Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I have been contacted by several health and safety officers as regards the amendment the Minister of State introduced in the Seanad on this matter.

Practitioners who ensure there are proper health and safety standards in the workplace are alarmed by the removal of the requirement for an annual risk assessment, the cornerstone, in their view, of vigilance in health and safety. I have received faxed memoranda from practitioners who attest from personal experience that the annual assessment is extremely important. One such memorandum states:

The only way to ensure that these proper safeguards are maintained in the workplace is to review the safety statement on an annual basis in order to safeguard workers. Risk assessment for each workplace has also played a major role in accident prevention so with this amendment the only requirement to carry out a risk assessment would be in cases of significant change.

This raises the question as to what constitutes significant change and who determines that. It is not particularly onerous to have an annual obligation to carry out an assessment. If nothing has changed, the annual risk assessment will, by and large, address the same issues as on previous occasions. We should have regard to those at the cutting edge of providing a safe environment for workers and proceeding with this amendment is a matter of concern.

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