Employer’s Duty of Care Evolving in the civil courts, the employer's duty of care to each of his employees can conveniently be considered under five headings. These require that an employer must provide:

• Safe systems of work.
• A safe place of work.
• Plant and machinery that is safe to use.
• Competent supervision and/or suitable training.
• Care in the selection of fellow employees.

These duties have been extended by legislation providing for the health and safety of people in the workplace. Such duties are contained in Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007. 
The Act sets out the rights and obligations of both employers and employees and provides for substantial fines and penalties for breaches of the health and safety legislation.

Employers Duty/Responsibility

Section 8 of the Act provides that an employer has a duty to ensure the employees' safety, health and welfare at work as far as is reasonably practicable. In order to prevent workplace injuries and ill health the employer is required, among other things, to: 
- Provide and maintain a safe workplace which uses safe plant and equipment
- Prevent risks from use of any article or substance and from exposure to physical agents, noise and vibration . 
- Prevent any improper conduct or behaviour likely to put the safety, health and welfare of employees at risk 
- Provide instruction and training to employees on health and safety 
- Provide protective clothing and equipment to employees. This includes telling an employee about any risks that require the wearing of protective equipment and the provision of such protective equipment together with training on how to use it, where necessary.

Risk Assessments/Safety Statements

Under the Act, every employer is required to carry out a risk assessment for the workplace and a safety statement based on this. Such a statement should contain the details of people in the workforce who are responsible for safety issues. Employees should be given access to this statement and employers should review it on a regular basis. 
An employer is obliged to report any accident that results in an employee missing 3 consecutive days at work (not including the day of the accident) to the Health and Safety Authority.

An employer should carry out separate risk assessments in relation to persons under 18 years of age and also in relation to pregnant employees. If there are particular risks to an employee's pregnancy, these should be either removed or the employee moved away from them. Under Section 18 of the Maternity Protection Act 1994 if neither of these options is possible, the employee should be given health and safety leave from work, which may continue up the beginning of maternity leave.

Time spent on health and safety leave is treated as though the employee has been in employment, and this time can be used to accumulate annual leave entitlement. The employee is entitled to leave for any public holidays that occur during health and safety leave. During health and safety leave, employers must pay employees their normal wages for the first three weeks, after which Health and Safety Benefit may be paid.

Bullying/Harassment

One of the employer's duties is to prevent improper conduct or behaviour (which includes bullying). An employer should have established procedures for dealing with complaints of bullying in the workplace and deal with such complaints immediately. Ignoring complaints of bullying could leave an employer open to a possible claim for damages by an employee. It is advisable for an employer to have an established grievance procedure to deal with complaints of bullying. 

Similarly, the Employment Equality Acts 1998 and 2004 place an obligation on all employers in Ireland to prevent harassment in the workplace. Under this law employers may be held liable before the Equality Tribunal and obliged to pay compensation if an employee is harassed by reason of gender, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, age, disability, race, religious belief or membership of the Traveller community.

HSA guidelines for employers

The Health and Safety Authority is responsible for enforcing health and safety at work in Ireland. It provides information to employers, employees and self-employed people on workplace health and safety. 

Currently the HSA has published guidance notes on the following issues to assist employers in complying with their obligations: 

1. Manual Handling of Loads 
2. Display Screen Equipment 
3. Work at Height 
4. Safety signs at places of work 
5. Protection of young persons 
6. First Aid 
7. Night work and shift work 
8. Personal protective equipment 
9. Pregnant, post natal and breastfeeding employees

Implications for employers

Given the serious implications for those found in breach of the new Regulations, including a fine of up to €3,000 and/ or up to six months imprisonment on summary conviction and a fine of up to €3,000,000 and or imprisonment for up to two years for more serious offences, it is important that employers familiarise themselves with their obligations through the HSA guidance notes. 

The standard which is to be applied to employers is compliance with the Regulations "in so far as is reasonably practicable". This phrase was first used in the Safety Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, and health and safety prosecutions brought under that legislation have already shown that this is quite a high bar for employers.

Please note that this article is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. 

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