

Allowances for child dependants will be paid with a widower’s pension as in the case of a widow’s pension.
(iii) Parents: Provision is made in section 20 for the payment of death benefit by way of a pension at a rate of 24/- a week to a parent, step-parent or parent by adoption, of the deceased.

The pension will be payable for life or in the case of the mother, being a widow or un­ married at the deceased’s death, until she remarries or marries.

To qualify for pension the parent must have been wholly or mainly dependent on the deceased for his or her maintenance at the time of the death.
Where both parents qualify, two pensions may be paid.

(iv) Orphans: Section 21 provides for the payment of death benefit, by way of a pension of 47/6d.

a week, in respect of an orphan who is a child or step-child of an insured 4 person who dies as a result of an occupational injury, or an orphan who was wholly or mainly maintained by such an insured person at the date of his death.
An orphan means a child under the age of 16 (or 18 in certain cases) both of whose parents are dead or, being an illegitimate child, whose mother is dead and whose father is unknown.

The pension will usually be payable to the guardian of the orphan, but it may be paid to some other person for the benefit of the orphan.

(v) Funeral Grant : Provision is made in section 22 for the payment of a funeral grant of up to £50 in respect of the death of an insured person as a result of an occupational injury.
The grant will be payable to the personal representative of the deceased, or to such person as appears to be beneficially entitled thereto, including any person entitled to be paid or repaid the funeral expenses.

11.
11.

Occupational Diseases : Provision is made in section 23 for the extension of the scheme to diseases and personal injury not caused by accident so as to make the benefits under the scheme available to an insured person who contracts a prescribed disease or who suffers a prescribed personal injury not caused by accident, being a disease or injury due to the nature of the person’s employ­ ment.

12.
12.

Benefits to be provided for persons entitled to compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Acts : The Workmen’s Com­ pensation Acts will continue to apply in relation to accidents which occurred and diseases which were contracted before the appointed day, and compensation will continue to be payable by employers in relation to such accidents and diseases.

The rates of Workmen’s Compensation were last increased in 1955, when the maximum weekly payment was fixed at £4 10s Od.
Regulations to be made under section 24 will, however, enable recipients of Workmen’s Compensation who are permanently incapable of work or of earn­ ing more than £104 a year to receive from the Occupational Injuries Fund a supplement of 52/6d.

a week (or 40/- in the case of certain married women and persons under 18 without dependants) with additions for adult and child dependants where appropriate.
Recipients of Workmen’s Compensation who are 100% disabled will under regulations also have a like right to a constant attendance allowance of up to £2 a week, or £4 in exceptional cases, as recipients of disablement benefit under this scheme.
These supplements will be paid from the commencement of the scheme to eligible persons who are entitled to weekly payments of Work­ men’s Compensation on or after 1st October, 1965, and will be continued should these weekly payments be subsequently commuted into a lump-sum payment.
(It is also intended to amend the regu­ lations for payment of disability benefit to persons in receipt of weekly payments under the Workmen’s Compensation Acts so that concurrent payment of both benefits at full rates will be possible, in cases where the above-mentioned supplement is not payable.

At present disability benefit is not payable with Workmen’s Compensa­ tion except to the extent that such benefit would exceed the weekly compensation.
The change will be made under the general pro­ visions of the Social Welfare Acts but the matter is considered appropriate for mention here.

Arrangements for reimbursement of the Social Insurance Fund from the Occupational Injuries Fund will be made.)

13.
13.

Limitation on benefit by reference to pre-accident earnings : Provision is made in section 25 of the Bill to reduce injury benefit and disablement pension, including any increases thereof, to the amount of pre-accident earnings, earnings being calculated as at the time of the accident.

The earnings to be taken into account 5 will be those receivable for full-time employment in a normal working week in the employment in which the accident occurred, overtime earnings being ignored.
No reduction will be made in the lump-sum payments which are being provided where disable­ ment is less than 20% and a minimum payment (corresponding to the rate of disablement pension payable for disablement of 20%) will be made where injury benefit or disablement pension is reduced because of pre-accident earnings.
Provision is also made so that, in the case of disablement pension, benefit reduced because of pre­ accident earnings may be increased in the light of wage increases subsequently granted in the relevant employment or the reasonable prospects of an apprentice or other person not then receiving the full adult wage of attaining such a wage.
Provision is also made for reduction of benefits under the scheme where the pre-accident earnings are less than the sum of the bene­ fits payable under the scheme together with disability benefit, unemployment benefit, unemployment assistance, or weekly pay­ ments under the Workman’s Compensation Acts.

14.
14.

Cost of Medical Care : Under the Workmen’s Compensation Acts the only payment provided in respect of the medical expenses of an injured workman is a sum of up to £5 which a Court may direct an employer to pay in addition to the compensation for which he is liable.
Under the new scheme it is provided (section 26) that the reasonable and necessary cost of medical care incurred by a workman as a result of an occupational injury or disease will be met from the Occupational Injuries Fund to the extent to which such cost is not met under the Health Acts, or the Mental Treatment Acts, or by way of treatment benefit under the Social Welfare Acts, which at present comprises dental benefit, optical benefit and contributions towards hearing aids and contact lenses.
Injured workmen, as insured persons, will be eligible for the services pro­ vided for them under the Health Acts and Mental Treatment Acts.

In a case where an injured workman may avail himself of those services or treatment benefit under the Social Welfare Acts but does not do so, the cost of medical care payable will be limited to that which would be payable if he had availed himself of such ser­ vices or benefit.
The amount to be paid for any care to which the Health or Mental Treatment Acts are not applicable, for example, general practitioner care and medicines or appliances supplied outside hospital, will be such sum as is, in the opinion of the Mini­ ster for Social Welfare, reasonable, having regard to the need for such care and the customary charge therefor.
Provision is also made for the giving of notice within a prescribed period by an injured person, or someone acting on his behalf, of the care required, and for the medical examination of insured persons, where necessary, to determine whether the medical care is neces­ sary as a result of the occupational injury or disease and whether the cost thereof is reasonable.

15.
15.

Administration : The proposed scheme will be administered by the Department of Social Welfare by adaptation and extension of its existing machinery for the determination of claims to Social Welfare benefits.

Claims for benefit will require to be supported by confirmatory evidence as to the circumstances of the accident or disease, and where the benefit is related to incapacity for work, periodic medical evidence will be required as in the case of dis­ ability benefit uncler the Social Welfare Acts.
Title to benefit will be determined by Deciding Officers of the Department, who will have the advice of the Department’s Medical Referees and, where neces­ sary, of specialists, in regard to medical questions.

A right of appeal will lie against the decision of a Deciding Officer except in regard to disablement benefit decisions based on provisional assess­ ments covering periods of not more than two years.

Appeals will be decided by Appeals Officers who may seek further medical or specialist advice.
The decision of an Appeals Officer in relation to 6 a claim for benefit will, as in the case of existing Social Welfare benefits, be final and conclusive subject to review in the light of new evidence.

Questions of insurability will be determined in accordance with the existing arrangements for dealing with such questions under the Social Welfare Acts.
Under these arrange­ ments an appeal against a Deciding Officer’s decision may be made to an Appeals Officer with a further right of appeal to the High Court on a question of law.

16.

Provision is made in sections 27 and 28 under which workers will be required to give notice to their employer of any accident in respect of which benefit or the cost of medical care may be pay­ able, and the employer will be obliged to report accidents and furnish information required in connection with claims.
Section 29 provides that an injured workman who is not immediately incapacitated or disabled may seek a declaration that the accident arose out of and in the course of insurable employment so that in Hhe event of his becoming incapacitated or disabled in the future as a result of that accident his right to benefit will be secured.

17.
17.

Injury benefit will, like disability benefit under the present Social Welfare Acts, be paid for periods of less than a week, the amount payable for any day of incapacity being one-sixth of the weekly rate.

Payments of disablement pension and death benefit by way of pension will, however, like payments of old age, widows’ and orphans’ pensions at present, be limited to weekly payments and provision is made in section 30 for amendment of the Social Welfare Acts accordingly.

18.
18.

It is proposed that, in like manner to the conditions for receipt of disability benefit under the Social Welfare Acts, a person entitled to injury benefit or disablement benefit may under regulations be disqualified for receipt of injury benefit or disable­ ment benefit for a period of up to six weeks if he fails without good cause to attend for or to submit himself to such medical or other examination or treatment as may be required or to observe prescribed rules of behaviour.
Provision is made accordingly in section 31 of the Bill.

19.

Rehabilitation of workmen: Arrangements are envisaged for enabling persons entitled to benefit to take advantage of rehabilita­ tion services and in this connection provision is made in section 34 whereby the Minister for Social Welfare may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, make contributions from the Occupational Injuries Fund towards the cost of providing such services for injured workmen.
In addition, recipients of disable­ ment benefit undergoing rehabilitative treatment as in-patients will be eligible to receive disablement pension at full rate, with increases for dependants where appropriate.

20.
20.

Accident Prevention : It is provided in section 35 that the Minister will be empowered to promote research directly or in­ directly into the incidence and causes of and methods of prevention of accidents, injuries and diseases, and to pay the cost of such research from the Occupational Injuries Fund.

21.
21.

Method of Financing: This scheme applies only to accidents arising on or after the appointed day and includes long-term benefits by way of disablement pensions and supplements and survivors’ pensions.

Yearly expenditure on benefits will, therefore, increase over a considerable number of years before stability is reached.
The rates of contribution have, however, been determined on a funded basis with the purpose of achieving an ultimate position of financial stability in which annual income, allowing for interest accruing from excess contributions in the earlier years, and outgo will balance.

The contributions will be paid by employers only.


An injured workman will, if otherwise qualified, receive disability benefit under the Social Welfare Acts in addition to disablement benefit and an amount has been included in the con­ tribution rates to cover the cost of paying such disability benefit.

The weekly contributions required in respect of persons insured under the scheme will be 2/ld.

for men and l/6d.
for men and l/6d.

for women and provision is made in section 36 for the payment of contributions by employers at these rates.

These contributions will form part of an overall social insurance contribution except where the em­ ployment is insurable for occupational injuries only.

Provision is also made in section 36 to ensure that occupational injuries con­ tributions will not reckon for the purposes of other benefits under the Social Welfare Acts.
Section 36 also provides for exempting employers from payment of contributions for persons under the age of 16, whose entitlement to injury benefit will, under section 8, be limited by regulation.

22.

Provision is made in section 37 for the establishment of an Occupational Injuries Fund to which all contributions collected will be credited and which will be called upon to bear the expendi­ ture on benefits, administration and other payments arising under this scheme.
The section includes provision for quinquennial actuarial reviews of the condition of the Fund and for laying copies of the reports of such reviews before each House of the Oireachtas.

To meet any deficit in contribution income over expenditure which may arise in the initial stages of the scheme, power is taken to borrow from the Exchequer in the first two years of its operation.

23.
23.

Overlapping Benefits : Section 32 of the Social Welfare Act, 1952, provides for the making of regulations to deal with cases where two or more social welfare payments would be due to a person for the same period.

It is intended to make regulations under that section to deal with cases where benefits under this scheme would otherwise overlap with other social welfare payments.
These regulations will provide, for example, that disability benefit will not be paid concurrently with injury benefit or unemployability supplement, and that a widow’s or orphan’s pension under the existing Acts will not be paid with a widow’s or orphan’s pension under this scheme.

24.
24.

Effect of scheme on common law actions: Provision is made in Section 34 of the Social Welfare Act, 1952, for the disregard, in assessing damages in any action at common law in respect of injury or disease, of any benefit under that Act.
Provision is also made in Section 2 of the Civil Liability (Amendment) Act, 1964, that in assessing damages in an action to recover damages in respect of a wrongful act resulting in personal injury not causing death account shall not be taken of, inter alia, any pension, gratuity or other like benefit payable under statute or otherwise in consequence of the injury.
At present, however, where there is an action for damages, any amounts actually paid as workmen’s compensation are deductible from any damages awarded.

It is not intended as a result of this scheme, to remove a person’s right to claim damages under the Civil Liability Acts, 1961 and 1964, or otherwise at common law, in respect of injuries caused by the negligence of an employer or a third party, or that benefits under this scheme will be reduced as a result of any award of such damages.
How­ ever, to prevent double payment for the same need, it is provided in section 38 of the Bill that, notwithstanding Section 34 of the Social Welfare Act, 1952, and Section 2 of the Civil Liability (Amendment) Act, 1964, the amount of injury benefit or dis­ ablement benefit (disregarding any increase in respect of the need for constant attendance) which has accrued or probably will accrue to the injured person over the period of five years from the cause of action will be taken into account in assessing damages under the Civil Liability Acts, 1961 and 1964, or other- 8 wise at common law.
The limit of five years over which the value of benefits is to be calculated is necessary as it would be generally impracticable for a Court or Jury to estimate equitably the probable value of occupational injury benefits, taking account of possible variations in degrees of disablement, dependency, in­ capacity for work, cost of living etc.

over a longer period.


Provision is already made in Section 50 of the Civil Liability Act, 1961, that in assessing damages in a case in which death occurs account shall not be taken of any pension, gratuity, or other like benefit, payable under statute or otherwise in consequence of the death of the deceased.

It is not proposed to interfere with this provision, except to provide that death benefit by way of a funeral grant may be taken into account in assessing damages.
Provision accordingly is made in section 38.

25.

Repeals and transitional provisions: Provision is made in section 39 for the repeal of the existing Workmen’s Compensation Acts from the appointed day.

Provision is also made, however, for the continuance of any rights to compensation in respect of an accident which occurred during, or a disease which arose out of, employment before that day.

26.
26.

To meet difficulties which may arise in bringing the scheme into operation, and which could not have been foreseen at the out­ set, it is provided in section 40 that the Minister may by order made within one year of the appointed day do anything which appears to be necessary or expedient for that purpose, including modification of the Act.

Section 41 provides for amendments necessary in the Local Government (Superannuation) Act, 1956, as a result of the introduction of this scheme.
Section 42 provides for collective citation of this Bill with the existing Social Welfare Acts.

An Roinn Leasa Shoisialaigh, Deireadh Fomhair, 1965.

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