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Special Committee Factories Bill, 1954 debate -
Thursday, 3 Feb 1955

SECTION 55.

I move amendment No. 41:—

Before sub-section (5) to insert a new sub-section as follows:—

(5) The contents of each first aid box or cupboard shall be inspected at least once in every week, and if necessary replenished after each occasion of use. Every first aid box or cupboard shall contain simple and readily understandable instructions to be followed in emergencies, and such instructions shall be kept legible and clear.

The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that systematic and regular inspection shall be made of the first aid box or cupboard which is required to be provided under this section, and that where the contents of the box are being used they will be replenished each time after use. This amendment also seeks to ensure that each first aid box shall contain simple and readily understandable instructions to be followed in emergencies and that such instructions shall be kept legible and clear. In my view, these are reasonable provisions. Unless there is a proper and systematic routine for ensuring that the first aid box is kept in a proper condition there is the danger that when an emergency arises some essential medicines or medical appliances will be missing.

I doubt whether the Deputy's amendment is necessary because sub-section (1) of this Section 55 provides that the box shall contain prescribed contents and that they shall properly be maintained. Furthermore, sub-section (4) of the section requires that each first aid box or cupboard shall be placed under the care of a responsible person. I feel that these two provisions will achieve what the Deputy's amendment seeks to achieve. In what way, Deputy, do you think the section will not achieve the purposes which you have sought to cover by your amendment?

In a Bill, we set down certain statutory requirements and, because we set them down, we think they will be complied with. If there is a breach of these statutory requirements we provide for certain penalties. The fact, however, that there is a penalty is no help to the person who suffers as a result of the breach of the regulations. It is absolutely essential that the first aid box shall be regularly and systematically inspected and shall be replenished after each use. If, after an accident, it is found that the first aid box has not been replenished and that necessary medicines or medical preparations are not at hand, and if somebody suffers as a result of the fact that these preparations are not readily to hand, we merely impose a penalty by way of a fine. A great number of these boxes are neglected and are not kept in a proper condition. In my view, it is necessary that it should be set down that these boxes shall be inspected once a week and replenished after each use: this is something to which the Safety Committee, provided for later on, can directly give their attention. It does not impose any great hardship on an employer to require him to ensure that the first aid box is inspected every week and replenished after use.

Mr. Lemass

In my view, the wording of sub-section (1) should be looked at again because I do not see any reference there to the contents of the box. I think the regulations might relate to the design of the box without reference to the contents. With regard to Deputy Larkin's amendment, I think that a periodic inspection of the contents of the box would mean nothing unless there were some obligation on the employer to record that inspection in the factory register or in some other way. The object should be to keep the contents of the box as prescribed by the Minister so that an inspector can check on whether or not the obligations are being observed. It seems to me that the second part of the amendment has more point, that is, the reference to certain simple and readily understandable instructions to be followed in emergencies, the instructions to be legible and clear. One can envisage circumstances in which a worker may be injured and some comrade is anxious to give him aid but is not quite clear as to the best way of doing it. The amendment asks for simple instructions as to the utilisation of the contents of the first aid box. If some simple instructions were prepared by the Department of Health and made available for use with such first aid boxes it might be of benefit.

I should be prepared to withdraw my amendment if the Minister would undertake to give further thought to the section as a whole. In my view, a number of aspects should be considered. I am thinking now of an accident of which I have had experience. It happened in one of the C.I.E. workshops. A man working at a bench cut his hand very seriously. There was a first aid box, the key of which was kept by a workmate. At the time of the accident, the workmate happened to be working some distance away. He had to be sent for. When the accident happened the workmate was engaged at his work and he was filthy: he was covered with dirt and oil. Quite obviously, it was not possible for him to attend to his comrade who was then taken down to the ambulance room. The nurse there found that all she could do in the circumstances was to bandage the cut and send the injured workman off to hospital. A period of three and a half hours elapsed from the time of the accident to the time the injured man got any effective medical aid. I grant that stitching was necessary. The point is that the first aid box was there but that the person in charge of it could not make use of it because, although he had the key of the box, he was engaged on a very dirty job—and it could easily be that by the time he had cleaned himself the injured workman would be in a serious state. Commonly, when an accident happens, they go to the first aid box and they find that, possibly earlier that day or the day before, some particular medicine or medicine appliance was taken from the box and was not replenished. The trouble seems to be that it is nobody's job to ensure that these medicines or medical appliances are replaced. It very frequently happens that the person immediately available to give treatment has not any experience and that no simple and readily understandable instructions to be followed in emergencies are available.

I think it is important that, as far as possible, first aid should be not only provided but should be provided in such a way that it can be readily available and made available immediately to the workman who requires it. There are so many fine points involved as, for instance, this question of the man carrying the key having his hands soiled that this involves considerable detail. Where a man is suffering, say, from a serious cut, it is the immediate care that is most important, not so much the treatment which he afterwards receives in hospital. I would withdraw the amendment if the section as a whole were examined a little closer in the light of the discussion which we have had.

In regard to what Deputy Lemass has said about the contents of the box, the parliamentary draftsman's way of providing that the contents of the box should be such as is prescribed is covered by the phrase " of such standard". That is intended to include the contents. Can we go go further than sub-section (4), which states—

" Each first aid box or cupboard shall be placed under the charge of a responsible person who shall, in the case of a factory where more than 50 persons are employed, be trained in first aid treatment, and the person in charge shall always be readily available during working hours."

In so far as legislation is concerned, it does not seem that we can go much further than that. I think if Deputy Larkin's amendment were inserted, and I put in a later amendment providing for a safety committee and a safety delegate the provision would work satisfactorily only if you could get an alert safety committee and an alert and intelligent safety delegate. If the safety committee's, or the safety delegate's attention were directed to the necessity of having regard to a problem such as this, it would probably work much better, through the alertness of the committee or of the delegate, than any alteration we could make in the section. It is on-the-spot vigilance that would count in the long run, more than anything we could put in the section.

I can see the force of that in regard to the weekly inspection but some provision should be made to ensure that the box would be re-replenished after use. After all, suppose the box were used this morning, following an accident, it would be quite reasonable for the employer to say that he had arranged to have it replenished this afternoon. Before that happens, another accident occurs and the very thing that is required for the treatment of the injured man is found to be missing perhaps.

I am taking it that in the long run this has to be construed legally and the legal method of securing that supplies shall be there continuously, is to say that there shall be provided and maintained so as to be readily accessible a first aid box. If the contents of the box are taken out, say, at 1 o'clock for use, the contents of the box must be replenished at 1 o'clock, in theory at all events.

In theory, but I doubt if in practice it would always be replenished as speedily as that. I think it would be quite a reasonable defence for an employer to say that the box was used in the morning and if another accident occurred later to say " I had given instructions for the box to be replenished in the afternoon and the other accident occurred before that happened."

If the only point at issue is the continued availability of the contents and supplies in the box, if you look at the opening lines of Section 55, I cannot see that we can do anything to emphasise continued availability more than the word " maintain ", does.

If you get a factory owner to keep a supply of essential materials on the premises, I do not think that any difficulty should arise. I think that Deputy Larkin is taking an extreme view. Any reasonable factory owner or any reasonable committee will see that there is sufficient material available for use in the case of more than one accident at a time. I also feel that with all the facilities that are available nowadays through the Red Cross Society for training in first aid work, every factory has a number of people already trained in first aid work. These people are available in the factory even at the present time.

There are some factories in this country where it would take Mandrake to find the first aid box, not to speak of what is in it.

We shall look into it.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Mr. Lemass

Sub-section (4) requires that in the case of a factory which employs more than 50 persons the box shall be placed in charge of a person trained in first aid treatment. Am I right in assuming that the number prescribed may be reduced in the event of a high accident experience employed in a factory?

Section 55 agreed to.
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