DATE: 7th January 2021
FOR THE ATTENTION OF: All Employees Boots Liffey Valley
FROM: Eoin Griffin, Industrial Officer
RE: Covid-19 Company Local Response Survey
Newly Constituted House Committee
Synopsis of Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Rights
As planned a general meeting of the Mandate members in Boots Liffey Valley took place yesterday evening, Wednesday the 6th of January. The meeting was well attended and it was agreed that a number of actions would take place immediately, namely;
- The circulation of a survey to all employees in Boots Liffey Valley regarding the company’s response to Covid-19 in the shop and how recent developments were handled by your employer.
- A brief synopsis of the member’s rights with regard to Health & Safety Legislation.
- The seeking of further nominations for the Mandate House Committee, these will be sought through the aforementioned survey so please be sure to fill it out.
The survey can be accessed at this link here. We would encourage you to share this survey with all your colleagues who are not members so that a broad and representative survey can be conducted. The findings will be anonymised for presentation to the company. For those interested in joining the House Committee they can put forward their interest in the survey.
For ease of forwarding the link to the survey is https://tinyurl.com/BootsLVCovSur0121
At the meeting there was a brief presentation regarding Workplace Safety Protocols and Health & Safety Legislation. The following is a brief synopsis and is not an exhaustive list:
- In workplace settings, employers should implement the requirements of the Work Safely Protocol and the most up to date public health advice and guidance on how to mitigate the public health risk. These infection prevention and control measures should be communicated to employees and others at the workplace.
- Section 8(1) of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 states the general duty of employers to employees as: “Every employer shall ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety, health and welfare at work of his or her employees”.
- Section 13 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 imposes duties on employees while at work to comply with the relevant statutory provisions and take reasonable care to protect their own safety, health and welfare and that of any other person who may be affected by his/her acts or omissions.
- Section 11(2) of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005
(2) In the event of an emergency or serious and imminent danger, an employer shall
(a) as soon as possible inform all employees concerned of the risk involved and of the steps taken or to be taken to protect them from it,
(b) save in exceptional cases for the reasons specified in the plans and procedures referred to in subsection
(1), refrain from requiring employees to carry out or resume work where there is still a serious and imminent danger to their safety and health, and
(c) ensure that, in the absence of appropriate guidance or instruction and having regard to the knowledge of the employee and the technical means at his or her disposal, and where the employee’s immediate superior responsible cannot be contacted, the employee concerned may take appropriate steps to avoid the consequences of the danger.
Other useful resources include:
Health and Safety Authority – Covid-19 Advice and Guidance for Employers and Employees
Citizens Information – Health and safety at work
Government of Ireland – Work Safely Protocol
Should you have any questions regarding the contents of this correspondence please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned.
Yours fraternally
Eoin Griffin
Industrial Officer
Dublin North
dublinnorth@mandate.ie
018870728