Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 25 October 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation
Engagement with Chairperson of the Health and Safety Authority
Ms Patricia Byron:
I clause my response on the basis that I am new on the block and subject to correction by the executive, who are closer to this. My take is it would be within our remit. I cannot see why it would not. You are entirely responsible for the health and well-being of anybody working under your auspices in an organisation. If people are subject to bullying in the canteen or see something that damages their psyche, having seen content on the screen, the colour of the screen or the light on screen, that is all about whether it is a healthy place to be and people are protected to the required levels. That is a refinement that will have to be made in this area. It is only developing. It is a new area for the authority. We have invested quite a lot of money in recent times in Project IRIS, which is about data collection and having the platforms. It is an agency that is under change.
There is our internal platform and the next phase will be engagement with third parties. Then, data will be uploaded from people from whom we need returns or whatever. All of that data will be very important in this area. We can, in any environment, be driven by the hot topic of the day but it is very important, as I said in my presentation, to understand the areas in which there are quantum issues, the nature of those issues, why they are developing and how to prevent them. I have always been in favour of prevention, education, training, promotion, influencing and if necessary, cajoling. It is the best way. Then, you do not have the issue to deal with.