Safety Statement

Our corporate safety statement sets out how health and safety is managed in the HSE.

It includes:

• corporate health and safety policy
• roles and responsibilities for managers and employees
• arrangements and resources in place to manage health and safety
• consultation with employees, representatives and other stakeholders

All workplaces, sites and services in the HSE must have a written safety statement. This is the responsibility of the site or service manager.

Corporate Safety Statement

Safety statement content

Safety policy

A health and safety policy is a written statement by atn employer. It shows the organisation's commitment to protect the health and safety of employees.

The HSE’s safety policy is signed by the chief executive officer in the corporate safety statement. It is therefore not subject to amendment in the site or service safety statement.

Declaration of intent

The safety statement should contain a declaration. This is signed by the most senior manager responsible for safety, health and welfare. This is a commitment to keep the workplace as safe and healthy as is reasonably practicable. It ensures that all statutory requirements will be complied with.

Organisational responsibilities

The safety statement should include:

• duties of the employer
• an organisational chart showing the line management structure for safety management
• the roles and responsibilities of named persons
• duties of employees
• role of persons providing safety, health and welfare advice

Writing your ancillary safety statement guideline

Hazard control

The site or service manager must describe the arrangements in place to manage health and safety hazards in the workplace

Outline the OSH management arrangements in place that includes:

• provision of and access to health and safety training, information and instruction
• access and distribution to national and local PPPGs
• provision of and access to PPE
• management of shared workplaces
• management of welfare facilities
• access to Occupational Health Services
• access to first aid
• management of special risk groups e.g. protection of expectant mothers; disabled employees, young persons,
• management of contractors
• traffic management
• environmental and waste management
• management of internal emergencies e.g. flooding/chemical spills
• Covid-19 Response Plan
• incident management

Risk management process

A risk assessment looks at what can cause harm to people. It identifies if measures are required to reduce injury and ill health.

Consultation and information

A safety committee must be established at a local level. This should include safety representatives and a balanced representation between management and employees. Employees should be given the opportunity to elect a safety representative.

In smaller facilities, the role and function of the safety committee may be incorporated and clearly defined in the Terms of Reference of team meetings.

For further guidance see Guideline for establishing local health and safety committees (PDF, 206KB, 10 pages)

Contact the health and safety helpdesk for further information

Resources

The site or service safety statement must give the details of the resources provided by management in terms of time, people and finance to manage health and safety

Distribution of the safety statement

You must clearly describe how the site or service safety statement is to be brought to the attention of employees, and others in the workplace.

Revision of the safety statement

The safety statement needs to be relevant at all times.

It must be reviewed:

• annually
• where there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates
• where there is a reason to believe that it is no longer valid
• when a Health and Safety Authority inspector orders a review

Performance measurement

Detail the arrangements to measure, monitor, and evaluate health and safety performance to include:

• site or service objectives (local KPIs)
• health and safety quality improvement plans (QIPs)

Departmental safety statement and risk assessment

Managers, in consultation with employees, must complete Section 11 of the safety statement for their department.

This includes:

• a brief description of the disciplines of staff working in the department
• details of the work carried out by staff working in the department
• the names and job titles of the responsible persons, to include the signature of the line manager
• all relevant risk assessments

Shared workplaces

In the case of any building containing a number of different services/ disciplines who share a place of work, occupants must co-operate in complying with and implementing health and safety requirements.

An effective communication system must be implemented for informing employees about the risks to their safety, health and welfare. This includes the exchange of safety statements, or relevant extracts of them, relating to hazards and risks to employees.

Premises leased by the HSE where the HSE is the tenant

The HSE as the tenant of a building and the employer is required to have a safety statement for their place of work. The responsibility for maintenance and upkeep within the leased building should be set out in a formal agreement between the HSE and the landlord.

Related content

Work safely arrangements for COVID-19

Safety management programme emergency department supplementary note (PDF, 506KB, 2 pages)

Writing your ancillary safety statement guideline

Writing your ancillary safety statement template (Word, 800 KB, 17 pages)