Monday, 17th November 2008 - 11:22CET
Court imposes €9,156 in fines for health and safety violations
The Occupational Health and Safety Authority has welcomed the imposition of €9,156 in fines by a court after deciding a number of cases relating to occupational safety.
The authority said many of these convictions would have been avoided had those involved respected the law, such as the provisions on regular inspection and certification of lifts.
The authority noted that two men had been fined €466 each for not taking the necessary precautions to safeguard their own safety, as well as that of others.
A foreigner was fined €466 for also not having, as an employer or a self-employed person, made a proper risk assessment. .
Five persons were fined a total of €2,796 for not having ensured that a workers' health and safety representative was appointed. They had also not carried out proper risk assessments at places of work and had not ensured that persons were trained in first aid.
There were also other failures regarding fire drill as indicated by the Civil Protection Department for particular places of work.
Six persons, including a company director, were fined a total of €600 for not having notified the authority about major construction works and having failed to appoint project supervisors.
Another director was fined €466 for not appointing a project supervisor, for not compiling information on project health and safety and failing to ensure cooperation between contractors involved in a large project.
A project supervisor was fined €466 for failing to take the necessary health and safety precations for the employees.
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Comments
The same situation applies to most of the small to medium size building projects,
where they treat all health & safety aspects as a nuisance and as an additional cost.....
Just walk past a worksite and you will see workers not taking necessary precautions, many hotels and restaurants have disgusting and unhygienic kitchens, the list goes on and on and on.
466 euros for not bothering about Health and Safety? Sounds like its worth the risk to me
Surely fines should be updated and some zeros have to be added at the end of the sum.
They use a circular saw to cut concrete blocks; no ear defenders, no safety goggles, no air-filter masks, no gloves.
Without hard hats they work under a crane. They continue to work under the crane when lightning is about.
They climb about on rickety home-made ladders.
Sometimes they play a radio so loud that nobody would be able to hear a shouted warning if something went wrong.
Sheer madness!
The UK's Health and Safety Executive has gone completely overboard and made it almost impossible to do anything at all, and I wouldn't want to see that happen here - or anywhere else; but the potential for danger that I see on a daily basis makes me cringe!