Vol. 564 No. 1
151 Mr. Fleming asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of accidents which have been reported to the Health and Safety Authority since 1995 by the Garda Síochána involving Garda Síochána members. [8781/03]
152 Mr. Fleming asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of notices under section 36 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989 which have been served by the Health and Safety Authority in connection with Garda stations. [8782/03]
153 Mr. Fleming asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of accidents which have been investigated by the Health and Safety Authority since 1995 involving Garda Síochána members. [8783/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 151 to 153, inclusive, together.
Garda Síochána members, like all other workers, are covered by the provisions of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989 and supplementary regulations, such as the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 1993. Under the 1993 regulations an employer is required to report to the authority all workplace accidents which result in workers being unavailable for work for more than three days.
The authority uses the NACE system, the common statistical classification of economic activities within the EU, to classify and record reported accidents and inspection visits. The Garda Síochána is covered by the overall classification "public administration and defence and compulsory social security", which is sub-divided into other classes, including "justice and judicial activities" and "public security, law and order activities".
The authority's records, as at 28 March 2003, show that 2,609 accidents were reported to it under both these NACE classes between 1995 and 2002. However, as these classifications also include employees in the Prison Service, the Court Service and the Coroner's Court, it is not possible to further break down this figure into its individual components. The authority's records do not show the number of accidents which have been investigated by the Health and Safety Authority since 1995 involving Garda Síochána members. However, as a general rule, the authority each year investigates between 5% and 10% of all accidents reported to it, based on the severity of injury.
Between 1997 and 2002 the authority carried out 203 inspections under the two NACE classes to which I referred. Of these, 121 were of Garda stations. During this period 40 improvement notices under section 36 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989 were served in the same NACE classes, of which 18 were served as a result of inspections of Garda stations.
