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 have not seen that but I would say it is a real example of wrong key performance indicators, KPIs. I have been involved in the Central Bank and you see what happened with wrong KPIs in the financial services sector. KPIs are hugely important in any environment. I mentioned health and safety representation at the board table. I remember in my prior life with the Health and Safety Authority doing projects with the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, from the perspective of prevention. I remember a site visit with a pharmaceutical company in County Waterford. It had a model where it put in the number of accidents it avoided by running the organisation well. It monetised how much that contributed to the bottom line. It was not a cost. It was a credit to the organisation. I would rather see something in that line. I have not seen a sign like the one the Deputy mentioned and I would not like to see a sign like that. These are things we note.