Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 employers have specific duties to ensure the safety, health and welfare at work of all employees. These duties include the managing and conducting all work activities to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, the safety, health and welfare of those employees. In this regard, an employer who provides a laptop to a member of staff who works at multiple locations should conduct a risk assessment that takes full account of the nature of the work. The risk assessment will inform whether or not the laptop is used for long periods of time at the different sites. An employer has a duty to implement appropriate control measures to mitigate risk including adapting work to the employee, especially as regards the choice of work equipment, as well as providing training in how to use equipment safely and monitoring how employees work while mobile working.

Employees themselves also have duties and responsibilities and must take reasonable care of themselves and other people who may be affected by the work they are doing. This duty includes co-operating with their employer and following instructions and procedures put in place by their employer.

As with all issues or concerns relating to occupational health and safety matters, the Workplace Contact Unit of the Health and  Safety Authority can be contacted on 1890 289 389 or at any time through the HSA website (ww.hsa.ie) by email at wcu@hsa.ieand advice on the matter will be provided.