Address by Minister for Labour Affairs Tony Killeen at the Sunday Business Post Occupational Health and Safety 3^rd annual summit

IMI Conference centre, Tuesday, October 3^rd

I want to begin by welcoming the development of a National Strategy on Health and Wellbeing at Work. I know you received a detailed exposition of the motivation behind the Strategy yesterday from Mary Dorgan of the Health and Safety Authority.

The Strategy, as you know, is in its consultation phase but it will have far reaching implications for occupational health and safety policy and practice in the years to come.

The economic and social cases behind such a Strategy are, I think, incontrovertible, but it is fair to say that in recent years we have concentrated on the safety aspect of occupation health and safety to the exclusion of the broader health area. I have asked the Health and Safety Authority to take account of both aspects of this broad double front in their work in the months to come.

In many ways we have failed to approach the bigger picture of occupational health and well being because of the very scale of the issue involved. But now we will develop a Strategy that will enable us to proceed in tackling issues which have had profound social, economic, but often ignored, implications for us all.

We should not be afraid of the change this Strategy will bring for us all. Rather we should embrace the benefits the Strategy will bring in our homes and workplaces.

The agreed objectives of the Strategy focus on:

• Promoting the positive health and wellbeing benefits of work;
• Appropriate data to collect and analyse;
• A structure for its implementation;
• Complimentary programmes to help give effect to the Strategy;
• Other areas including a monitoring and review process, components required for delivery and key elements to inform the Strategy.

A business case for the Strategy within the European context can be made under the following key headings:

• Costs
• Ageing workforce
• Absenteeism
• Illness and disability
• Prevention, promotion and rehabilitation
• Data and reporting

The timeliness of the Strategy gives due regard to current and future workplace factors. It should be seen as a key guidance document as we move and adapt to a more diverse workplace in terms of age, gender and wellbeing.

Costs

In August I launched the Report on Economic Impact of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Legislation – the first formal examination of the costs and benefits of occupational safety and health to our industry.

The Report found that costs of accidents and ill-health can be categorised on three levels: individual, business and societal costs. Examples are medical bills, insurance premiums and administration.

The research estimates that the cost of work-related accidents and ill-health could be as much as €3.6 billion. Lost output is prudently estimated to be €1.8 billion, whilst insurance costs are approximately €1.2 billion. Under-reporting of minor accidents and the availability of relevant and reliable data in Ireland serve to underline the possible under-estimation of the true costs of accidents and ill-health.

This report gives us the basis upon which to evaluate our progress – an ideal benchmark for our goals, including this Strategy.

European Context

In light of Europe-wide trends of globalisation, ageing workforces and a changing work environment, efforts have been made in Europe to advance the Lisbon Agenda through extending work life. The overall objective of the Lisbon Agenda is to make the EU the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-driven economy in the world by 2010.

One of the key goals in meeting this objective is to increase the labour market participation of older workers (those aged 55-64).

In July 2006, EU ministers representing health, social affairs and enterprise accepted recommendations to extend working life through health promotion activities that are designed to advance the Lisbon Agenda. This Strategy is geared towards those recommendations.

The ageing workforce

Ireland’s workforce is set to experience rapid ageing from 2025 onwards. Increased rates in the life expectancies of both men and women pose significant challenges for the work environment.

Early retirement or mandatory retirement also presents significant challenges for our future labour market.

In 2004 the CSO projected the population aged 65 years and over will increase by 538,000 (+116%) from 2006 to 2031 with no corresponding increase in the younger working age population. The cost of funding age-related payments in 2005 was in the order of €3 billion.

While this ageing is not taking place as quickly as in some of our European partners, there is no doubt that this will become a significant issue for Ireland in the long term. The NCB^[1] (2006) predicts that by 2050, there will be less than 2 persons of working age per person over 65.

The “cultural mindset change” that is required by both employers and employees to encourage older workers to remain in the labour market is one the Strategy will endeavour to encourage through promotion, prevention and rehabilitation and so enable them to avail of the education and employment opportunities as envisaged in the Agreement.

Consequently, unlike our European partners, we now have time and opportunity to address this situation through this Strategy which is designed to maintain and where necessary improve the work ability of the older workforce so that they can:

• Work healthily to full retirement age
• Work healthily beyond full retirement age if they wish
• Retire healthily

In so doing, we will be in a better position to address the gap between the age dependency ratio which will result in both social and economic benefits at a national and individual level.

Absenteeism

The IBEC survey in 2004 found that an average of 14 million workdays were lost due to absence in Ireland at a cost of almost €1.5 billion. Absenteeism affects all in the workplace; there is potential loss of quality, production and customers as well as strain on the absent employee’s co-workers, who are subjected to increased pressure in order to meet deadlines.

It is difficult to discuss absenteeism without recognizing and acknowledging its fundamental link with accidents and ill-health. A survey conducted by The Small Firms Association (2006) reports that absenteeism costs small businesses an estimated €692 million per annum – with stress identified as the main cause.

There are strong sectoral trends to absenteeism - the electronics industry averaged 16 days (7.1%), followed by the metals/engineering sector at 11 days (4.7%) in comparison to the national average of 3.8%.

This Strategy is designed to improve individual workability and consequently reduce one of the key causes of absenteeism. This should result in significant cost savings to both the government and employers

Illness and disability

The National Disability Authority estimated that about 85% of working age people with a disability have acquired their disability over their lives. It seems reasonable to assume that a significant proportion can be attributed to the workplace. In 2004, there were 298,300^[2] of persons aged 15-64 in Ireland who reported to having a longstanding/chronic health problem of which, 110,800 people were in employment.

In 2005 the Department of Social and Family Affairs paid out €1.2 million in disability related payments, a significant level of annual payments. There is an upward trend in the numbers claiming each payment type. Through the implementation of this Strategy, it should be possible to reduce the incidence of work-related ill-health through promotion, prevention and rehabilitation and consequently reduce this very high level of benefit payments.

Regulatory Measures

Particular sectors of our economy suffer the repercussions of poor health and safety practices or are more high risk than others. This year a number of measures have been introduced to tackle high-risk areas of work. New regulations have been brought in for Asbestos, Work at Height, Noise and Vibrations.

Last week I attended the World Ploughing Championships to announce the Code of Practice for Preventing Injury and Occupational Ill-Health in Agriculture. I see this type of Code as the way forward for small businesses, where stakeholders get involved with the Health & Safety Authority to produce a Bible for occupational wellbeing.

This morning I am on my way to Official Launch of the new Regulations for the Construction Sector. These new regulations are the culmination of a number of years work by the Department, the Health and Safety Authority, industry stakeholders and the Social Partners. A number of new areas including roadworks, explosives and vehicle visibility are addressed in an effort to improve the safety performance of the industry.

Conclusions

There are solid economic and social arguments for the implementation of the Strategy. The escalating costs for both government and employer in relation to the payment of illness and disability and the effect absenteeism has on productivity and economic output has been outlined. The Strategy can be seen as a necessary vehicle in which to advance the European agenda of promoting and maintaining the workability of older workers, and preventing the early exit of workers, both young and old from the labour market through ill-health and injury.

ENDS

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