The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) recently announced a new campaign aimed at cutting the number of work-related accidents.
Most workplace deaths involve falling from a height, contact with machinery, transport-related incidents and electricity. Some 68 people died and more than 8,000 were injured in Irish workplaces last year. Manual handling accidents accounted for most non-fatal work-related injuries, followed by slips, trips, contact with machinery and falls from a height.
Mr Tom Walsh, director of the HSA, said reducing the risk of accidents at work improves the quality of working life and is a "moral imperative". "There is a strong business case for doing so as well since the most successful companies usually have the best accident prevention records."
The campaign includes the European good practice award scheme, which recognises innovative practical solutions to accident prevention at work. It is supported by an information pack with fact sheets, leaflets, posters and a website (see below). The campaign will run until October, coinciding with the end of an EU-wide annual safety and health at work week.
Mr Pat O'Halloran, an inspector in the development directorate of the HSA, told The Irish Times there are two awards - the European good practice award and the Minister's Millennium award, awarded by Minister of State Mr Tom Kitt TD.
Irish entries for the European good practice award are ranked by the Irish "focal point" (effectively the HSA) of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, and forwarded to the agency in Bilbao. (The Irish focal point of the European agency disseminates and collects information on health and safety.)
Entries for the European good practice award have to be with Mr O'Halloran by June 21st because they have to be in Bilbao by the 30th.
"We didn't have any entries for that last year," he says. However, this year it is being promoted more and the HSA already has had "about two dozen" queries.
"Last year, we ran a Minister's millennium award, which was won by Aughinish Alumina. I ran that with a person seconded by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, who actually went out and examined the entries." The closing date for that award this year is the end of July. The award is presented at the National Irish Safety Organisation annual conference next autumn. The same entry could suffice for both competitions.
Meanwhile, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work recently called for project proposals for the provision and dissemination of good practice examples for reducing accidents in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Some €5 million (£3.94 million) is available under the scheme, providing grants of between €25,000 and €200,000 for national and transnational/European projects. Applications for funding can be submitted either by SMEs or be aimed at SMEs' needs in one of three categories: training related to prevent work-related accidents; information and communication on accident prevention; and provision of effective good practices that reduce accident risks.
The HSA's Mr Walsh said the agency's accident prevention scheme "will have wide applicability in Ireland since it defines SMEs as enterprises which have fewer than 250 workers".
Through the scheme, the agency will fund up to 60 per cent of the total eligible cost of a national project. It will fund up to 80 per cent of the total eligible cost of European/transnational projects. The deadlines to submit proposals are June 29th for national projects and July 16th for European/transnational projects.
Mr Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, said: "This accident prevention scheme marks a new step in the EU's efforts to promote safe, healthy and productive SMEs. I hope that many companies and organisations will respond to our call to increase accident prevention and to share good practice throughout the European Union."
Accident prevention is the key theme of the agency's work programme this year. As well as the SME funding scheme, it will be the focus of this year's European week for safety and health at work in October, which aims to raise awareness and promote activities to enhance safety and health in workplaces across the EU.
Full details of the call for project proposals giving, for example, eligible project activities and selection criteria, and an application form is available on the agency's dedicated accident prevention website at http://osha.eu.int/sme.
Alternatively, contact the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Gran Via 33, E-48009 Bilbao, Spain. Email: sme@osha.eu.int or fax 0034 94 479 4383. Or contact the HSA, telephone 01 614 7000.
jmarms@irish-times.ie
