The main cause of public liability accidents in Ireland last year were slips, trips and falls, new figures from the Injuries Board have shown.

According to the figures over 1,700 public liability awards were made in 2013 and of these, 67% related to slips, trips and falls. These included accidents involving wet floors, broken pavements and manholes.

Most of these claims involved soft tissue injuries and minor fractures and 85% lead to awards of under €38,000.

"We can see from the findings that slips, trips and falls remain the main cause of public liability accidents, with very few complex, high value claims. I encourage all those with responsibility for public areas to invest in basic prevention," commented Injuries Board chief executive, Patricia Byron.

Meanwhile, the figures show that overall, the average award for a public liability claim in 2013 was €25,120 and women accounted for 71% of awards.

For the third year in a row, Saturday was the most common day to have an accident in a public place, and July was the most common month. Tuesday was the least common day to have an accident and January was the least common month.

Aside from slips, trips and falls, other types of accidents included burns and scalds, dog bites, being trampled by a horse and accidents involving falling/flying objects.

The figures also revealed that almost 100 public liability accidents occurred in leisure facilities, such as gyms and cinemas, and more than 40 awards related to accidents in supermarkets, including injuries from trolleys.

Since 2004, all personal injury claims, other than medical negligence claims, must be processed by the Injuries Board. For more information, click here