New Year - Time to Update Your Safety Statement

Safety Statement is your Company Safety Management System and it has to be up-to-date to remain effective.

Safety Statement is required by Section 19 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. The aim of the safety statement is to ensure that no one gets injured at work.

The Health and Safety Authority recommends that the Safety Statement is reviewed at least annually. When reviewing the Safety Statement, the following should be considered:

  1. Does your Company Safety Statement identify hazards and assess risks?
  2. Where the safety measures identified during preparation of the original Safety Statement implemented in practice?
  3. Were new work practices and/or work processes introduced? If so, they need to be risk assessed.
  4. What new health and safety measures were applied following incidents in your Workplace?
  5. What improvements in health and safety performance of your Company need to be made?

 Your Safety Statement should cover the following details as a minimum:

  1. Health and Safety Policy
  2. Environmental Policy
  3. Roles and Responsibilities
  4. Duties of employees (co-operation with the employer in health and safety matters, use of personal protective equipment, reporting of accidents, incidents and near misses, etc.)
  5. Health and safety training
  6. Company safety and health procedures
  7. Hazard identification and risk assessment

And remember, that your Safety Statement has to be written in the form and language that can be understood by all.