Companies ‘tipped off’ about safety inspections

THE country’s largest trade union has claimed companies are being tipped off about Health and Safety Authority inspections allowing them to correct unsafe or illegal practices before detection.

SIPTU also said that given the Health and Safety Authority’s rate of inspections of approximately 14,000 per year — out of a total of 200,000 workplaces — each location could on average only expect a visit every 14.5 years.

The union’s safety and health adviser, Sylvester Cronin, also accused the Government of under-reporting workplace deaths by only counting those workers killed as a result of an accident inside the workplace and omitting count deaths caused by work-related illnesses and diseases.