David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome Ms Byron and congratulate her on her appointment. I wish her the best with it. The HSA has a massive remit and it is very complex, technical and detailed. I went through its website and it is actually quite good. My colleague has quite rightly been pointing out the issues with respect to sensitive data; I noticed on 13 September last that a press release was issued pertaining to that particular matter. I am not sure whether the authority has any power to engage or get involved if somebody is psychologically damaged through their work as a moderator or, indeed, any other work during which they have been exposed to such awful stuff, which Deputy O'Reilly quite rightly highlighted. It is relatively new and something that I think we will all agree needs to be focused on.

We need to think of the people who have died in the workplace recently and while things are improving, one death is one too many. We should keep those people and their families in our thoughts. I am aware of a number in my area who have passed away tragically. Non-fatal injuries can also be quite traumatic. There were, I think, more than 8,000 in 2021. I wish to ask about culture. Perhaps the HSA could get involved because I hear from time to time, as I am sure other colleagues have, that, "It is all health and safety", and, "We are gone overboard with health and safety", and if workers go out to fill a pothole, they must put up flags, signs and posters and all the rest. There is work to be done in that regard. Perhaps Ms Byron will tell me if she agrees or if she will take it on board. We need to start flipping that the other way so that health and safety become paramount and not seen as an obstacle, burden or cost to work being done. That includes employers and employees; everybody should have health and safety as the number one in their thoughts. Everyone should focus on that. If there is an issue in a workplace that is dangerous, people should be encouraged to come forward, report it, announce it and tell people about it because it can lead to injury or death. There is a cultural issue in Ireland of, "It will be grand", "Get on with it", "What about it?" and "All the health and safety stuff". I am concerned about that. Will Ms Byron comment on that?