Today marks the start of European Week for Safety and Health at Work. This year\u2019s campaign\u00a0theme is \u201cworking together for risk prevention\u201d which urges managers and employees to work in close cooperation with a\u00a0view to making workplaces as safe and healthy as possible.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the beginning of this year\u2019s campaign, Martin O\u2019Halloran, Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Authority\u00a0said, \u201cIt\u2019s common sense that any initiatives to improve workplace safety and health standards will be more effective\u00a0when managers and employees work closely together. It\u2019s in the interest of all business owners and directors to involve\u00a0workers; they\u2019re the ones who are likely to have practical ideas on how to reduce the likelihood of a workplace accident.\u00a0If a \u2018safety first\u2019 culture is to be engrained in any organisation then real and genuine cooperation should be the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to research recently commissioned by the HSA, the most important source of information about workplace\u00a0safety and health for an employee is his\/her boss followed by the Health and Safety Authority itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorkers depend heavily on senior managers to be aware of workplace safety and health issues and to effectively fulfil\u00a0their duties. Senior managers have a legal and moral responsibility to ensure workers are not exposed to any\u00a0unnecessary risk and, by involving workers in a meaningful way and working together with a common goal, the benefits\u00a0of lower accident rates are huge. Apart from the reduction in human cost, lower insurance premiums, improved\u00a0productivity and reduced absenteeism rates are just some of the tangible benefits to the bottom line\u201d, said Mr. O\u2019Halloran.<\/p>\n
Prevention is the cornerstone of Ireland\u2019s and Europe\u2019s approach to managing workplace risk. During this year\u2019s\u00a0European Safety Week, the Health and Safety Authority will be highlighting the importance of close employer\/employee\u00a0interaction. Authority inspectors will be focusing on the issue during workplace inspections and will be looking for\u00a0evidence that there is an appropriate level of collaboration between management and workers.<\/p>\n
Information seminars in\u00a0association with SIPTU and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work are also being held in Dublin on\u00a0Monday 21st\u00a0and Galway on Wednesday 23rd\u00a0October. For full details check the HSA website at: on\u00a0www.hsa.ie<\/p>\n
European Week for Safety and Health at Work is the biggest awareness-raising event of its kind dedicated to\u00a0improving the safety and health of Europe\u2019s workplaces. The Week takes place from today (21st.)\u00a0to next Friday (25th.\u00a0October) and is\u00a0coordinated by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) and implemented by its partners in\u00a0the EU\u2019s 28 Member States and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today marks the start of European Week for Safety and Health at Work. This year\u2019s campaign\u00a0theme is \u201cworking together for risk prevention\u201d which urges managers and employees to work in close cooperation with a\u00a0view to making workplaces as safe and healthy as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n