Manual Handling and Safe Systems of Work: Key Issues for Employers

Introduction Jason Milne of A&L Goodbody consider three relatively recent cases concerning injuries sustained during the manual handling of loads and how they have served to highlight some key issues relative to training, risk assessments and safe systems of work. All three cases are: Louise Barry v Dunnes Stores Clonmel (Ltd) and Justyna Meus v Dunnes Stores were decisions of the High Court, while Geraldine Martin v Dunnes Stores (Dundalk) was a Court o...

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Directors Work Health and Safety Duties – Guidance from Abroad

Irish directors are tasked with high stakes work health and safety duties under current legislation. However, there is little guidance available to inform those individuals of the practical steps they can take to comply with their statutory duties. Aoife Gallagher-Watson from the international labour, employment and safety team at Seyfarth Shaw considers how guidance can be taken from other common law jurisdictions. Directorial responsibilities for health and safety at work Under Irish work health and safety (...

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Sentencing in fatal accident health and safety cases: is €1 million the current default position?

Alison Fanagan of A&L Goodbody considers the scenario below. Ireland, unlike England and Wales, does not have sentencing guidance relative to health and safety offences. Having said that, there are quite a number of Court decisions that provide useful guidance, including the recent decision of the Court of Appeal on 6 April 2017 in . That case concerned an appeal by the DPP against what it saw as the overly lenient fine of €125,000 imposed on Kilsaran Concrete Limited relative to a fatality involving an employee. ...

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Are Accident Reports Privileged?

If an injured employee requests details of their accident report what are their entitlements and what are the restrictions that can be placed on the release; most importantly what is the law and reasoning behind all those entitlements and restrictions? Clare Cashin of Philip Lee considers the scenario below. Maintaining Reports Employers maintain reports of accidents which occur at their work place for many reasons; some reasons which spring to mind are the orderly administration of a business, compliance with health and safety legislation,...

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