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Health and Safety

SIPTU's Commitment to Health and Safety

SIPTU is committed to the highest possible standards of safety, health and welfare of its members at work.  Unique among Irish trade unions, SIPTU has its own specialist health and safety service.

The health and safety service - based in SIPTU College - provides organisation and development support to help make workplaces safer and healthier. It has built up a valuable store of reference information on safety and health, which is used regularly for the benefit of Union members.

Activities include inspections and visits to individual workplaces and enterprises which are organised through SIPTU Branches to give support to safety representatives and other Union representatives.


Your Rights to Legal Protection

The principal piece of legislation covering workplace safety and health is the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.  There are four main sections in the Act which employees should be familiar with:

  • Section 8: outlines the employers' duties to their employees to secure safety, health and welfare at work.
  • Section 13: outlines employees' responsibilities - mainly of a co-operative nature.
  • Section 20: covers the Safety Statement which is intended to reflect the employer's system for managing safety and health.  A very important part of the Safety Statement is the risk assessment in which hazards should be identified and assessed with specific control arrangements outlined.
  • Section 26: covers (a) the right to consultation and (b) the right to representation.

Safety Committee

Safety Committees are not mandatory under the Act but an employer is required to "consult his employees". The best example given for consultation is through a Safety Committee.  Safety Committees work more effectively where there is balanced participation, i.e., an equal number of representatives from both worker and management sides and where workers choose their own representatives.




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