asked the Minister for Labour if, under the Health and Work Regulations Act, regular inspections take place at Leinster House to ensure that Members, staff and the public are not subjected to health hazards; if he will confirm that such inspections include kitchen, toilet, heating and air-conditioning facilities; if telephone apparatuses for instance, are ever examined for hygiene purposes; and when the last inspection of the above kind in relation to all the matters raised took place.
Written Answers. - Leinster House Health Inspection.
90.
Interdepartmental arrangements exist to ensure that the provisions of the Office Premises Act, 1958, are complied with in Government offices including Leinster House. Inspections are carried out by the industrial inspectors of my Department in cases where complaints have been made. The Act applies only to offices where more than five persons are employed on clerical work, as defined, and where such work is not merely incidental or subsidiary to the persons' main occupation.
The provisions of the Act and Regulations made under it apply to sanitary facilities, temperature and ventilation but not to kitchen areas. The last inspections of Leinster House under the Office Premises Act, 1958, took place in February and July 1979.
Apart from the above, the industrial inspectorate visited Leinster House on a number of occasions during 1984 in relation to the removal of asbestos lagging from pipes, as a result of notification from the firm contracted to remove the asbestos and also representations on behalf of workers in the areas concerned.