The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) have published their annual report for 2023.
Their annual report highlights key achievements and outcomes across the HSA broad occupational safety and health, chemical safety, market surveillance and accreditation remit over the course of the year. It is the second report under the HSA's 2022-2024 strategy statement.
The annual report details of key achievements in the HSA's work programmes.
Under the occupational safety and health programme, the HSA undertook 9,995 proactive and 463 reactive inspections across all economic sectors.
They investigated 225 incidents following received reports and carried out 83 investigations into fatal accidents, 43 of which were work-related. Of the 43 work-related fatalities, 20 of these tragic deaths occurred in the agriculture, fishing and forestry sectors, and 11 fatalities occurred in the construction sector. Combined these sectors accounted for more than two-thirds of all workplace fatalities in Ireland in 2023.
Whist there was a slight increase in work-related fatalities in 2023, there has been an overall decline in such fatalities over the past ten years.
In 2023 the HSA concluded a total of nineteen prosecutions for health and safety offences that resulted in fines totalling €1,377,500.
Other highlights include the launch of new inspection programmes targeting renewable energy installations, including wind farms, solar farms and anaerobic digestion facilities, and the implementation of an awareness campaign focusing on psychosocial health, including work-related stress and risk assessments for exposure to sensitive content.
The HSA's chemicals programme, assessed a total of 917 chemical products in 2023, along with 307 industrial products. A total of 182 non-compliant chemical products were removed from the Irish market.
The HSA also hosted the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability conference.
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