I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Fahey. He will now brief us on the health and safety Bill he is preparing.
Health and Safety Bill: Ministerial Presentation.
The thrust of the new Bill is to repeal the 1989 Act and lay the foundations for a new health and safety code of law for the next ten to 15 years that will enable us to comply with EU directives. The committee will understand that I cannot discuss the Bill in detail because it is with the Parliamentary Counsel and will go before the Government shortly, but out of courtesy to the committee I have agreed to give a briefing on it.
There are 100 sections in the Bill and it is a complex and significant document. It refers to 60 other Acts and it will rename the National Authority for Occupational Safety and Health as the Health and Safety Authority, the name by which it is usually known. The main provisions of the Bill relate to risk assessment, where every employer must identify the hazards in the workplace. Every employer must have a written safety statement that recognises the risks and hazards in the workplace and it will have to be reviewed annually.
A novel feature of the Bill is that the employer with a small number of employees may comply by adhering to a special code of practice to be developed by the HSA for a particular industry and sector. This will likely be of benefit to the farming sector, small businesses and people who only employ one or two people. We are particularly conscious of the number of accidents that take place in these situations so this will be a significant development that will bring about a much safer environment in these sectors. A new feature will provide that unions and employers agree practical guidance in the sector or industry and that agreement can then be recognised by the HSA. That is a new partnership approach.
We will ensure there is a duty on every employer, as far as is practical, to ensure the health and safety of his or her employees. The Bill will outline a long list of specific duties and responsibilities for employers to ensure adequate instruction and training without loss of earnings for employees.
The duties of employees will also be dealt with in the Bill. They must comply with the relevant statutory provisions, ensure they are not under the influence of an intoxicant in the workplace and they must submit to an appropriate test if reasonably required to do so by an employer. They must not engage in improper conduct, must wear proper protective clothing where necessary, co-operate with their employer, look out for each other and not do anything that would place themselves or others at risk.
There is a section dealing with designers, manufacturers and importers because we need greater involvement by them to ensure the designs of buildings recognise the need for health and safety. The Bill will provide for persons who commission, procure or construct a place of work to employ a competent person to ensure construction is carried out safely and without risk to health.
There will be protection against dismissal and penalisation. Employees may appeal to a Rights Commissioner for a determination and, in the event of a further appeal, it can be heard by the Employment Appeals Tribunal. The use of the existing employment appeals machinery will assure order and fairness in dealing with matters which give rise to dispute.
The safety representative has been an important person in the health and safety regime and we will continue to ensure this is the case in the new legislation. Employees will be entitled to appoint a safety representative who will have wide powers that will ensure that he can inspect, investigate accidents or dangerous occurrences, accompany a HSA inspector on an inspection, make oral or written submissions and generally look out for the interests of the employees in the workplace.
The Health and Safety Authority may establish an advisory committee to advise on any of its functions. This will provide a broad base of consultation with all sectoral interests on any matter under consideration. Codes of practice exist to regulate safety and other procedures, but a failure to observe a code of practice which leads to an accident and subsequent prosecution will be admissible in evidence in a court. Where an inspector is of the opinion that there is occurring or likely to occur an activity which involves risk to safety, health or welfare, he or she will have the power under the new Bill to give written direction requiring the submission of an improvement plan. This is a significant preventative measure that will ensure that any situation with unacceptable risk levels can be addressed.
A prohibition notice will be put in place by an inspector if he is of the opinion that there is a risk of serious personal injury. This will immediately stop work until the matter has been remedied. In areas such as construction or sites where significant changes are being made, this mechanism will be of value.
We decided to introduce on the spot fines. This innovation was recommended by the board of the HSA and I am most anxious to introduce it for minor breaches of the legislation. The proposal will provide for a limited range of clearly defined situations where employers or employees are found to be in clear breach of regulations and they will be liable for an on the spot fine. If it is paid within a defined period, there will be no prosecution but failure to pay will lead to an increase in the fine and could lead to prosecution. The amount of the fine may be of the order of €100 — it will be defined in the regulations.
Having mentioned regulations, the Bill will contain provisions for a wide range of activities and other safety related matters to be regulated by ministerial regulation or statutory instrument. The statutory instrument can be proposed by the Health and Safety Authority or by the Minister, in which case consultations will have been undertaken with the authority.
Where an offence under the Bill is proven to have been committed with the consent or connivance of or can be attributed to any neglect on the part of a director, manager or other body corporate, that person, as well as the body corporate, will be guilty of an offence and liable to be proceeded against.
The issue of penalties needed to be updated. I am proposing two levels of prosecution for offences under the Bill: summary prosecution in either the District Court or Circuit Court for relatively minor offences and prosecution on indictment in the Circuit Court for very serious offences. The maximum fine in the District Court on summary conviction is €3,000.
Prosecution cases may be brought on either summary or indictment and under the Bill conviction in the Circuit Court on indictment will involve the imposition of a heavy fine or imprisonment or both. I recommended to Government to provide in the Bill for the Health and Safety Authority to compile a list of the names of people on whom a fine or other penalty was imposed by the court, on whom a prohibition notice was served and in respect of whom an interim or interlocutory order was made by the court, and the authority may publish that list.
I thank the committee for its interest in the Bill. I welcome a good and open debate and I have no difficulty accepting good amendments that will improve the Bill.
We thank the Minister of State, especially for keeping his word and coming back to us to give us this part of the information for our second interim report, which will be published in a few weeks. Will he need time for the Committee Stage debate before the summer recess?
The Parliamentary Counsel is completing the final drafting of the Bill. It must go to Government. We do not anticipate any major delays and we hope to move on to Committee Stage before the end of the summer session.
Can we bring it back here before the summer recess?
That is a matter for the Whips and others, but we want to move it on. It has been waiting a long time and we want it enacted as quickly as possible.
The Minister of State has certainly brought it to the fore and we appreciate it.
I compliment the Minister of State on the good work he and his Department have done on health and safety. All the insurance representatives who came in here said that health and safety conditions have improved greatly. At one time they said that Ireland was not a safe place in which to work. Now they say that the work done under the health and safety legislation has improved the situation a great deal. There is good protection now on building sites and many courses are available. I attended a course on the code of practice for farming and the only problem I encountered was that perhaps there was too much paperwork. It could have been simplified somewhat and achieved the same outcome. It might be a little too complicated for the ordinary person because if there is too much paperwork, one loses track.
Health and safety issues are very important. The Minister of State mentioned safety in buildings which should be examined. One wonders how safe are modern buildings with a great deal of glass. We must consider problems that may arise in the future and whether buildings should be stronger. Maybe they are strong but some of them do not look it. I hope the many timber frame houses are well tested to ensure that they are good, strong structures. There may be many people working in a building which poses a great risk if the structure is not sound. I welcome the training for workers which is very necessary. Farm work can be hazardous by its nature.
The Minister of State was very kind to come here today when there was a memorial ceremony to attend at Arbour Hill.
I welcome the Minister for State and thank him for coming back to the committee. There seems to be a strong emphasis on the employee effectively self-regulating or having responsibility. We all must be responsible for ourselves in our daily lives, being careful how we step off footpaths and so on. I hope that if the Minister of State is open to amendments he will look at this on Committee Stage. I could not imagine a safety officer on any site having responsibility for investigating an accident and reporting on it. That does not seem the logical way to do it. We can tease out all these issues on Committee Stage. We discussed corporate manslaughter in great detail at the last meeting with the Minister of State. Is that in the Bill or did I miss that part of the discussion?
I wish to be associated with Deputy Callanan's comments to the Minister of State on the good work he is doing in improving health and safety. There are two very practical subjects at leaving certificate level, building construction and engineering, in which youngsters use saws and welders and so on. While health and safety measures apply there too, I am not sure whether they are on the syllabus. If not, they should be on it and, if they are on it, it is an ideal opportunity to inculcate health and safety values to people in the pre-work stage.
I also welcome the Minister of State and thank him for his presentation. Health and safety in the workplace cannot be overstressed and today in all forms of employment machines are redesigned almost annually, making it very difficult to anticipate what might happen. I attended the removal of a lad who was fatally injured in a tractor accident one could never have anticipated. The Minister of State's work is all important. Apart from its insurance implications, the health and safety of employees and employers is central. I wish the Minister of State well.
The agriculture sector needs most attention. I take the point about the paperwork. The saddest type of accident is one involving a young person being killed in his or her family workplace. We have seen terrible grief as a result and cannot emphasise enough the need to do something about that area.
There is a liability provision in the Bill for directors and bodies corporate, although it will be necessary to deal with corporate manslaughter in a separate Bill, notwithstanding the fact that it has been recommended by the Law Reform Commission. We have accepted the commission's proposals. It is a complex area and it would have delayed the Bill so we must deal with it as a separate issue. The onus is very much on employers and the Bill places that onus on them, but employees and unions expressed the view that they must have a say. We are providing for balance in giving them a say to ensure that they have the right to raise issues and that is all that is involved. When the committee members see the full Bill, they will appreciate its comprehensive nature. If they have concerns about any areas, we are open to considering them.
I thank the Minister of State and his official for attending on this morning of honouring our past in Arbour Hill.