Vol. 489 No. 2
56 Mr. Wall asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the intentions, if any, she has to introduce legislation to strengthen the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7678/98]
The key to protecting the general health and safety of all workers does not lie in changing or amending what is fundamentally strong legislation — it lies in changing attitudes and particularly those of a certain minority of employers to health and safety management and in ensuring that they meet all their obligations, both legal and moral.
The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989 is the principal legislation dealing with occupational health and safety and it sets out in clear and unambiguous terms the responsibilities which employers and employees have in relation to providing and maintaining a safe working environment. Under this legislation, it is the primary duty of every individual employer to identify, assess and manage the health and safety needs of his or her own business.
The 1989 Act is supplemented by a series of regulations, in particular the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations, 1993 and the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 1995. The former extend the requirements of the Act and lay down provisions for health and safety in specific aspects of working activity such as the workplace, the use by workers of work equipment and personal protective equipment, manual handling of loads and work with display screen equipment. The latter is one of the most detailed pieces of legislation dealing with any one industry.
However, the 1989 Act is kept under constant review both by my Department and by the authority as regards its applicability and effectiveness and should it be concluded from such reviews that regulation in this area would benefit from an amendment of or addition to existing legislation, I assure the Deputy that the necessary steps will be taken accordingly.
