Pat Moylan (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, to the House to debate this important Bill. I compliment officials of his Department and the Health and Safety Authority for their outstanding work. As a former board member of the authority, I appreciate the outstanding work that its inspectorate and staff have done over several years. This includes seeing at first hand their work in ensuring that the rules as laid down are being complied with. Sometimes their work is difficult, for example, when they have to visit sites after fatal accidents, etc. At all times they deal with such events in a very professional manner.

We must recognise the improvements that have taken place. It is easy enough to highlight the number of fatalities. Even one fatality is one too much, but when one looks at the number of people currently at work as against ten or 15 years ago, and the amount of large machinery on building sites, I believe excellent work is being done to ensure health and safety issues are held to be of paramount importance.

There have been some improvements on building sites, where many accidents happen, but the need for maximum levels of safety must always be emphasised. One is always worried, on looking in on a building site, as to what one might find. There should always be pre-development preparation on a site. The location of electrical services, particularly those underground, should always be known. These should be marked on maps and available to a contractor when he or she moves on site. Once building starts on a site overhead cabling should be removed. In 90% of cases it has to be removed afterwards and ideally it should be taken away before construction or work on the site begins. Perhaps the HSA could agree with the local authority that this should be a prerequisite as regards planning.

Despite the improvements, there is still room for further change. In the case of noise levels, for example, the protection exists and is available, if used. Many companies are very good in dealing with eye and noise protection measures, improved safety, security gear, etc. This has to be welcomed. However, quite a number of people attend accident and emergency units in hospitals as a result of accidents on building sites. This cannot be lost sight of and must be improved on.

Other Members, including Senator Dardis, who has first-hand information in this area, referred to the issue of farm safety. This must be continuously reviewed. Farmers have made enormous improvements on their farmyards as regards power drives with simple plastic covers that only cost a few euro, etc. Such measures should be put in place to obviate or reduce the risk element from much of the machinery being worked on.

There is another area of concern, namely, the use of quad motors, on farms and in general. Action must be taken to deal with them. Quads are similar to a small four-wheel drive tractor but with no roller bar, which was compulsory even on very old tractors that could not do more than 5 mph. These quads are well capable of doing 30 mph or 40 mph. There is no protection whatever and they contribute to an enormous number of accidents. Last year, a prominent member of the Irish Farmers Association was seriously injured in such an accident and he is only one of many. I hope this will be reviewed without delay so that something may be done about it.

With regard to slurry on farms, the current topic is the use of open earthen bags. That is the last thing we want. We should ensure that slurry is gathered and controlled in properly covered concrete tanks. Farmers spent possibly 20 years in doing away with, and covering in, many of the old outside earthen tanks. That must be changed in the interests of security and safety on farms and as quickly as possible. While chainsaws are a useful item on a farm, in most cases they are used without any protection of any kind and are the cause of a very large number of accidents.

With regard to articulated lorries, something must be done about long loads which do not carry advance warnings, speed, safety chains and security loading. If a garda has to stop a truck of any type on the road on safety grounds an inspection of tyres, tax, insurance, weight, tachograph, licences and insurance will take up to two hours. That is too long. Despite some improvements, many of these vehicles leave much to be desired.

I also compliment the Health and Safety Authority on the improvements on which it has insisted and which have taken place at many stadiums around the country. Large numbers of people were gathering at such forums and there was a risk of major problems, and possible disasters. However, both the HSA and insurance companies have insisted that safety must be paramount in the development of many of the country's new stadiums. The cost of insurance claims following accidents, whether they occur on a farm or elsewhere, is passed on to consumers, who have difficulty paying their insurance premia.

The HSA inspectors have an enormous responsibility and they carry out their duties very well. I always appreciate their unannounced workplace visits because employers have a duty of care to ensure they adopt the best safety practices for their employees. Prevention is the way forward and the Minister of State and his officials are doing a good job in this regard. The importance of safety committees in the workplace must be recognised. Safety committees and safety officers work well. They adopt a hands-on approach to foresee problems before they develop and ensure all precautions are taken to make sure safety statements are in place and safety equipment is used. There is not much use in an employer providing safety wear if employees fail to use it for whatever reason.

I refer to the responsibility of local authorities to make dangerous buildings safe given that many accidents occur in them. The issue of dangerous buildings must be examined to make sure the HSA puts more pressure on local authorities to monitor these buildings in every town and villages. Many minor accidents occur in them which result in many children getting hurt. Such buildings should be properly secured so they cannot be accessed by children.

Employers and employees should study the legislation and comply with all its provisions. Significant improvements are provided in the legislation. It is about time appropriate fines were introduced so that those who do not comply with the regulations are penalised. I do not know whether the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Health and Safety Authority is responsible for monitoring motorists and other road users whose vehicles break down. All road users should have illuminated vests in case of a breakdown. It should be made compulsory. I thank the Minister of State for introducing the legislation and I wish him and his officials well with it. I appeal to all employers to take extra steps to ensure our workplaces are safer for employees.