Speech by Minister Tony Killeen To the Annual Conference of the Southern District of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH)

‘The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, a New Beginning’

I am pleased to have this opportunity to address you - the members of the Southern District of IOSH - on the occasion of your annual conference and the recent commencement of the new Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.

I know that you are joined here today by colleagues interested generally in safety, health and welfare. You are the workplace practitioners and the decision makers – in your hands lie the safety of our stakeholders – workers, employers, contractors - right across this region.

We have made a huge leap forward with regard with the signing into law of this new Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act – the most modern and progressive piece of health and safety legislation in Europe.

We now have to work hard to get the message out – outlining the changes which the 2005 Act have brought and developing a safety consciousness culture, at every level of all our workforce and in every sector.

When your District Chairman, Paschal O’Keeffe, wrote inviting me to open this conference he used a phrase, which I think, cuts right to heart of what we do. In laying out the theme for the conference Paschal wrote of best health and safety practice enabling people to ‘go to work…and return safely to their loved ones’.

That, I think, says it all. So far this year 62 people in this country have gone out to work and not come home, tragedy visited on families and communities - lives needlessly cut short. That figures is even more poignant as we enter the Christmas season – 62 families who face this otherwise happy time without a loved one.

The construction sector continues to top the league of accident figures, 18 of those who died here this year were involved in construction, that’s 29% of the total figures for workplace fatalities. The scale of the issue to be tackled here is indicated by the workplace fatality numbers for say, manufacturing, where 8 people died.

Of course it doesn’t have to be that way. Basic health and safety best practice across the board by all employers and employees would further drive down accident levels and continue the good work done in reducing those figures over many years.

Huge effort has gone into promoting safety in the workplace and I know that more is required. We have to get the message out to the small company, to the workers who work on their own like farmers, small builders, that is to those who are not part of trade associations or unions.

The new Act is a dynamic and modern piece of legislation that places a strong emphasis on the shared responsibilities and rights of employers and their staff in the area of health and safety. I have said before that the Act is a serious wake-up call to employers who don’t do enough to maintain a safe workplace. It is important that professionals in the field, like yourselves, understand the Act and its implications.

It’s primary focus is on prevention. It provides also for significantly increased fines and penalties to deter the minority who flout health and safety laws. It includes a scheme for on-the-spot fines though regulations. It provides that directors and managers can be held liable if complicit in deaths and accidents.

Latest forecasts from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) point to continued growth in the economy and further challenges for each of us as we seek to translate that growth into practical benefits for all our people. It is my strongly held view that part of that work includes the creation of a culture of health and safety in the Irish workplace that is second to none. Most accidents are preventable, most involve simple incidents which could be avoided. Yet the human and economic costs are high. It should be common sense to have a prevention culture.

While this effort has been aimed at the Construction sector initially it is fair to say that the increasing number of non-nationals working at all levels in the Irish workforce will mean a replication of such initiatives across various sectors of commercial activity.

An often-overlooked statistic but one, which carries profound implications for our changing workforce is the high number of workplace fatalities among non-nationals. To date 9 non-nationals have died in work-related accidents in this country out of a total of 62 deaths. What is clear is that the number of non-national fatalities is totally out of proportion to their involvement in the workforce.

We cannot accept that situation. Employers now have a legal duty as prescribed in the 2005 Act, to provide training in a manner, form and language that is understood by all workers. What is more, employers must satisfy themselves that their employees understand the safety instructions given.

The Health and Safety Authority has been proactive in addressing this serious issue and I support their efforts. The Authority’s Safe System of Work Plan (SSWP) for Construction has been already translated into Turkish and Polish and has been given an innovation prize at a recent Safety at Work World Congress in the USA. The Authority will also be shortly launching a training DVD in seven languages. The Authority has also published safety booklets in a number of languages for foreign workers in horticulture.

I want everyone in the workforce, employer and worker to be even more conscious of the needs of their fellow non-national colleagues. They need to fully understand safety procedures - extra effort is therefore needed when they are being trained so that accidents +which might be avoided by native Irish workers by reason of understanding language, will also be avoided by them.

As to the future way the next concern is to complete and sign into law the Construction Regulations and the General Application Regulations. Both sets of regulations are in the final phase of completion by the Health and Safety Authority.

The Construction Regulations will bring the regulation of the industry into line with requirements under the new Act. The General Application Regulations will modernise the existing code by filling in most of the framework to which the Act applies and will deal with health and safety matters relating to signage, worker protective equipment, manual handling, electricity, first aid, night and shift work, pregnant employees and young persons.

I mentioned earlier those chilling statistics that govern the work we do across almost all sectors. But the one statistic that should really overhang all you do here is the one we can never really know or rather the one at which we can only guess. That, colleagues, is the number of workers who will be safely home with their families this Christmas exactly because of the work done day in and day out by each one of you. We can improve on the statistic by getting the safety message out.

For that, and for inviting me to be a part of your annual conference, I thank you.

ENDS

LA 151