Personal Injury Claims * Must be Made to PIAB

If you have suffered an accident in Ireland in which you suffered personal injuries *, whether a road traffic accident, an accident at work or an accident in a public place *, your personal injury claim must in the first instance be submitted to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, as known as the PIAB, or the Injuries Board.

Or at least up until very recently, the Personal Injuries Assessment Board was also known at the Injuries Board and its web address is InjuiresBoard.ie. However, from looking at that website recently and from the written correspondence we are seeing issuing from the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, the Board seems to be dispensing with reference to Injuries Board and it is now going back to referring to itself at PIAB.

This is confusing for consumers and there is nothing on the Personal Injuries Assessment Board’s website providing any clarification in relation to this change.

The Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) was established by legislation in 2004 and was, at that time, known universally at PIAB.

PIAB Changed to Injuries Board

However, in 2007, in the Chairperson’s foreword to its annual report, it stated that:

“it is clear that the name Personal Injuries Assessment Board does not assist name recognition or recall, nor does it lend itself to an online environment. Consequently, the Board approved a re-brand to InjuriesBoard.ie as well as investment in enhanced online services.”

And so it did.

And since that time the PIAB has been rebranded at The Injuries Board and has operated via its website InjuriesBoard.ie

But Now It’s Changed Back

At least, that is, up until very recently, when everything seems, very quietly, to have reverted back to PIAB.

In truth, when we look a little closer, we can see signs of this coming. In retrospect, it is notable that the Board’s annual report in 2015 was issued solely in the name of the PIAB whereas all previous annual reports since 2007 have issued with the branding of the Injuries Board.

And the Chief Executive’s introduction to the 2015 report states that:
“we will develop and launch a new brand identity to reflect a clearer definition of our role”.

Presumably, the reasons for this quiet change and how it provides a clearer definition of the Board’s role will be revealed in due course.  Meanwhile we are all left scratching our heads and, more importantly, accident victims are left wondering what it is the Board they are obliged to submit their claims to is actually supposed to be called.

How Can This Be Clear and Fair for Accident Victims?

And when it comes to the central question of providing accident victims with personal injury claims with clear and fair access to the compensation that they deserve (which one expects would be at the heart of any decision taken by the Board) one can only wonder how a move back to a name that was previously considered unrecognisable and forgettable can really be considered progress.