Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Ireland (Ratification: 1951)

The Committee notes the Government’s detailed report and also the information in reply to its previous comments. Also referring to its comment of 2006 under the Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155), the Committee notes the content of the new Act on occupational safety, health and welfare adopted in 2005 and its implementing legislation, as disseminated on the Health and Safety Authority web site (www.hsa.ie), which also contains substantial, regularly updated documentation on the activities of this tripartite body, its results, and also numerous publications of a practical, economic and pedagogical nature. The Committee particularly welcomes the number and quality of handbooks and codes of good practice – also available on the web site – applicable to activities which expose workers to high risks of accidents and specific pathologies (laying and maintenance of roofs, carriage and handling of heavy loads, working with asbestos, handling of chemicals, working at height, etc.), together with practical tools which are necessary for their effective implementation in the workplace.

1. Article 3, paragraph 1(a) and (b), of the Convention. Strengthening the complementary nature of prevention and enforcement in labour inspection. The Committee notes with interest that the provisions of the Act of 2005, dealing with the duties and powers of inspectors and also the relevant obligations of employers and workers with regard to occupational safety and health, reflect the wish of the legislative bodies to balance prevention and enforcement in labour inspection. Incorporating sanctions applicable to offenders into the relevant legislation also bears witness to the importance attached to inspection and the genuine desire to effectively combat violations which jeopardize the health and safety of workers.

2. Articles 5(a), 17 and 18. Effective cooperation between the inspectorate and other governmental bodies and institutions with a view to publicizing and stopping violations. The Committee notes that the Authority is empowered by the new Act to publish a list of enterprises and persons convicted of violations and also the grounds for the convictions. It also notes the dissemination on the Internet of legal decisions issued each year since 2001 with respect to offenders under health and safety legislation. These measures constitute an extremely useful example of cooperation between the inspectorate and the judicial authorities. As the Committee emphasized in its 2006 General Survey on labour inspection, the effectiveness of the sanctions available to the labour inspectorate depends to a large extent on the way in which the judicial authorities deal with the case files referred to them by or on the recommendation of the labour inspectors (paragraph 158). Moreover, at the same time as enhancing the credibility of the labour inspectorate, publicity thus given to infringements and negligence which jeopardizes the health and safety of workers can indeed be an effective deterrent, firstly, giving rise to fiscal or economic measures vis‑à‑vis the offenders (difficulties with access to credit or to the award of grants and other social advantages) and, secondly, encouraging employers and workers in general to comply with the legislation more scrupulously (see paragraph 283 of the abovementioned General Survey) .

3. Economic impact of the legislation on safety and health at work. The Committee notes with interest the INDECON report on the economic impact of the legislation on occupational safety, health and welfare since 1989, published in 2006. This report, which is based on research using different approaches in a number of industrialized countries, testifies to the growing interest in this issue shown by economic, political and social players and decision-makers. The report observes that the optimization of socio-economic benefits as a result of relevant legislation also depends, in all cases, on the efforts made at all institutional levels and at the general level of enterprises and society to establish a genuine culture of health and safety at work. These efforts are reflected not only in relevant legislation and regulations, the provision of technical advice and information to the social partners, both in preventive and remedial forms, but also in an effective supervisory system of a coercive and deterrent nature.

4. International dissemination and exchange of good practice in labour inspection. The Committee also congratulates the Government on the prestigious international award recently received by the Authority for its revolutionary Safe System of Work Plan (SSWP), as an expression of its capacity to make known, promote, implement and apply in other countries all good innovative practices in the field of safety and health in the construction industry (information on the abovementioned web site).