HEALTH MATTERS: IBEC has recommended several changes for occupational health and safety in its wide-ranging social policy document which it published recently.
The employers' organisation notes in Social Policy in a Competitive Economy that while significant improvements have been recorded in recent years in the incidence of workplace injuries, "such improvements are not reflected in employers' insurance and claims costs".
IBEC says that many companies have had increases in insurance costs "which are disproportionate when compared with their safety record - even in some cases where there have been no claims at all". This detrimentally affects business competitiveness.
IBEC continues to highlight the need to eliminate the "compensation culture" to protect "competitiveness and employment".
Efforts to underpin a strong safety ethos need to start in primary schools and continue throughout all students' education and training. Good practice in occupational health and safety should be highlighted and promoted and "greater incentives and support for employer action in this area should be provided".
Enforcement of health and safety regulations "needs to be effective" if prevention is to improve.
"Non-compliance should be dealt with in a serious manner," says IBEC. Mr Tony Briscoe, assistant director of social policy at IBEC, says that this should not be construed as a criticism of the HSA.
The document says "the current, adversarial system serves to encourage spurious, opportunistic and exaggerated claims, as well as undercutting accident-prevention efforts. This approach is costly and slow and does not act in the best interests of those unfortunate people who suffer genuine injury or illness. Structural reform to address these issues is required." IBEC calls for the establishment of a dedicated personal injury assessment system for dealing with "genuine cases of injury in a non-adversarial environment. A book of quantum that gives financial values for particular injuries should accompany this system".
The employers' body calls for a review of health and safety laws, saying that the volume and complexity of such regulations is problematic for business. "It is time to review, consolidate and repeal outdated existing laws on safety and health at work. Existing entitlements and duties should be retained, but unnecessary or superseded regulation should be removed."
Mr Briscoe says that IBEC is calling for rationalisation and consolidation of the regulations. "A lot of work could be done to make them more user-friendly. At one stage there were up to 200 regulations on health and safety and it's not much less than that now."
The IBEC document calls for measures to be considered to discourage "spurious, opportunistic and exaggerated claims".
IBEC wants "tangible support" to be provided for employers and workers to encourage and assist in the rehabilitation and speedy return to work of people who have been injured or suffered ill-health.
Mr Briscoe explains that IBEC wants Government support for the workplace safety initiative, a joint scheme that includes IBEC, ICTU and the HSA providing a voluntary code for solving claims outside the adversarial system.
jmarms@irish-times.ie
