Health and Safety Authority in need of short sharp shock

A complete restructuring of Ireland's Health and Safety Authority (HSA) has been recommended by external consultants in a highly critical draft report on the organisation, leaked to the media in May 2000.

According to a leaked draft report on the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) by Dublin-based consultants Farrell Grant Sparks, which was drawn up at the behest of the HSA's board to map out a plan for the organisation over the next decade, the national statutory body for workplace health and safety lacks focus and is dogged by "negative attitudes and inefficiencies". While it is still a draft and therefore subject to change before formal publication, the main thrust of the final report is very unlikely to change. It was leaked to the state-owned broadcaster, RTE, in its Prime Time current affairs programme in mid-May 2000 and extensively quoted by the independent weekly, Industrial Relations News, on 25 May 2000.

The Health and Safety Authority was formed in 1989 after the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act was brought into force, with many of its staff transferring from the old factories inspectorate of the Department of Labour, retaining their civil service status in the new non-commercial semi-state body.

In the HSA's favour, the consultants state that much has been achieved in the area of information and publications, as well as in ensuring compliance with EU legislation. Also in its defence, the report says that resources, particularly in terms of staffing, have not kept pace with increases in workloads.

The consultants find, however, that there is no "shared view of what the organisation exists to do", with some seeing its function as enforcement, others as prevention and still more believing that its major purpose is policy-making and legislation. These differences are "more than merely semantic", as they go "right to the heart of some of the internal tensions". Top management itself is said to be "split" on these matters and "there is an inevitable fudge which permeates all aspects of operation", the report observes. The organisation is "characterised by elitism and cliques which essentially revolve around the dual structure of professional and administrative staff".

The organisation, according to the consultants, is "bedevilled by old baggage and an IR [industrial relations] dominated internal agenda". The "general sense of complacency and cynicism" in the organisation is reported to be "undermining the morale of even the newer staff recruited in relatively recent times". There is also said to be a "siege mentality", with a strong belief that even the HSA's own board, because of its tripartite social partner composition, is not "on its side". There is widespread dissatisfaction with the under-reporting of workplace accidents. The top management group is described as "weak and ineffective", both as a collective grouping and as a management process device within the organisation. Leadership is also claimed to be "largely shackled" by the IR agenda, with issues seeming to "fester" rather than being dealt with, resulting in uncertainty for all concerned.

The difficulties outlined are such, the report states, that a "short sharp shock" is needed at all levels. Individuals need "to reflect on their positions" and decide whether they should "enthusiastically embrace the new directions needed" or "pursue their careers elsewhere than in the HSA". A voluntary retirement scheme would be needed to facilitate the departure of those who "may wish to now leave the organisation".