Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 430: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if, in view of the continuing high levels of workplace accidents and deaths, he is satisfied that the requirements to bring the safety statement to the attention of employees and to provide training is being fully complied with. [15082/06]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Under section 20 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, every employer has a duty to prepare a written safety statement identifying hazards and assessing the specific risks at the place of work, outlining protective and preventive measures taken and emergency plans.

Employers are required to bring the safety statement to the attention of their employees in a form, manner and language likely to be understood by them. New staff must be made aware of the safety statement upon commencement of employment. Existing staff must be notified of its contents at least annually and at any other time following its amendment. Employers also have a duty to bring the safety statement to the attention of other persons at the place of work who may be exposed to any specific risk to which the safety statement applies.

Section 10 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 requires employers to provide instruction, training and supervision for their employees. Training must be provided in a form, manner and language that is reasonably likely to be understood by the employee concerned. Employees must receive safety and health training specific to the tasks they perform. Training must be provided to employees on recruitment, transfer, assignment to a new task, on the introduction of new technology and it must be adapted to keep pace with changed risks in the workplace.

The Health and Safety Authority, which has day-to-day responsibility for the administration and enforcement of occupational safety and health legislation, operates under a broadly based enforcement and prevention programme, aimed at promoting and ensuring compliance with the legislation in its totality, including with regard to the requirements relating to safety statements and safety training. The authority's inspectors prioritise their inspections so that workplaces or sectors that are less compliant are targeted. Notwithstanding this, there has been a consistent increase in the percentage of workplaces inspected that have safety statements. A total of 76% of workplaces inspected in 2005 had safety statements available. Of these safety statements, 55% were in full or broad compliance with the regulatory requirements.

The work programme of the Health and Safety Authority targets health and safety management and the responsibilities of directors for particular enforcement action during 2006. There are over 200,000 workplaces in Ireland and to make the best use of its resources, the authority is prioritising a number of sectors for attention. These include the high risk sectors of agriculture, construction and mines and quarries, as well as the health services, local authorities and process industries.

While much of the authority's work is by necessity sector specific or hazard specific, there are many programmes that clearly span all sectors and hazards. They include a comprehensive inspection programme with a target of 16,500 inspections, an education programme which seeks to influence the managers and workers of the future and an innovative micro-business support programme tailored to meet the needs of those employing ten people or fewer.