Employers should be aware of two important booklets that were launched by Mr Tom Kitt TD, Minister for Labour, Trade and Consumer Affairs at the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) headquarters in Dublin last Friday.
"There are now more work days lost through occupational accidents and injuries than through industrial disputes," said the Minister, launching Workplace Health and Safety Management and Guidelines on Preparing Your Safety Statement, written by Dr P. J. Claffey and his team at the HSA.
While workplace accident and ill-health statistics cannot show the pain and suffering of the victims and their families, "they do serve to underpin the enormous financial costs and burdens placed on both individual businesses, and the State as a whole, as a result of such incidences," said the Minister.
Every employer is obliged by the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989, to prepare a Safety Statement. "But aside from the legal obligation, the very process of preparing and implementing a Safety Statement, and keeping it up to date, is the single most important step in managing health and safety within a business," he said.
Guidelines on Preparing Your Safety Statement will be particularly useful for small firms and the self-employed, including farmers (very few of whom have Safety Statements). The booklet shows in a simple step-by-step approach how employers should draw up a Safety Statement.
The first step is to draw up a health and safety policy which recognises the employer's duty to ensure: a safe place of work; safe means of access and egress; safe plant, equipment and machinery; and safe systems of work such as operating procedures. The employer must also provide appropriate information, instruction, training and supervision to workers.
The employer must provide suitable protective clothing and equipment where hazards cannot be eliminated. He or she must prepare emergency plans and update them regularly. The employer is responsible for designating staff with emergency duties and must prevent risks to health from any article or substance.
The second step is to identify any workplace hazard. Physical hazards include: manual handling, working at height, equipment, machinery and tools, the danger of falling objects, slipping and tripping hazards, fire, electricity, internal transport, pressure systems, poor housekeeping and hot substances. Health hazards include: noise, dusts, poor lighting, ultra-violet light, vibration, radiation, extremes of temperature and injury through poor design of tasks or machinery. Other hazards include chemicals and biological agents.
The third step is to carry out a risk assessment.
As the booklet makes clear, this involves "a careful examination of what, in your work, could cause harm to people, so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm".
The employer then decides what precautions are needed. "Controlling risk means, and the law requires, that you do all that is reasonably practicable to ensure the hazard will not injure anyone."
The employer is required by law to record the findings and write down who is responsible for ensuring safety. Finally, the employer must review the Safety Statement regularly and keep it up-to-date.
The Workplace Health and Safety Management booklet is focused on larger enterprises "with a well-defined management structure, where occupational health and safety management can be integrated into the general management system".
Aimed at directors, senior managers, managers with occupational health and safety responsibilities and health and safety professionals, it sets out practical guidelines for implementing and maintaining safety management systems. It describes the principles and practices that ensure effective health and safety management, sets out key issues that need to be addressed and serves as a valuable tool to improve health and safety programmes, including self-audits and self-assessments.
Useful appendices include: health and safety training and competence; risk assessment and control; measuring health and safety performance; and health and safety management system audits. Workplace Health and Safety Management costs £10 (€12.70). Guidelines on Preparing Your Safety Statement costs £2. They are available from regional offices of the HSA or from the authority's headquarters at 10, Hogan Place, Dublin 2. Telephone: 01 614 7000. They are also on the HSA website: http://www.hsa.ie/osh
Safety & Health at Work Ireland, a new quarterly magazine edited by Joe Armstrong and published by Butterworths Tolley, was launched by Minister Tom Kitt TD at Dublin Castle last Monday. Readers may avail of a free subscription for the remainder of 1999 by contacting Ms Nicola Mandall, telephone: 0044 181 686 9141.
