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Employers and employees should be aware of current health and safety legislation, so as to protect their own safety and the safety of their colleagues. The Safety Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 provides guidelines on the health and safety duties that employers and employee have in the workplace.

Employer's Duties

Section 8 of the Safety Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 details a number of duties that the employer must comply with, including the following

1. The provision of health and safety training for the employees within the workplace
2. Supervising work activities so as to ensure that employees do not engage in reckless behaviour at the workplace
3. Reporting accidents in the workplace to the relevant authorities

Employee's Duties

Section 13 of the 2005 Act provides for a number of employees' duties in the workplace, which include:

1. The employee must not be under the influence of drink or drugs in the workplace
2. The employee must not engage in reckless behaviour at the workplace
3. The employee must report to their employer or supervisor if wok is being done in a dangerous manner or there has been any breach of the health and safety regulations.

Making a complaint

If an employee believes that their employer is breaching health and safety legislation or if they are being penalised by their employer for complying with health and safety legislation, then the employee should consider making a complaint to the Rights Commissioner. However, the complaint must be made within 6 months of the breach occurring.

Penalties

If an employer is found to have failed to comply with health and safety legislation, they could face a fine of up to €3,000 or imprisonment for a maximum of 6 months.