Vol. 487 No. 4
58 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the plans, if any, she has to introduce measures to protect workers from the impact of repetitive strain injury; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4237/98]
The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989 is the principal legislation dealing with occupational health and safety. The Act applies to all places of work and to self-employed workers. It outlines clearly the responsibilities of employers and employees in relation to providing and maintaining a safe working environment. Under section 12 of this Act, an employer is obliged to prepare a safety statement which is based on an identification and assessment of the hazards and risks to health and safety at the place of work and the arrangements made to safeguard the safety and health of employees.
In addition, Parts VI and VII of the 1993 general application regulations deal specifically with areas of work which may involve particular musculoskeletal risk factors such as the manual handling of loads and work with display screen equipment. Under these regulations employers must take steps to identify risks, carry out a risk assessment examination for every risk factor and take appropriate measures to eliminate or reduce the risks involved.
As part of its 1998 national programme, the National Authority for Occupational Health and Safety has targeted occupational health, including work-related upper limb disorders, as an area in which there will be a programme of inspection, advice and general awareness raising efforts. There are no plans to introduce additional measures to the ones which I have outlined.
