Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 January 2018
617. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the number of Health and Safety Authority inspectors assigned to working on the fishing fleet; and the number of inspections and investigations of relevant vessels containing or suspected of containing non-EU migrant fishing crew documented or undocumented by the Authority since the atypical scheme for non-EU migrant fishing crew was established. [54499/17]
View answerUnder the provisions of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 (No. 10 of 2005) a fishing vessel is considered a place of work and as such employers and employees must comply with their respective responsibilities under that Act while at work. The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) is the enforcement agency under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.
The HSA has 10 inspectors assigned to inspecting fishing vessels, and they carry out these inspections in addition to inspecting other workplaces such as farms, construction sites, health services and manufacturing.
Since the introduction of the atypical scheme for Non-EU Migrant Fishing Crew in February 2016, the HSA has carried out 73 inspections of fishing vessels. These inspections examined compliance with the Safety Health and Welfare at Work Act, 2005 with particular emphasis on the requirement to carry out appropriate risk assessments for the fishing tasks being carried out and to reflect these assessments into the Safety Statement which is required for all workplaces.
To assist in this regard the HSA provides the skipper of each vessel under inspection with a copy of the fishing vessel safety statement template, this safety checklist identifies groups of frequently encountered hazards on fishing vessels but is non-exhaustive and requires the skipper to tackle those hazards that are present with appropriate action. Skippers are also presented with a copy of the HSA’s Guidance “Managing Health and Safety in Fishing”. The level and nature of the health and safety training of fishermen was also examined by the HSA during inspections to ensure that it was appropriate to their needs, particularly in the case of non-nationals.
As a result of these inspections the HSA served 7 improvement Notices for breaches of health and safety laws and an additional 40 Reports of Inspection were issued in relation to more minor health and safety breaches. The absence of safety statements was the main concern of HSA Inspectors, as well as the absence of work specific risk assessments for fishing activities.
As the HSA inspects all fishing vessels no matter what their size is, they are not in a position to say how many of the 73 vessels were covered by the atypical scheme for non-EU migrant fishing crew, i.e. vessels greater than 15 metres.
