The Health and Safety Authority have developed a new construction safety code of practice for small contractors. The new code is designed to reduce onsite accidents and will help small contractors comply with the various safety and health legislation and comes into effect on April 2nd.

The code comes ahead of an intensive inspections blitz in the construction sector, which will see the HSA undertaking 7,000 site inspections this year.

“Compliance with this construction safety code of practice is a relatively simple way of meeting obligations set out in the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, in particular the requirement to have a safety statement,” according to the Minister for Labour Affairs, Billy Kelleher, TD.
The code of practice is based on the pictogram based system Safe System of Work Plan (SSWP).

Minister Kelleher added, “The idea of using pictograms is particularly appropriate considering we now have a multi-cultural workforce in Ireland.
According to Martin O’ Halloran, Chief Executive Officer of the Health and Safety Authority, “Regardless of whether you are a small or a large contractor, you have a moral and legal duty to protect yourself, your employees and those around you.

This new code of practice will be of great assistance to small contractors in making sure they meet this duty.”

He added, “For small contractors who are unlikely to have formal management structures in place, this will make compliance with the legislation very straightforward and provide a proven solution to safety and health issues on construction sites.”

To obtain a copy of the new code contact the HSA at www.hsa.ie