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Irish Health and Safety Law

Decent Essays

Before 1989 Ireland had very little laws in place for the safety and health of the people at work. Any law that was in place for this was in place for factory and mine workers only. In 1989 a new act was implemented by the Irish Government to cover all people performing any type of work, this was called The Health, Safety and Welfare at Work Act. This Act was then replaced by a newer edition in 2005. My assignment will outline the laws stated in both acts. In 1989 an Act was brought into Irish legislation called the Health and Safety and Welfare at Work Act. It was created to cover all people who carried out ‘work’. Employers, employees in all places of work and to the self employed. As stated in the 1989 Act a place of work was ‘any, …show more content…

The legislation under this Act states that every employer must, as soon as possible, prepare a statement in writing which is known as a safety statement. In this statement the employer must describe the way in which the safety, health and welfare in the workplace shall be secured. The safety statement should include how the employer intends to comply with the 2005 Act. It should contain a summary of the safety and health goals and objectives in the workplace, a list of responsibilities and the means of achieving the aims and objectives (Moffatt, 2006). If the safety inspector finds the safety statement to be inadequate he may order it to be revised. Also, with the increasing number of non national workers it may be required to have the safety statement in more than one language. It is a criminal offence not to have a safety statement for the workplace. Employers (including self-employed) are responsible for creating and maintaining a safe and healthy workplace as mentioned in the 1989 Act. Some of the duties the employers must carry out under the 2005 Act are defined by the term “reasonably practicable”. This statement means that the person has applied all due care when, having identified the hazards and assessed the risks at the workplace, has taken all necessary protective and preventive methods. Under the 2005 Act the duties of an employee include compliance of all the relevant legislation set

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