Safety, Health and Welfare

There are over 100 separate pieces of legislation now covering aspects of Safety and Health, so we can only provide an overview of the provisions and the implications for business.

Some estimates put the annual total cost to the economy of health and safety incidents at more than €2.5 billion, through:

• lost or down-time
• business recovery or interruption costs
• lost business opportunities through:
  - legal proceedings
  - staff dissatisfaction and absenteeism
  - public relations damage

Legislation

The main works of Safety, Health and Welfare legislation include -

• The Safety, Health andWelfare atWork Act 1989
• The Safety, Health andWelfare atWork (General Application) Regulations 1993
• The Safety Health andWelfare atWork Act 2005

It should be noted that there are many individual pieces of legislation that are specific to certain sectors, including construction, farming, food and transport.

The two main components of legislation are that all businesses must -

• identify hazards in the workplace
• produce a Safety Statement that complies with the legislative requirements

for the management of Health and Safety in the Workplace.

Safety Statement

Every employer or self-employed person must have a Safety Statement covering his or her place or places of work.

A Safety Statement is a declaration inwriting of your commitment to uphold Health and Safety standards. it specifies the resources,manner and organisation necessary to achieve and maintain Health and Safety standards, and includes provisions for accident prevention, first aid, and training.

Help and Advice

The Health and Safety Authority produces a wide variety of publications covering a diverse range of topics and an array of industry sectors. These publications include guidance documents, codes of practice and various information leaflets. Most of these are available from the Health and Safety Authority website.

The Health and Safety Authority, The Metropolitan Building,
James Joyce Street, Dublin 1.
LoCall: 1890 289 389
Email: wcu@hsa.ie
www.hsa.ie