Over the first half of the year, at least 2,177 workplace inspections were carried out by the Occupational Health & Safety Authority.

The inspections, carried out during both work hours as well as outside of work hours, ranged from micro businesses to large sites, including construction, manufacturing and service areas.

OHSA officers would gauge each site’s risk levels to determine whether any action needed to be taken.

Following these inspections, officials held around 400 private meetings with those responsible for health and safety on sites.

In some cases, where there was a significant risk of danger, an improvement notice would be issued, giving a time frame for worksite managers to rectify the situation. No less than 357 improvement notices were issued in the first half of 2022.

In 403 worksites, a serious level of risk was found to be present, leading to OHSA officers closing down the sites until the situation was remedied. In these cases, the sites are more regularly monitored to ensure conformity with the law.

In these cases, administrative fines are handed out or legal proceedings are begun, depending on the case.

At least 253 entities were fined during this timeframe, combining to a total value of just over €100,000.

74 entities were taken to court.

The most common issue OHSA officers faced was a lack of interest from managers to prevent potentially lethal falls from heights, project supervisors not following general rules for safety and clients not following project supervisor’s recommendations.