Risk assessment duties for Irish employers

Irish employers must identify workplace hazards, assess the risks they present and act on the findings. The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 links this work to a written Safety Statement that explains how safety and health will be managed. A risk assessment should describe the real work and the people who may be affected; a generic document copied from another workplace will not meet that purpose. The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) treats assessment as an ongoing part of preventing injury and ill health.

The legal starting point: section 19

Section 19 of the 2005 Act requires employers and people who control workplaces to any extent to identify hazards in the workplaces under their control and assess the risks to safety and health. The assessment must be written and must cover hazards and risks arising from work activities. The employer must use the results to decide on protective and preventive measures. This duty is not reserved for large companies or unusually dangerous industries.

A hazard is something with the potential to cause harm, such as a machine, chemical, working method or work at height. Risk considers how likely harm is, how serious it could be and who may be exposed. HSA guidance explains that employers need to consider employees and other people who may be affected by the work, including visitors and contractors. The aim is to decide whether existing precautions are enough or further measures are necessary.

How the Safety Statement connects to the assessment

Section 20 requires a written Safety Statement based on the hazards identified and risks assessed under section 19. It should say how the employer will secure and manage safety, health and welfare at work. It must include the relevant hazards and risks, protective and preventive measures, resources and responsibilities, and plans and procedures for emergencies or serious danger.

The HSA stresses that a Safety Statement must be specific to the employer's workplace. A template can help organise the work, and the HSA's BeSMART tool can support businesses in covered sectors, but it must be completed for actual activities and conditions. A document that looks complete while omitting a major task, shift or hazard will not guide workers or show how risk is controlled. The significant findings of risk assessments should be incorporated into or linked clearly from the Safety Statement.

What should an assessment examine?

Start with the tasks people perform, where they perform them and who may be affected. Examine equipment, substances, the layout and work methods. Consider routine work as well as foreseeable non-routine activities such as cleaning, maintenance, deliveries or changes to a process. The HSA says the focus should be on risks generated by work activities, not every trivial hazard of daily life.

For each meaningful hazard, identify who might be harmed, evaluate the risk and set out measures to eliminate it or reduce it. Record the important conclusions and implement the improvements. An assessment should be practical enough for managers and workers to use. Its value is in decisions made and measures put into effect, not in the number of pages produced.

Who can carry it out?

The duty belongs to the employer. The HSA encourages employers to involve managers and employees, because they know how work is actually done. Where the necessary expertise is unavailable in-house, a competent external person can help. The employer should make sure that person understands the work and its hazards. Hiring an adviser does not transfer responsibility for implementing the controls or keeping the Safety Statement suitable.

Workers should be consulted and told about the findings that concern them. The HSA says relevant contents of the Safety Statement must be brought to the attention of employees and others who may face the risks it covers. New employees need the information when they start, in a form and language they can understand. For serious task-specific risks, the relevant hazards and precautions should be made clear to the people doing that work.

When should it be reviewed?

The written assessment and Safety Statement need to reflect current work. Section 19 requires an assessment to be reviewed where there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates or another reason to believe it is no longer valid. Section 20 similarly requires review of the Safety Statement when significant change occurs, validity is in doubt or an inspector directs amendment. After review, the employer must amend the statement as appropriate.

Practical triggers include a new process, different equipment or substances, a changed workplace layout, new information about a hazard or a near miss showing that a control failed. HSA guidance advises periodic review and revision at least annually. The law's change-based duty should not be reduced to an annual diary date: if an important change happens sooner, review sooner. Tell affected staff about the revised findings and precautions.

A manageable process for a small business

Walk through the work with the people who do it. List the significant hazards and who may be exposed. Decide what measures already exist, what else is needed and who will do it. Record the assessment, update the Safety Statement and communicate the relevant parts. Check later that the measures were implemented and work as intended. The HSA's BeSMART tool is available for many small-business sectors, but any template still needs careful workplace-specific answers.

This process can be scaled to the nature of the work. A simple workplace may produce a concise assessment; a complex one may need specialist input and separate assessments for particular hazards. In both cases, the employer must be able to explain the risks, the chosen controls and how those controls operate in practice.

Frequently asked questions