Written answers

Tuesday, 19 July 2016

Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Health and Safety Inspections Data

Photo of Niall CollinsNiall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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875. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the amount of funding the Health and Safety Authority spent on all safety initiatives and the number of inspections it carried out in each of the years 2011 to 2015, inclusive, and in 2016 to date in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22006/16]

Photo of Niall CollinsNiall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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876. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the amount allocated to the Health and Safety Authority for all safety initiatives in 2016; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22007/16]

Photo of Pat BreenPat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 875 and 876 together.

The annual Exchequer grant to the Health and Safety Authority is intended to cover the administration and enforcement of the range of legislation for which it carries responsibility. The Authority is charged with statutory responsibilities in the following key areas:

- To regulate and promote the safety, health and welfare of people at work and those affected by work activities;

- To regulate and promote the safe manufacture, use, placing on the market, trade and transport of chemicals;

- To act as the surveillance authority in relation to relevant single European market legislation;

- To act as the national accreditation body.

The Health and Safety Authority’s annual grant is broken down into pay and non-pay– it does not provide specific allocations for particular programme areas such as workplace health and safety regulation, chemicals regulation, and national accreditation or for safety initiatives including the organisation of information and awareness campaigns.

The Authority depends upon the annual exchequer allocation provided by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (DJEI) to fund the implementation of its programme of work. Within that context, and informed by its current three year Statement of Strategy 2016-2018, the Authority prioritises initiatives in those areas where there is greatest risk and the greatest potential to maximise its efforts to achieve a continued downward trend in workplace deaths, accidents, injuries and ill health, and to increase the safe use of chemicals.

Health and Safety Authority Inspectors carry out inspections across all work sectors and work activities which come under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 (the 2005 Act) and the Chemicals Act 2008. Most inspections are targeted at the high risk sectors such as construction, agriculture, forestry, manufacturing, mines, quarries, transport of dangerous goods by road, or the chemical sectors. Other inspections can be part of a particular safety awareness campaign e.g. on manual handling, on slips, trips or falls or on compliance with the REACH Regulation. The Authority produces a Programme of Work each year setting out its plan for all areas of its work, including inspection targets. The annual Programme of Work is submitted to the Minister for approval.

The number of workplace inspections carried out from 2011 to 2016 (14/07/16) is set out in the following table

Table 1

YearNumber of workplace inspections and investigations
201115,340
201213,835
201312,244
201410,719
201510,880
2016 (recorded as of 14 July)5,917

While the falling inspection rates between 2011 and 2014 in Table 2 above can be attributed to the loss of inspection staff, the programme of inspections has been increased by the Authority in 2016 and continues to be targeted at areas of highest risk. The Authority’s 2016 Programme of Work set a target of 11,165 inspections and investigations and its performance is currently on target.

The Authority has also invested significant resources in recent years in enabling enterprises to achieve compliance in the simplest, most cost-effective manner. The Authority’s BeSMART.ie risk assessment and management tool for small enterprises has been developed and expanded for the construction and agri-business sectors. The Authority also ran safety awareness campaigns relating to farming, construction, vehicle safety and fishing safety, along with promoting the BeSMART safety management tool to small businesses. It has also run campaigns to alert consumers to the potential dangers from detergent liquitabs.

In 2015 the Authority’s exchequer Grant was increased by €250,000 during the course of the year (following re-allocations made in light of the Department’s 2015 mid-year expenditure review) to facilitate special safety initiatives aimed at Agriculture and Construction.

Since the Authority is allocated funding for pay and non-pay, it uses its non-pay allocation to cover a range of administrative ICT, accommodation, and other running costs, in addition to providing funding for information and awareness activities, including specific safety initiatives. Consequently, the funding provision for particular programmes, including specific safety initiatives, fluctuates from year to year as the Authority decides how to prioritise its non-pay funding in order to implement its programme of work.

In the current year (see Table 2 below) the Non Pay budget decided by the Authority includes a reduction in the provision for "safety initiatives" in 2016 in light of other priorities of the Authority’s overall programme of work for this year, including developments affecting office accommodation, a necessary business process review arising from the integration of INAB and the replacement of the current manual system used in the INAB accreditation process, as part of the development of a new Client Management System (a commitment in the Action Plan for Jobs, 2016)

Table 2

Amount of money spent on Health and Safety Initiatives 2011 to 2016

YearEstimated Spend on Safety Initiatives (excl. Safety Inspections)HSA’s Non-pay Grant Expenditure Outturn
2011€1.567m€6.719m
2012€1.907m€6.447m
2013€1.595m€6.727m
2014€1.154m€6.177m
2015€1.776m€6.483m
2016€0.957 m*-
* Planned expenditure to end of 2016

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