Vol. 484 No. 3
96 Mr. Barrett asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she will introduce the necessary procedures to enable the appropriate statutory authority to inspect mechanical handling equipment on an annual basis in the interest of health and safety; the policy directions, if any, she has issued to the Health and Safety Authority to ensure adequate enforcement of standards in this area. [22000/97]
Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989, employers at all places of work have a general duty of care to ensure that the design, provision and maintenance of plant and machinery are, so far as reasonably practicable, safe and without risk to health.
The existing procedures dealing with the inspection of manual handling equipment are found in the Safety in Industry Acts, 1955 and 1980. Under these Acts mechanical handling equipment which is used in places of work such as factories, docks and construction work must be thoroughly examined by a competent person. The minimum periods between these statutory examinations varies as regards different types of mechanical handling equipment.
The examination of mechanical handling equipment will, however, be extended to other places of work with the implementation, by December 1998, of Council Directive 95/63/EC concerning the minimum safety and health requirements for the use of work equipment by workers at work. This is an administrative matter rather than a policy issue. The Health and Safety Authority which deals with the day to day administration of occupational health and safety legislation regularly reviews its enforcement procedures.
