Mr. Michael Horgan:

I was nominated by the then Minister, Deputy Dara Callery, in December 2010 as chairperson of the Health and Safety Authority. I now have the good fortune of being nominated by the current Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, for a further period of three years. I consider both nominations an honour and privilege.

Committee members will have read my biographical document. The majority of my professional life was spent in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. I was deputy chief executive for eight years and chief executive for just over five years. I hold a degree in computer science from Trinity College Dublin and a masters degree in industrial engineering from University College Dublin, UCD. I also have the good fortune of holding a number of honorary degrees. I completed the Institute of Directors company direction examinations in 2010 and I am currently in the process of completing the chartered director programme. That is a qualification relating to corporate governance.

I will tell the committee a little about my time as chairperson of the Health and Safety Authority over the last three years, but I will first remind it of some of the background of the authority. Its mandate, as set out in over 200 legislative measures, is: to regulate the safety, health and welfare of people at work and those affected by work activities; to promote improvement in the safety, health and welfare of people at work; to regulate and promote the safe manufacture, use, placing on the market, trade and transport of chemicals, while enhancing innovation and competitiveness; to act as surveillance authority in respect of relevant European Single Market legislation.

The authority has a number of major roles. It is the national statutory body with responsibility for ensuring workers, both employed and self-employed, and those affected by work activity are protected from work related injury and ill health. We do this by enforcing occupational health and safetylaw, promoting accident prevention and providing information and advice across all sectors, including agriculture. The authority is the lead national competent authority for a number of chemicalsregulations. Our responsibility in this area is to protect human health and the environment, to enhance competitiveness and innovation and ensure free movement of chemicals in the EU market. In this role we provide protection to all of the citizens of Ireland. We are a key agency involved in market surveillanceand ensuring the safety of products used in workplaces and consumer applications.

Our remit is very wide. We cover every workplace in the State and, through our responsibility for chemicals, every person in the State is affected by our work in one way or another. The breadth of our remit is such that it touches on that of a number of other regulators, Government Departments, their offices and other agencies. To ensure the most effective and efficient operation and deployment of valuable State resources we enter into memoranda of understanding, MOU, and bilateral and multilateral working arrangements with these other organisations. These include an MOU with An Garda Síochána; the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA; Commission for Energy Regulation, CER; Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; Railway Safety Commission; Teagasc; Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA; Revenue Commissioners; Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, RPII, and many more. We have more than 25 such collaborative arrangements in place.

I was fortunate that my predecessor Jim Lyons and his board, as well as previous chairpersons and boards, had left a well run and effective organisation in place. Like all public sector bodies we have had to reduce staffing and expenditure and this has been achieved while doing our best to maintain our success in reducing workplace deaths and serious injuries. Ireland still has one of the lowest non-fatal injury rates in the EU and the rate of worker fatalities is about average, even though staffing in the Health and Safety Authority is lower than in comparable organisations across the EU.

Notwithstanding that performance when compared with the EU peer group, I am acutely aware of the trauma arising for people on a daily and weekly basis when there is a fatality or serious workplace accident. Such events have a huge impact on family, friends, work colleagues and communities. One of the most upsetting things for me since accepting the post of chairperson is the e-mail I receive, at random times, informing me that a fatality has occurred. Almost every week and sometimes twice or more in the same week I get an e-mail alerting me to another fatality in the workplace. No international comparisons can make this acceptable. There is no acceptable minimum number of fatalities. Despite our progress, we still have nearly 50 workplace fatalities each year and more than 6,600 reported accidents requiring a person to be absent from work for more than three days. Based on Central Statistics Office, CSO, data, it is estimated that there are more than 1.18 million days lost to the economy due to work related illness and accidents. If this occurred due to any other cause, it is likely that we would be addressing it as a national priority, but these events are distributed geographically and in time, so they do not create a major national consciousness.

As part of the transformation of the public service, we have seen our budget and our head count reduced by over 20%, while demand for our service has continued to increase and our remit has been extended through legislation.

It was apparent at an early stage that the changed economic circumstances needed a change in emphasis. We had an early and continuing win in the area of reducing the cost of compliance for small and medium-sized employers. In a very short amount of time, the staff of the authority put together an innovative online tool, known as BeSMART, to enable small enterprises to protect the safety of their employees without having to employ expensive outside consultants. Thousands of employers have enrolled and the cost savings have been substantial. A major disappointment for us is the diminished level of support we are now obliged to provide to the pharmachem, ICT and medical devices sectors due to the loss of specialist scientists and engineers. This is a major challenge to the authority. It requires leadership and smart thinking on the part of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. We have lost a number of specialist staff to the private sector in the past three years. We have not been able to replace them due to lack of support from the Department.

The authority has used technology widely to improve efficiency and effectiveness in its operations. We have also used our website and social media to communicate our message. We have developed an e-learning service which we use as a tool to change the culture in the workplace. We have changed the manner in which we conduct workplace inspections and visits. We now focus on achieving voluntary compliance through a risk-based approach and on giving advice. More than 90% of all inspections result in verbal or written advice. Where there are serious breaches or failures in duty of care or an unwillingness to take corrective measures on a voluntary basis, we use the enforcement tools available and we pursue non-compliant duty holders through the courts.

In recent years, the authority has invested a great deal of effort in assisting with the consolidation of legislation and ensuring guidance is available as soon as regulations are made. This has made it much easier for employers and employees to find out what they need to do. I think the authority’s consultative process in the development of legislative proposals is second to none. It helps to ensure the fitness for purpose and proportionality of health and safety regulation. We will not maintain our successes unless we find ways of increasing the authority’s reach to counterbalance the smaller number of staff. I have initiated a project to review the way the authority performs its business activities with a view to identifying more effective ways of working, for example, by making more use of mobile technology and technology in general.

My earnest hope and that of the authority is that the figures with regard to accident and fatality rates in the workplace, ill health and the safe use of chemicals will continue to go in the right direction. I assure the Minister, Deputy Bruton, and this committee that any failure in this regard will not be due to a lack of effort on my part. I would like to conclude by complimenting the executive and the staff of the Health and Safety Authority for their outstanding commitment to such a noble cause. Because of their efforts, more and more workers go to work and return safely every day.