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Health & Safety

Our Employment Team are very experienced in advising both employers and employees in relation to Health and Safety matters for over 35 years.

Health & Safety Requirements

Businesses and organisations across Ireland have a duty to protect the health and safety of employees, visitors and members of the public from harm.

The Health and Safety Authority ("HSA") is the national body responsible for workplace health and safety. It is their role to monitor employer’s compliance with health and safety legislation, and where necessary, instigate enforcement proceedings.

Employer Perspective

From an employer’s perspective, the obligation to ensure the health and safety of individuals can be overwhelming if not managed effectively. Depending on your specific industry and business type, you may have a number of additional health and safety obligations with which you must remain compliant, e.g. if you deal with chemicals, biological agents, asbestos, electricity, explosives, fire, heat, farm machinery and construction sites.

Employee Perspective

From an employee’s perspective, workers naturally place trust in their employers to keep them safe while undertaking their roles. Not only do employers have a legal obligation to ensure the health and safety of staff, but they also do so in order to guarantee business continuity and protect their reputation.

Our Health & Safety Expertise

If you require guidance in relation to drafting new health and safety policies and procedures, a claim for workplace injury, or a breach of health and safety law, our Employment Team are well placed to assist you.

Our Multi-Disciplinary Expertise

As a full-service law firm, client's benefit from our multi-disciplinary expertise, where we collaborate with solicitors in other practice areas to provide you with expert legal advice and guidance which meets your needs. Our Employment Solicitors may, depending on your case, liaise with our Personal Injury experts, Corporate & Commercial Team or our Litigation & Dispute Resolution Team as appropriate.

The primary legislation which underpins workplace health and safety is the Safety, Health and Welfare Act 2005.

Section 8 of this act states that employers have a duty to employees to prevent ill-health and injuries by:

Providing and maintaining a safe workplace
Preventing risks from the use of any article or substance
Preventing risks from exposure to physical agents, noise and vibration
Preventing improper conduct or behaviour likely to put the safety, health and welfare of employees at risk
Providing health and safety training
Ensuring the provision of appropriate protective clothing and equipment

Employees also have duties to take reasonable care to protect their own health and safety and of others in the workplace.

Other workplace health and safety laws which apply include, the:

Chemicals Acts 2008 and 2010
Dangerous Substances Act 1979 and 1972
Factories Act 1955
Organisation of Working Time Act 1997
Safety in Industry Act 1980

In addition, there are other specific regulations which must be adhered to, for example in relation to construction and asbestos, and also a series of codes of practice for specific sectors, including the Farm Safety Code of Conduct and the Code of Practice for Working in Confined Spaces.

Employers of all types and size must routinely undertake risk assessments across all aspects of their business, including car parks, offices, vehicles, premises and warehouses. For every health and safety risk they identify, they must implement control and mitigation measures to eliminate the danger, or if this is not possible, mitigate it as much as possible.

In order to control health and safety risks, employers have at their disposal a wide range of strategies including, creating policies and procedures to be followed across the business, staff training, providing protective equipment (e.g. eyewear and ear defenders), safety guards on machines, using clear signage to warn and remind staff of known risks, and rotating staff between roles to avoid over-use injuries such as vibration white finger or carpal tunnel syndrome.

While it is a considerable undertaking to manage health and safety risks across an organisation, it is nevertheless one private, and public entities are required to do by law. As such, if you have been injured at work due to health and safety negligence by your employer, or if you have concerns they may be in breach of health and safety legislation, and putting employees at risk as a result, we can assist you with your matter, and explain your options to achieve the outcome you are seeking.

The Health and Safety Authority promote Behaviour Based Safety ("BBS") as an approach to managing health and safety in the workplace. BBS is designed to work from the bottom-up within any business or organisation; i.e. starting with front-line employees and working up.

BBS is rather similar to traditional organisational behaviour analysis, and involves one on one, or group observations of work activity to spot risks and recommend ways in which such risks can be mitigated.

BBS is intended to be highly proactive, and follows the Antecedent, Behaviour, Consequences model, to identify the stimulus or event (antecedent), such as guides, goal setting, policies, which influences employee behaviour, and the consequences which occur as a result (and reinforce the behaviour) such as feedback, rewards, and recognition.

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Why Choose Lavelle Partners for advice on Health & Safety?

Our Employment Team, headed up by Partner, Marc Fitzgibbon, has been assisting employers and employees for over 35 years in relation to Health and Safety matters and have developed a strong reputation for achieving excellence in this area of law.
Marc is ranked in Band 2 in the latest Chambers and Partners Europe 2024 Guide for Employment: Mainly Plaintiff.
We understand the need to ensure that health and safety is managed and controlled in full accordance with employment legislation and best practice, thereby protecting your business or organisation from the threat of a claim or reputational damage.
Our Employment solicitors are pragmatic, pro-active and with strong business acumen to advise on the optimal strategy for you or your organisation.
As a full-service law firm, client's benefit from our multi-disciplinary offering and our specialist legal expertise across a number of related practice areas including Banking & Finance, Corporate & Commercial and Property.