The Health and Safety Authority has published their annual report for Ireland's year of 2017.
The Health and Safety Authority uses free resources with information and advice as a primary method to achieve compliance, and they have reported good results on these online resources. The free online safety tool for small businesses, BeSMART.ie, added a further 8,500 new users, and of the 30 industry specific guidance documents they released, around 360,000 downloads came from their website. Around 25,000 students at post-primary and further education participated in the "Choose Safety" programme and 17,750 courses were taken on the Authority’s eLearning portal.
Over the year they completed a total of 9,934 inspections and investigations, almost 2,000 of which were on farms and 4,400 in the construction sector. 512 improvement notices and 547 prohibition notices were issued, and from this 21 prosecutions were successfully concluded, collecting to around €2.6m in fines. In the market they performed 400 surveillance checks, 200 of which were on detergents, in order to properly address customer safety.
Increased application for accreditation was seen in areas expecting to be effected by the UK's exit from the EU, 294 site assessments were completed with 302 decisions taken to maintain and extend the accreditation.
The Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection has said: "Tragically 47 people lost their lives due to work activity in 2017 with the farming sector yet again recording the highest fatality rate with 24 deaths. I, through my Department, work closely with the Health and Safety Authority and I know the Authority is working with all sectors, including farming, to promote the benefits of strong health and safety practices. The best way to prevent accidents is to encourage employers to take their responsibilities seriously and to assist workers in identifying hazards."
Are you wondering why we're discussing legislation in the Republic of Ireland? Watch this space...
