The Gazette 1981

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1981

GAZETTE

not specifically to investigate an accident, the employer is obliged to notify the safety representative and, once he requests it, the safety representative is entitled to accompany the inspector. These functions are obviously seen as minimal. In a provision of a type which features regularly in the new Act the Minister for Labour is given powers to add to the functions of the safety representative by way of Statutory Regulations which would be made only after ICTU and FUE are consulted. Safety Committees So long as there are two workers and provided of course that they do not exercise the safety representative option, there can be a joint safety committee. The new Act entitles workers to select from among themselves the worker members of the committee. If any of the members so selected leave the factory, they cease to be members of the committee but otherwise no limit is put on their term of office. In practice it is left up to each enterprise to work out its own rules concerning the life of a committee, provi sions for elections, resignations and replacements etc. There are rules (Table 2) about the size and composition of safety committees: the committee cannot be smaller than three or bigger than ten. Safety committees, already in existence with at least three members, set up under the Factories Act 1955 continue in being unaffected by the new Act even if there are more than ten members. Such committees will have all the powers and responsibilities of the new safety committees. There is general guidance in the new Act about the functions of the safety committee and detailed guidance about its meetings. The functions of the safety committee are similar to UP TO 1% INTEREST S) TAX NOT A DEDUCTED

—safety delegates and safety representatives are involved more closely with the visiting inspector; —provisions for facilities for meetings and the frequency, duration and times for meetings are spelled out clearly; these can be improved on by agreement with the employer. Quite clearly there is a major problem of education and training for trade unions and employers in preparing for the new system. It is for that reason that in order to permit trade unions and employers' organisations to prepare themselves this Part III of the Act will not, with the agreement of ICTU and FUE, be brought into effect until 1 April 1981. Other significant provisions are in Sections 9, 10, 11 and 50. Section 9 imposes a duty on manufacturers, importers and suppliers of plant to ensure that plant is in operation. Section 10 enables the Minister to have plant tested in the event that it was wholly or partly the cause of an accident. Section 11 gives the Minister power to close down immediately activities which in his opinion involve risk of serious bodily injury. Section 50, dealing with industrial medical advisers, opens up a vista of greater efforts in the field of occupational health and foresees the employment of specialist staff and surveys of workers exposed to health risks. Safety Committee or Safety Representative In factories where up to twenty persons are employed workers have a choice between a safety representative and a safety committee. They cannot have both. There is no such choice in factories where more than twenty are employed: there must be a safety committee. Quite obvi- ously there is no rule of thumb about which is better - every factory has its own peculiarities and problems and the workers in that factory are in the best position to decide. In the training courses being prepared by the Irish trade union movement, guidelines will be prepared to help them decide. Regulations may vary upwards or down wards the number (twenty) of persons that must be employed in a factory before the workers will be entitled to appoint a safety representative. Such regulations cannot be made, however, before ICTU and FUE are consulted. Safety Representatives Where the workers have decided on the safety representative option they can select and appoint him or her from among themselves and, barring resignation or leaving the factory, the safety representative will hold office for three years. If during that period workers decided to create a safety committee this would automa tically revoke the appointment of the safety represen- tative. Ideally the safety representative should have experience of the kind of work being done by the people whom he represents. His mandate is wide: to represent the workers in consultations with the employer. When he is appointed the employer must hold consultations with him for the purpose of ensuring co-operation at the workplace in relation to the Acts and Regulations. The employer must consider any representations made on the safety, health and welfare of the workers. The safety represen tative will be more closely involved with the industrial inspector. When the inspector visits the factory in order to carry out a general tour of inspection, i.e. one that is

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