Safety Statement example for an Irish workplace

A useful Irish Safety Statement describes how a particular employer will manage the risks found in its own workplace. It starts with real hazard assessments, identifies the people responsible for controls, explains emergency arrangements and is brought to employees' attention. The example below shows what that can look like for a small office and field-service business. It is deliberately incomplete as a legal document: the fictional names, premises and controls must be replaced after a real assessment before anyone uses it.

Under sections 19 and 20 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, an employer must identify hazards, assess risks and prepare a written Safety Statement based on that work. Section 20 lists required content, including preventive measures and resources, emergency procedures, employee duties, named responsible people and consultation arrangements. It also requires the statement to be communicated to employees at least annually, at the start of employment and after amendment. The HSA's Safety Statement guidance says it should remain relevant and be revised when changes affect safety. A polished document copied from another business is no substitute for this process.

Worked example: small office and field-service employer

Fictional business: Riverbend Services Ltd, a 12-person business with an office, small storage area and staff who visit customer premises. This example is a teaching model, not an assertion that these controls are suitable for every office or field role.

1. Document control and scope

The document controller keeps the current version available at each relevant workplace and records who received it. A review date is a management prompt. It does not replace the legal triggers for review or turn an out-of-date statement into a valid one merely because the date has not passed.

2. Policy and commitment

> Riverbend Services Ltd will identify hazards arising from its work, assess the risks and put proportionate preventive measures in place. Management will provide the people, time, equipment, information, instruction and supervision required to implement these measures. Employees are expected to follow the agreed controls, report hazards and incidents promptly, and cooperate in keeping work safe. We will consult employees about matters affecting their safety and revise this statement when our activities or risks change.

Replace this with an approved statement from the actual employer. A policy paragraph alone is not the whole Safety Statement: the named arrangements and underlying assessments below must describe what the business really does.

3. Named responsibilities and consultation

The employer must enter real names, including the name of any safety representative or members of a safety committee if appointed. Consultation is not a signature exercise. For example, record staff feedback on a proposed field visit procedure, who assessed it, what changed and when workers were told. The Irish Act requires arrangements for safety representatives and participation to be set out in the Safety Statement; it does not mean every small employer automatically has a representative or committee.

4. Summary of assessed hazards and controls

The table is an index into actual risk assessments, not a replacement for them. Each assessment should identify who might be harmed, how, the circumstances of exposure, existing measures, further action, owner and review trigger. Rate risk only if the method helps the employer decide what to do; a numerical score does not prove that a control works.

These are examples, not a prescribed hazard list. A real business may need to assess chemicals, machinery, violence, infection, young or vulnerable workers, work at height or other risks. Conversely, do not pad a statement with irrelevant hazards. The HSA's free BeSMART tool can help a small employer identify relevant sector risks and produce an initial Safety Statement; the employer still has to validate it against the actual work.

5. Arrangements to implement the controls

Before a new task: The supervisor identifies whether an existing assessment covers the work. For a customer site, staff obtain site rules and check access, other contractors, hazardous services, emergency procedures and any permits. If the task introduces a significant new hazard, work waits until the assessment and controls are revised.

Equipment and maintenance: The person assigned to each item arranges checks and keeps defects out of use. The statement identifies which inspections are needed for the actual equipment and who will arrange them; it should not claim a single inspection interval applies to all equipment.

Information and training: New starters receive relevant extracts, understand their own duties and can ask questions. Role-specific competence requirements are recorded separately. Attendance at a generic induction does not establish competence for specialist work.

Contractors and visitors: The Office Lead briefs visitors on immediate hazards and evacuation. The Operations Manager exchanges relevant risk information with contractors before work starts. Where employers share a workplace, section 21 of the 2005 Act requires cooperation and coordination; simply collecting another firm's statement is not enough.

Incident and near-miss response: Make the area safe, provide assistance, preserve relevant facts, record what happened and investigate controls. A person responsible for statutory notification checks whether an incident meets HSA reporting rules; the Safety Statement should point to the separate reporting procedure rather than imply every event is reportable.

6. Emergency and serious-danger arrangements

For this fictional office, the emergency appendix would contain the address and access instructions, alarm method, evacuation routes, assembly point, persons coordinating evacuation, first-aid arrangements, emergency contacts, arrangements for people who need assistance and a method to account for visitors. Staff also need instructions for a serious and imminent danger during a field visit: stop the task, withdraw to safety, warn affected people, call emergency services where needed and notify the employer.

These arrangements must be tested against the premises and the real people involved. A field worker at a customer's premises must know that site's emergency arrangements, not assume the office plan applies.

7. Communication, review and sign-off

Keep a record of when new starters received the relevant statement, when the current version was brought to all employees' attention and when amendments were explained. Section 20 of the Act requires the statement to be brought to employees' attention at least annually, on commencement and following amendment. This annual communication requirement is distinct from the review triggers: significant change, reason to believe the statement is no longer valid, or an inspector's direction. The HSA additionally recommends periodic, at least annual revision to keep it relevant.

An example review log:

The approving manager signs only after the real assessments, resources and arrangements have been agreed. Maintain the current statement or relevant extract at or near each place of work where it applies, as section 20 requires.

How to adapt the example without copying its mistakes

Start with a walk-through and discussion with the people doing the work. List actual tasks, equipment, locations, people exposed and foreseeable abnormal conditions. Write the risk assessments first. Then fill the statement with controls that are already in place or put each unfinished control into an assigned action plan. Check that names, emergency details, training, contractor interface and review process work in practice. Ask a competent specialist to review any technical risks beyond the team's expertise.

For a business with three or fewer employees, section 20(8) allows compliance through an applicable code of practice in the circumstances stated by the Act. That is a conditional route, not a blanket exemption from assessing or controlling risk. Check the HSA guidance before relying on it.

The existing Complys Irish Safety Statement guide explains the duty and writing process. The existing Irish tools directory lists a Safety Statement template for users who want a starting form. This page has a narrower job: it shows one worked example and explains why each part is there. For different sectors, use the separate industry-specific resource rather than pretending this office example fits construction, care or hospitality.

Next step: Assess your workplace, then adapt the example and check the completed statement against the HSA's guidance. If the current Complys Ireland product offers a verified Safety Statement workflow, link its exact live route here after implementation review. A software tool can support record keeping; the employer remains responsible for assessing real risks and implementing controls.

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