The matter I raise is safety management systems and efforts to ensure the safety of employees in hotels following the death of a worker in a Limerick hotel last year and the subsequent investigation by the Health and Safety Authority. Gráinne Dillon was a young woman full of life and looking forward to a career in the hotel industry when she was tragically murdered while at work in Limerick in early January last year. Her death shows that life does not always turn out as we would hope or expect. However, there are other lessons that can be learned from these events.
The individual who took Gráinne Dillon's life has been dealt with by the courts and faces a long time in prison. What I wish to raise is how Gráinne ended up in a position where, as a trainee manager, she had sole responsibility for running one of the biggest hotels in the country. Her employers must account for leaving a young woman with only six months experience in sole charge of more than 300 guests on the night in question. What, for instance, would Gráinne have done if a fire had broken out or in the event of any other emergency? Surely people who stay in these hotels must now sit up and take notice of the risks hoteliers are taking with their safety.
Gráinne's duties that night took her away from the hotel front desk on many occasions, yet this was the only area where a panic button was located on a night when there was no security or door staff. At 24 years of age Gráinne had huge responsibility in her job which she took very seriously. That night, she took care of room service, answered the phone and tallied the money in the hotel tills. She was doing a diligent, thorough job for her employers. However, Gráinne's employers failed to match the dedication and hard work she displayed by not providing adequate protection for their employee. They left her to fend for herself while she suffered a fatal attack which robbed her of her life and her family of a loving sister and daughter.
Her employers completely failed to comply with the safety, health and welfare at work regulations which state that it shall be the duty of every employer to ensure that in taking measures necessary for the safety, health and protection of employees, the measures take account of changing circumstances and the general principles specified in the first schedule. In leaving Gráinne Dillon unprotected in her workplace her employees must share some responsibility for the tragedy that occurred. Given that the hotel group in question has recently announced record profits, it is not as if it cannot afford to provide adequate security for all its guests and staff.
In their grief the Dillon family turned to the Health and Safety Authority, the agency charged with ensuring employers take all necessary steps to protect their employees. Legislation is in place which clearly puts the responsibility for providing a safe workplace on the employer, yet the Health and Safety Authority has continually said this is not its business and is the sole responsibility of the Garda Síochána. The Garda has done its job and I call on the Minister to demand that the Health and Safety Authority does its job. If not, the question of ultimate responsibility remains unanswered and many other young people may be placed in the same danger to which Gráinne Dillon was so tragically exposed. In virtually every hotel owned by the group in question young men and women are placed in charge of large areas without experience or support. It is surely the responsibility of the Health and Safety Authority to ensure employers do not place their employees in a position in which their lives could be taken, as was Gráinne's.
