Ms Patricia King:

I thank the committee for its invitation to present to it this afternoon.

As this pandemic began to emerge globally, as well as in the early weeks when the first cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Ireland and public health measures were advised, ICTU notified the Government through the labour employer economic forum, LEEF, of its intention to put forward proposals to ensure the health and safety of all workers in all workplaces. ICTU based its submission on the principle that the safety, health and well-being of every person is paramount, and therefore supersedes all others. We also took the view that all public health advice should be adhered to without exception. During the course of our interactions in the LEEF process, we advocated a mandatory national protocol be developed which would encompass a set of directive actions to which every employer, worker, contractor, customer and client had an absolute duty to strictly adhere in order to maintain safe workplaces.

We set out a number of key principles which we believed were crucial to the delivery of a mandatory protocol capable of ensuring safe workplaces upon a return to work. Those principles included worker representation; training; negotiated or agreed changes to work practices; mandatory compliance with all the listed health and safety provisions with no opt-outs; and the assignment to the Health and Safety Authority, HSA, of the responsibility to oversee the implementation of all aspects of the national protocol, including the use of its powers to inspect and order the closure of workplaces where appropriate.

On workplace representation, we submitted that a workplace worker representative infrastructure be put in place across all sectors and in every workplace. The primary purpose of this measure was to ensure that workers could be confident that their voice would be heard, that the provisions of the protocol would be strictly adhered to, as well as allowing such a representative or representatives to liaise directly with the HSA inspectorate. This measure was essential given that, outside of Statutory Instrument 146, which deals with some individual representative trade union rights, there are no provisions in Irish law which specify the right of workers to be represented. Section 25 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 sets out the provisions relating to such workplace representatives. However, it confers no obligation for the appointment of such representatives. It should also be noted that in SI 291/2013, Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2013, section 23(1)(b) provides that "the project supervisor for the construction stage shall facilitate ... where more than 20 persons are normally employed at any one time on a construction site at any stage of the project, the appointment of a site safety representative from among the employees of the contractor or contractors undertaking the project in accordance with the procedure outlined in Schedule 6." The national protocol now commits to each workplace having such a role. The inclusion of provisions for induction training for all workers and training of workplace representatives on their role and function, together with specialised training in the proper use of cleaning, storing and disposal of personal protective equipment, PPE, are in our view critical to the operation of the protocol.

It is agreed within the protocol terms that any changes to workplace policies or work patterns will be agreed through negotiations with trade unions or worker representatives. The protocol is intended to be universal but does not replace existing obligations under current health and safety legislation, nor does it prevent the development of further specific measures in a particular sector, industries or companies, provided they reflect the principles of the protocol.

The document outlines in a detailed way all of the safety measures required to be put in place and implemented. This virus is very active and can cause serious personal injury to a worker who may contract it. These measures, therefore, seek to mitigate the risk to workers and are vital to maintaining safe workplaces.

This not a set of discretionary guidelines but a suite of mandatory directive actions with no exceptions or opt-outs.

Chairman, it is not my intention to refer in detail to the health and safety provisions set out in the document, as I am sure the committee is very familiar with them. However, I am satisfied that all of the necessary expert advice from the relevant State agencies was sought and utilised in the final output. ICTU advocated strongly that all of the necessary measures, under each safety heading, should be specified in the interests of clarity and compliance.

On the matter of compliance and enforcement, the HSA, which is the statutory body charged with ensuring the safety, health and welfare of workers is protected in the workplace, has been assigned responsibility for the implementation of all aspects of this national protocol, including being available to advise and train worker representatives. It will also have the powers to inspect workplaces and order their closure when appropriate. This is reflected in the broad range of functions assigned to the authority by section 34 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, including functions to encompass the prevention of danger to workers from the spread of infectious disease. Section 35(1) of the Act empowers the Minister to confer additional functions on the authority, which are connected with the functions prescribed in section 34 of the Act. For the avoidance of doubt, in our view the Minister should exercise her power under section 35(1) to expressly assign to the authority a function to promote, foster and enforce compliance with the provisions of this protocol. We hope the committee will consider making a recommendation in this regard.

Inspectors of the authority have extensive powers of enforcement, including the power to serve-----