Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 21:

In page 30, line 39, after "annually" to insert ", upon commencing employment".

This is a very straightforward amendment, which is loaded with common sense, as are all my amendments. Section 20(3) states:

(3) Every employer shall bring the safety statement, in a form, manner and, as appropriate, language that is reasonably likely to be understood, to the attention of—

(a) his or her employees, at least annually and, at any other time, following its amendment in accordance with this section.

This is acceptable up to a point. However, if a person commences employment two to three weeks after an employer has met all his or her obligations under this section, the employer would be unlikely to revisit the safety statement for another year. Under those circumstances the new employee would need to remain employed for in excess of 11 months without the benefit of having the safety statement communicated to him or her in the appropriate manner. My amendment is the essence of reasonableness, common sense and good practice. What guarantees does a new employee have that he or she would be made aware of the safety statement in the circumstances I have just outlined? Such an employee working in a heavy engineering company would be employed for in excess of 11 months without the benefits of being advised of the statement, which is not good practice and does not make common sense. My amendment would ensure that the safety statement would need to be brought to the attention of any new employee.

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