Vol. 400 No. 6
8 Mr. Sherlock asked the Minister for Labour when it is intended to publish the new guidelines for health and safety standards in all workplaces; if he will outline the main provisions of the guidelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I assume that the Deputy is referring mainly to the guidelines on safety statements, safety consultation and safety representatives which were launched on 23 May 1990 by the National Authority for Occupational Safety and Health.
A key element of the new occupational safety and health system introduced under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989, is that each employer must prepare a written safety statement. This must identify the hazards and assess the risks at each workplace and must also specify the arrangements for safeguarding the safety and health of employees. Employers must bring the safety statement to the attention of their employees. In turn, the employees have rights of consultation with their employer on occupational safety and health issues and can choose a safety representative to act on their behalf.
The launch of these guidelines is an important element of the preventive strategy which the new Authority have adopted in relation to safety and health at work. In their promotional activities, the Authority will be aiming for full compliance with the safety statement and safety consultation aspects of the new system. I expect that in the future the Authority will be developing a series of codes of practice or guidelines on a range of occupational safety and health issues.
Is the Minister satisfied, against the background every year of 45,000 workers injured at work, that there is a satisfactory legal obligation now on employers to prevent, in so far as is possible, this extraordinary and alarming rate of accidents? For example, does he agree that 3,500 nurses and attendant staff in the hospital services alone are injured each year? I think that figure would be very surprising to the public. Does the Minister consider his Department are in a position to enforce adequately the new measures as advised in the new standards published on 23 May?
I am not sure whether the figures are correct as I do not have them in front of me. I have spoken at length at one of the European conferences when the international health inspectorate were here about two months ago. I gave the official figures for 1989 and the loss in health and insurance claims and particularly the great difficulties of cost to the families through both fatalities and injuries. The legislation we passed here last year I believe will be of major help. It puts obligations on employers, it gives rights to workers which they never had previously and, above all, some of the categories the Deputy mentioned, like the hospital staff, are for the first time covered under the legislation. The safety statement and the safety guidlines which were issued on 23 May set out for workers how they should go about setting up those. The health and safety Authority booklets are excellent and they are widely circulated and available from the Authority. They clearly show what the workforce should do to set up safety representative committees and have safety officers to ensure that the legislation is complied with in their workplace. I should also say that these booklets are available to any Member of this House, if required.
Could I respectfully suggest to the Minister that with the cutbacks in the public service and the restrictions on recruitment, the service is not operating adequately at present? Under the proposed new guidelines, has the Minister any parallel proposals to increase the inspectorate and administrative staff of this unit to ensure that even the existing regulations and the proposed new regulations are adequately policed?
The Authority has only been set up since November and staffing is one of the issues still being discussed. However, I am honestly convinced that, no matter what regulations are in force or what is in the legislation, the issue of guidelines — which Deputy Sherlock has referred to — is the road to take. I agree with Deputy Sherlock and other Members who previously tabled questions on the need for these guidelines and this is the road we should follow. It is impossible to put a safety inspector on the back of every tractor or muck-spreader and in every garage and factory in the country, and it will never happen. This is not done in any country. If the employers and workforce are not prepared to acknowledge that they have a responsibility for their own health and safety we will go nowhere. I think Deputy Toddy O'Sullivan would remember that he argued stringently during the passage of this legislation that we should issue comprehensive and extensive guidelines at the earliest possible date so that people would know what we are talking about. We have now done that and people should follow the advice in the guidelines.
