Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 9 Jun 1993

Vol. 432 No. 1

Written Answers. - Safety Standards.

Jim O'Keeffe

Question:

138 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the steps, if any, that are taken to ensure that safety standards are observed in factories in Ireland; whether there is an adequate Inspectorate to monitor the situation; the number of prosecutions over each of the last three years; and whether he has any further proposals to improve the situation.

Minister for Enterprise and Employment (Mr. Quinn)

Responsibility for the administration and enforcement of health and safety legislation for all work-places, including factories, rests with the National Authority for Occupational Safety and Health. The Authority operates a broadly based programme encompassing the provision of advice, guidance and information coupled with the application of a wide range of enforcement measures, including the issue of Improvement Directions, Improvement Notices, Prohibition Notices and the taking of prosecutions. The Authority initiated a total of 18, 12 and 22 prosecutions respectively in 1990, 1991 and 1992.

The staffing requirements of the Health and Safety Authority, which was established in 1989, are currently under review.

Among the principal functions of the Authority are the promotion and monitoring of occupational safety and health standards and the preparation of proposals for legislative change. Significant progress has been achieved since the establishment of the Authority in developing an awareness of health and safety requirements both in work places such as factories which traditionally were covered by health and safety legislation and in the various sectors which were brought within the statutory system for the first time in 1989. I have earlier this year signed a number of far reaching sets of regulations, copies of which have been laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas and work is at an advanced stage in relation to several other regulations designed to improve standards of health and safety at work which will be implemented over the coming months.