Hospital staff will be obliged to follow new safety regulations as part of a new initiative to bring down insurance costs.
The measures are aimed at helping to reduce the number of non-clinical accidents, such as slips, trips and falls, which have burdened health boards with high premium costs for employers' and public liability insurance.
The State Claims Agency, which manages most of the personal injuries against the State, has been working on a new safety code which health workers will be asked to sign up to.
The guidelines, drawn up in conjunction with the Health and Safety Authority and the Irish Insurance Federation, will be sent to health boards, hospitals and other State-run health bodies towards the end of this year.
A spokesman for the State Claims Agency said the measures would lead to cheaper premiums if the new safety code was successfully enforced and followed by health workers.
"Once the new structures are put in place, and there is hopefully a diminution in these types of claims, this would inevitably reflect itself in lower premiums," he said.
Insurance firms have not offered any guarantee of a reduction in premiums, however, and say they are making substantial losses on employers and public liability insurance.
