Guidancefor Directorsand SeniorManagers ...

1 Gu id anc e forDire ctorsandSenior Man agerson the ir Responsibilitiesfor Wo rkplaceSafetyan d He alth 7 GuidanceforDi rectorsandSen ior Managerson thei r Responsibilitiesfor WorkplaceSafetyand HealthGuidancefor Director s and SeniorManagerson their Responsibilitiesfo r WorkplaceSaf et y and HealthPublished in Oct ob er 20 07 by th e Healthand SafetyAuthority,The Met ro polit an Build ing, JamesJoyceStreet,Dubli n 1. Al l righ ts reserved. No part of this publicationmay be reproduced,sto red in a retrievalsystem,or transmittedin any fo rm or by an y means,el ectronic, mechanical, ph otocopying,recordingorot he rwise,with ou t the prio r permission of th e Healthand SafetyAu thori Whois this guidanceaimedat?42. Whymanagesafetyand healthat work?

2 52. 1 Th e liab ilit ies of director s an d officersof undertaking s52. 2 Pr ot ectin g your under takin g s repu tationand assets73. Creatinga positivesafetyand healthculture84. Organisingsafetyand health94. 1 Th e im po rtan ce of ris k as sessments and safetystatements94. 2 Co llectiveres pon sib ilit y fo r di recto rs and seniormanagers94. 3 Sett ing the bes t stan dards114. 4 Org an isat ionalst ruct ures125. Carryingout safetyand healthmonitoring135. 1 Implementin g the saf et y statement135. 2 Ass essin g safet y and healt h performance135. 3 Dir ecto rs ro les and resp on si bi lities for safetyand heal th15Re ferences1641. Whois this guidanceaimedat?Thi s gui dan ce is aimedat exe cu tiv e and non-executivedi re ctors1of all typesofwor kpla ce in boththe pr iv at e and publ ic se ct ors , at offic ers of und ert aking s1, at bo ardcha irm en and boa rd mem ber s, at se nio r ma na gers and at any othe r ma na gers who areresponsible for directing wor ker s wh ile at work and workactivities.

3 It wil l hel p theseoff ic e-ho ld ers to pr ote ct the ir em plo yees, customer s and th ose membersof th e publi cwho may be aff ect ed by wh at th ey do in the work pla ce by ens urin g that th e safet y andheal th ris ks arisingfrom wor k act iv it ies are properl y n th is gui da nc e re fers to sa fet y and heal th it me ans the sa fety , healthandwelfar e of worke rs an d other s whi le at workor whil e in the defin it io n of u nd ert aking in th e 2005 Act is al l embracingand coversall typesofwork an d co rp orat e stru ct ures th at may exi th e wor d d irector is us ed in this documentit shouldbe readas including director as def ined an d norm ally us ed and the equi val ent rolesin organisati ons th athave governance struct ures oth er than bo ards and directors.

4 It is also inte ndedtoincludeth e owner s or managers of smal l busi nes ses, sol e traders,etc . Ma ny smalltomediu m-s ize d en te rpr ise s (SME s) operatedifferent management and gov ernancest ruct ur es to th os e of lar ger und ertakings and , all workplaces,lar ge and sma ll, tend to hav e a gove rning body(boar d, council,etc .) consistingof twoor mor e directors or their equ ivalents, tog etherwi th othersfr om wi thin or exter nal tothe or gan isatio n. SM Es can us e the structures set out in this docu ment,as they ar erelevantto their under takings, to meetthei r legalresponsibil ities as an s of th e size of the undertaking,it is important that dir ectorsand of ficersar efully in fo rmedof the relevantsaf ety and healthmattersand requi rementsthat applyto the m.

5 The y mustunde rst and the ir ro le in go ve rn ing sa fe ty and healt h, whic h is part oftheir responsibilitie s for goodcorpor at e governancein runni ng the business. This guidancewill als o help direct or s and off icers to meetth ei r legal responsibil ities as s gu ida nc e hig hlights th e key areas to consi der whenens uri ng goodcorpo ra tegove rn ance on safe ty an d healthma na gement. Directo rs , offi cers and the ir adv isers willneedto co nsu lt th e mo re detailedHealthand SafetyAuthority (HSA)guidelinesref er encedin th is bo okletor available on the HSA webs ite at www. hs einorderto pu tth e good pr act ices whi ch ar e highli ght ed her e into following defin ition s fro m th e Safety,Healthand Wel fare at WorkAct 2005(the 2005 Act) shouldbe appliedwher ever theseterm s are used in th is gu id ance: dire ctor inclu des a perso n in accord ance with whos e directi ons or instru ctions the directorsof the undertakingconcernedare ac -custo med to act but does not inclu de su ch a perso n if th e directo rs are accus tomed to so act by reason only that they do so on ad -vice given by th e perso n in a pro fess ion al capacity.

6 (Thereis no legaldis tinction madebetw een executiveand non-executi ve di fferenceis that non-executive directorsdonot get invo lved in the day-to-day ru nningof th e und ertaking . Theyus e th eir experienceand expertiseto provideindependentad -vice and objectivityto the bo ard , an d they may havea ro le in mo nito ri ng rectorsmi ght beappointed to a bo ard to carryout a specialistro le on a part-ti me basis or fo r their expertisein specificactivities.) under tak ing mean s a perso n bein g an individual, a bo dy co rpo rate or an unincorporatedbody of personsengagedin the produc -tion, supply or dis tribu tion of go od s or the pro visio n of a servi ce (wh eth er carriedout by him or her for profit or not) ; emp loyer in relationto an emplo yee (a) Means the pers on with who m th e employeehas en tered into or fo r wh om the employeeworks under (or, where the employmenthas ceased , enteredinto or worked und er) a co ntract of empl oyment,(b) Includesa pers on (o ther than an employeeof that perso n) under wh os e controland directionan employeeworks , and(c ) Includeswhere app rop riate, the su ccess or of the emp loyer or an ass oci ate employerof the employer;2.

7 Why managesafetyand healthat work?Th is se ctionse ts out the mai n re ason s why dir ect ors and of fice rs of unde rtak in gsmustman age safet y an d healt 1 The liabilitiesof Directorsand of ficersof undertakingsThe Saf ety, He alth an d Welf are at Work Act 2005(the 2005 Act) sets out thedut ies of emp loyer s and th eir emp loyeesregardingsafetyand 2005Ac t put s dut ies of car e on em plo yers to mana ge and condu ct their unde rta kingsso th at th ey are sa fe for empl oyee s. In tur n, th e 200 5 Ac t re qu ire s th at employeeswo rk in a safe and res po ns ible man ner and co-operate wi th theirempl oyer inor der to com ply with th e law. Th e HSA s guideto the 2005 Act explainstheseresponsib ilitiesin detail (s ee references).

8 Th e defin itionof emp lo yer as set out in th e 20 05 Act in clud es no t only th eper so n who has a con tr act of emp loymentwi th an emp loyeebut al so a pers onun der wh ose contr ol and di rect ion an empl manyins tancesadir ecto r may be bot h an emp loyerand an employeeof the e legalint erp retat ion of a pe rso n also co ve rs the entit y wit hin which thewo rk is carr ied ou ecificattention is dr awn to the pr ov isi ons of secti on 80 of the 2005 Act , wh ichrelat es to the liability of directors and officersof undertakings :80. (1) Wher e an offe nc e unde r any of the re le vantst atu tor y prov isio ns has bee n committe d by anund er tak ing an d the doing of the actsthatco nst itu te d th e off en ce ha s beenauthorised, orcons ent ed to by, or is at tr ibu ta bl e to co nni vanceorneg le ct on the par t of, a person,beinga dir ector,man ag er or oth er similarofficerof the undertaking,or a per so n who pur por ts to act in any such capacity ,that pers on as well as the undertaking shall be gui lty of anof fen ce an d shall be liab le to be proceededagainstandpun ish ed as if he or sh e wereguilty of the fi rs t-mentioned offence.

9 (2 ) Whe re a personis proceede d ag ai nst as afor esa id for such anoff en ce an d it is pro ved that , at the materialtime,he or shewa s a di rec tor of th e unde rtak ing concerned or a personemp lo yed by it whos e du ties incl uded maki ng decis ions that,to a sig nif ican t extent, cou ld have affe cte d the ma na gement ofthe unde rta kin g, or a pe rs on who pu rpor te d to ac t in an y suc hcap acity,it sha ll be pres um ed, un ti l th e contraryis pr oved,thatthe doing of th e act s by the und ertakingwhi ch cons titutedthecommission by it of the off en ce con cerned und er any of therelevant st atu tor y pro visio ns was au thorised,consentedto orat trib utab le to co nnivance or negl ect on the part of that person.

10 (3) Whe re th e affa irs of a bod y corporate ar e managed by it smembers , su bsect io ns (1) and (2) sh al l applyin relat ion to theac ts or def au lts of a me mbe r in connection wi th his or her56funct io ns of manag ementas if he or she werea dir ectorof the bod y de r the 2005 Act responsibili ty for safetyand heal th is pl aced direct ly on thosein cha rge in the workplace . In ot her wor ds, direc tor s and managerswho cont rolthe work being do ne mu st take on th is responsibilit lia bi litie s of direc tor s and off ic er s of underta kingsunderthe 2005 Actdepend on the ro le th at bot h th e bo ard and the seni or managementteamplayin th e un de rtak in g. Boa rd s of direc tors are responsible for goodcorporategovernan ce and per for m this tas k by settingcorporateobjectivesand targetsand takin g st rat egic decis io ns on all businessissues,incl udi ng safetyand healthma nag ement.