Minister Killeen presents Health and Safety awards at the Irish Concrete Federation.

Mr Tony Killeen TD, Minister for Labour Affairs today(Thursday, April 27^th 2006) presented the Irish Concrete Federation Health and Safety Awards at a ceremony in the Stand House Hotel, The Curragh, Kildare.

Speaking at the presentation the Minister said, “I am delighted to have the opportunity to address this special awards ceremony. I know you as a broadly based and representative group and that your attendance here is an indication of your commitment to the development of your industry. I am aware that these awards play an important part in your Federation’s promotion and improvement of health and safety standards and reducing the frequency and severity of accidents in your industry”.

“The ongoing success story of our economy, the individual achievements of the firms you represent must be marked by your acceptance of the challenge posed by the 2005 Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act,” the Minister said.

“Already this year 14 people have died in Irish workplaces. In the same period last year 22 people had died. These simple statistics impinge on everything we do. We should take no comfort from that reduction, every accident is foreseeable and preventable and there is no acceptable level of death or injury”, Minister Killeen said.

“Each of us will have been touched by a number of recent incidents involving the deaths of non-national workers, which number is disproportionate to the number of non nationals workers in the economy. It is clear that this group, for what ever reason, are clearly at risk. I know the Health and Safety Authority have taken a leading role in this regard by producing a range of material in languages and formats relevant to non-English speakers. Communication is a key challenge in this area and risk assessment needs even more attention where there are communication issues,” the Minister continued

The Central Statistics Office estimate that there are over 300,000 workers aged 15 to 24 in the Irish workforce, almost 60,000 of them in the construction sector. Statistics at European level suggest that young workers (aged 18 to 24) are 50% more likely to suffer a workplace accident than other workers.

“The Health and Safety Authority along with the European Agency is focussing this year on the issue of young people in the workplace. The Safe Start campaign to be launched here in June aims to promote a safe and healthy start for young people to their working lives”, the Minister added.

“I would ask you to make the building of a culture of workplace health and safety your priority and the foundation for a success, based on competence, responsibility and safety ” the Minister concluded.