Understanding Safety: What is smart PPE?
Understanding Safety: What is smart PPE? ANDY TILLEARD EHS Consultant EazySAFE PPE (personal protective equipment) has long been recognised as a useful tool in providing a barrier between a person and a hazard. We are all familiar with high visibility vests, hard hats and safety footwear which are probably the most common items of PPE used throughout the industry on a daily basis. Covid-19 has also raised our awareness of both PPE and RPE (respiratory protective equipment) in…
Returning to Work After Pregnancy
Returning to Work After Pregnancy LISA QUINN O'FLAHERTY Solicitor Fitzsimons Redmond There are a number of circumstances that may be in play when a worker returns to work after pregnancy. In some circumstances, the worker may have experienced miscarriage. There is no right to miscarriage leave in Irish law, but the worker may have taken sick leave to physically recover. Many employers offer miscarriage or bereavement leave to parents who experience this kind of loss. …
Planning Your Return to Work
Planning Your Return to work JENNY COLLINS EHS Consultant EazySAFE The Irish Government have issued an easing of COVID-19 restrictions with a phased return to the office, emphasising flexibility from 20 September 2021. This brings a lot of consideration and yet more change for Organisations. COVID-19 forced a mandatory ‘work from home’ arrangement from March 2020. Overnight, employers and employees had to create new ways of working and engaging from a distance, to regain autonomy…
Personal Injuries
Personal Injuries TONY MANGAN EHS Consultant EazySAFE We have all seen our car insurance premiums increasing year by year. Charities, voluntary groups, sports clubs, leisure companies and many other businesses are faced with soaring public liability insurance. Insurance companies state that the level of pay-outs for injuries is much higher here than in other jurisdictions, and that this adds to the cost. To help to tackle this, the government is reconstituting how the level of awards are decided on. In 2003 the government set up the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) to assess compensation for victims…
Farm Safety
Farm Safety GEMMA COLLINS DOYLE EHS Consultant EazySAFE Most of the time, when we think of working safely, we automatically think of manufacturing, construction, and offices etc. We tend to forget about farming and what a high-risk job it can be, even when all the safety precautions have been put in place. According to the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), one third of all workplace fatalities in Ireland occur in farming, even though a small…
Injured and Disabled Employees: Getting them back to work
Injured and Disabled Employees: Getting them back to work TONY MANGAN EHS Consultant EazySAFE Have you ever thought you could break a leg or arm on a skiing holiday or falling down the stairs? How about becoming more disabled? Perhaps a stroke? You could acquire a debilitating progressive disease like Multiple Sclerosis or Parkinson. Or maybe this has happened to one of your employees. And then again, not all disabilities are obvious; mental health issues,…
Challenging our Beliefs for Better Workplace Relationships
Challenging our Beliefs for Better Workplace Relationships ALAN WHITE Wellness Consultant EazySAFE To promote a culture of wellbeing in the workplace, relationships must be at its core. Developing strong, positive relationships with colleagues not only creates a positive working environment but will also increase flow and efficiency of work. Employees model the behaviour of leaders in the organisation so it’s important that they develop self-awareness of how they react and interact with the people they…
Risks to the Long-Term Health of Irish Workers
Risks to the Long-Term Health of Irish Workers TONY MANGAN EHS Consultant EazySAFE Health can be defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. An occupational disease, meanwhile, is a disease where work may be a contributory factor. In 2013, an estimated 55,000 workers in Ireland suffered from a work‐related illness. Musculoskeletal and stress related ill health are the biggest risks to workers…
Understanding Safety: Workers in Sensitive Risk Groups
Understanding Safety: Workers in Sensitive Risk Groups ANDY TILLEARD EHS Consultant EazySAFE There are myriad environments that people work in on a day to day basis in which they are able to work without undue problems, what most of us would consider to be a normal working regime. Although there are some more hazardous risk management issues that may need to be assessed and managed, such as working with chemicals, working in a confined space…