REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS (RIA)

Transcription

1 REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS (RIA) SAFETY, HEALTH AND WELFARE AT WORK (REPORTING OF ACCIDENTS, ILLNESS AND DANGEROUS OCCURRENCES) REGULATIONS 2011 (S.I. No. of 2011) RIAreportingregulationsconsultation dft 14oct2011 md Page 1

2 Foreword The Health and Safety Authority, herein after referred to as the Authority, has prepared this Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) in line with the Revised RIA Guidelines, (Department of the Taoiseach 2009). This legislative review is carried out in the context of the Repeals/Revocation/Replacement/Consolidation process provided for in the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 (No. 10 of 2005). The current requirements for the reporting of accidents and dangerous occurrences to the Health and Safety Authority are set out in Part X, Regulations 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63 and the Twelfth Schedule (Notification of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences) of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 1993 (S.I. No. 44 of 1993). These are the only provisions of the General Application Regulations 1993 which remain on the Statute Book. The incidents reported under Part X of the Regulation are important to the Authority as a source of statistical data for informing policy and enforcement activities. The data is also required for the purpose of supplying an annual injury datafile to Eurostat (European Statistical Agency), the provision of which became a legal requirement in April Statistics indicate that the level of compliance with the reporting requirement is low. In terms of injury reports, only 40% of injuries are reported to the Authority compared to the injury estimates supplied by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Occupational illness and disease reports are also required under Part X of the Regulations but in practice the Authority does not receive illness or disease reports from employers and does not have a system for capturing such reports. The proposed Regulations aim to increase reporting compliance by clarifying reporting requirements. Amendments in relation to the reporting of incidents involving members of the public, incidents resulting from medical treatment or pre-existing medical conditions and the inclusion of a schedule of prescribed occupational illnesses that are the immediate results of discrete events, should all assist employers to identify which incidents are required to be reported to the Authority. No additional costs are foreseen as a result of the proposed Regulations and no new information obligations are introduced. In fact, some employers will find that they have fewer incidents to report as a result of changes to the provisions for reporting incidents involving members of the public. RIAreportingregulationsconsultation dft 14oct2011 md Page 2

3 20 September Policy Context This legislative review concerns provisions relating to the reporting of accidents and dangerous occurrences to the Health and Safety Authority contained in Part X, Regulations 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63 and the Twelfth Schedule (Notification of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences) of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 1993 (S.I. No. 44 of 1993) (hereafter referred to as the General Application Regulations 1993), which were made under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989 (No. 7 of 1989). These are the only provisions of the General Application Regulations 1993 that remain on the Statute Book after the making of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 299 of 2007) amended by the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application)(Amendment) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 732 of 2007) (hereafter referred to as the General Application Regulations 2007). Part X of the General Application Regulations 1993 requires employers and the self employed to notify specified workplace accidents and dangerous occurrences to the Authority. Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act (No.10 of 2005) the definition of personal injury includes injury, illness and disease. The incident reports are an important source of statistical data for identifying trends, monitoring progress, targeting enforcement activities and informing prevention initiatives. The reports are also necessary for annual submissions of workplace injury data to Eurostat (European Statistical Agency). The provision of an injury data file to Eurostat became a legal requirement with the introduction of Commission Regulation No 834/2011 of 11 April 2011 implementing EU Regulation No. 1338/2008 on Community Statistics on public health and health and safety at work. A second implementing Regulation is planned which will oblige Member States to provide an annual data file of reported occupational diseases. 1.1 Reporting of injuries Statistics suggest that less than half of all reportable workplace injuries are reported to the Authority. Figures from the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) administered by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) indicate over 20,000 reportable injuries (i.e. injuries that cause more than three days absence) each year compared to approximately 8,000 injuries reported to the Authority annually see Figure 1. Figure 1: Number non-fatal injury reports to the Authority RIAreportingregulationsconsultation dft 14oct2011 md Page 3

4 Year Non-Fatal Injuries Total While the CSO figure may be an over-estimate it suggests that employers are reporting approximately 40% of incidents that are required to be reported under Part X of the General Application Regulations Reporting compliance varies according to the sector and size of undertaking. Compliance is generally better among larger employers while reporting rates decrease with the size of the firm in 2010 only 10% of injuries reported to the Authority are from employers with 1-9 employees and less than 1% of reports are from self-employed workers see Figure 2. The reporting pattern suggests that sectors and organizations characterized by formal safety management systems and dedicated safety personnel are more likely to be compliant. Figure 2: Percentage non-fatal injury reports to the Authority by size of employer 2010 RIAreportingregulationsconsultation dft 14oct2011 md Page 4

5 500 employees or more, 21% Number of employees unknown, 7% 0 employees (self employed), 0.2% 1-9 employees, 10% employees, 23% employees, 11% employees, 29% 1.2 Reporting of occupational illness and disease Compliance with the requirement to report occupational illness and disease cases is even lower. Some occupational illness cases, specifically musculo-skeletal disorders arising from a discrete incident, are captured by the Authority s injury reporting system. Approximately one third of all reports each year are in the manual handling category. Occupational illness cases may also be reported under psychological shock or trauma, contact with chemical or biological substances and effects of radiation categories, but the numbers of reports are very low. The Authority does not receive any occupational disease reports (i.e. diseases included in the list of prescribed diseases maintained by the Department of Social Protection 1 which is in turn based on the European Schedule of Occupational Diseases 2 ) from employers and the Authority s current reporting system is not set up to receive such reports. 1 SW33 List of Prescribed Occupational Diseases, Department of Social Protection, 2 Commission Recommendation of 19 September 2003 concerning the European schedule of occupational diseases (2003/670/EC) RIAreportingregulationsconsultation dft 14oct2011 md Page 5

6 When the General Application Regulations 1993 were introduced the reference to an accident was based on the definition in the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989 which did not extend to include occupational illness or disease. However, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 defined accident as: an accident arising out of or in the course of employment which, in the case of a person carrying out the work, results in personal injury. And defined personal injury as including:.any injury, disease, disability, occupational illness or any impairment of physical or mental condition... This broad definition implies a legal requirement for employers to report all occupational illness and diseases. Apart from the occupational illness cases which arise from discrete events (e.g. musculoskeletal disorders due to sprains or strains), the Authority recognizes that many employers are not in a position to assess or attribute occupational illness or diseases arising from longer-term exposures with any degree of reliability and that any resulting data would be unlikely to be suitable as a basis for policymaking or complying with EU data requirements. The fact that the Authority s reporting system does not currently support the reporting of occupational illness or disease cases only increases the ambiguity around this requirement. Similar issues were identified in the UK context. In a review 3 of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995, the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) questioned whether the RIDDOR system was the best means of gathering information on occupational health for policy or statistics purposes. Following a consultation exercise the HSE 4 concluded that the disease reporting requirement in RIDDOR was ineffective and provided poor quality data. The Health and Safety Executive recommended that the disease reporting requirement should be dropped in favour of developing alternative sources of occupational health information. 3 Discussion Document - The Review of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) (2005), Health and Safety Commission 4 Health and Safety Commission Paper HSC/06/40, Review of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 Progress and Strategic Steer (2006) RIAreportingregulationsconsultation dft 14oct2011 md Page 6

7 The Authority has previously commissioned research 5 which examined the sources of occupational disease data in Ireland. The analysis and recommendations of the Drummond report have informed the current review of reporting requirements. It should also be noted that Eurostat is planning a second implementing regulation under EU Regulation No. 1338/2008 on Community Statistics on public health and health and safety at work which will make it a legal requirement for each Member State to submit an annual data file of occupational disease data. 1.3 Reporting of dangerous occurrences The range of dangerous occurrences to be reported is listed in Schedule 12 of the General Application Regulations It is not possible to comment on the rate of reporting of dangerous occurrences as there is no comparative source available. The number of dangerous occurrence reports is presented in Figure 3. Figure 3: Number dangerous occurrence reports to the Authority Year Dangerous occurrences The Authority notes that several of the items listed in Schedule 12 need to be updated to reflect modern working methods and environments. 2 Objectives 5 A Review of the Occupational Diseases Reporting System in the Republic of Ireland (2007) by Dr. Anne Drummond, Centre for Safety and Health at Work, University College Dublin RIAreportingregulationsconsultation dft 14oct2011 md Page 7

8 The ultimate objective of this proposal is to improve compliance with the requirement to report accidents and illness to the Authority. To achieve this, it is necessary to promote a clearer, simpler message about reporting duties to assist employers, particularly smaller businesses, in meeting their legal requirements. Other related objectives include: - To put in place regulations which can be implemented by employers and enforced at workplace level by the Authority inspectorate - To review the reporting requirements in the context of existing or alternative data sources with a view to rationalising data collection and reducing administrative demands - To improve the quality of data available to inform policy making decisions in the Authority - To ensure that Ireland continues to comply with EU requirements to an injury datafile on an annual basis. - To clarify requirements for reporting of occupational illness and disease cases to the Authority. 3 Policy Options Option 1: Do nothing Under this option, Part X, Regulations 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63 and the Twelfth Schedule (Notification of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences) of the General Application Regulations 1993 remain in place. Option 2: Introduce arrangement to obtain injury and illness reports from the Occupational Injury Benefit Division at the Department of Social Protection Agree a system with the Department of Social Protection (DSP) whereby data collected for occupational injury benefit claims is forwarded to the Authority. This would remove the current requirement for employers to report injuries to both the DSP and the Authority and could significantly reduce the information obligation for employers associated with reporting workplace injuries. Option 3: Introduce new Reporting Regulations Part X, Regulations 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63 and the Twelfth Schedule (Notification of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences) of the 1993 General Application Regulations are revoked and replaced by a new set of Regulations on the reporting of accidents, illness and dangerous occurrences. RIAreportingregulationsconsultation dft 14oct2011 md Page 8

9 Under Option 1 the implementation of the current reporting requirements will continue to be problematic for employers and the Authority. Clarity is urgently required around the issue of illness and disease reporting in particular as the Authority increases its focus on occupational health and as Eurostat plans an implementing regulation to make it a legal requirement for Member States to submit annual files of occupational disease data. Option 2 offers significant advantages in terms of reducing administrative burden for both the employer and the Authority. If it were possible to obtain injury and illness reports from DSP employers would need to report an accident only once compared to the current situation where they are required to report many accidents to both agencies. However, this arrangement would require agreement in principle to be reached between the two parties and at a practical level would require major revision of the DSP reporting system to capture all the data items that are legally required under the ESAW methodology for injury reports and expected legal requirements of the EODS methodology for occupational disease reporting. Such changes would require substantial investment by DSP in terms of developing online reporting facilities and associated infrastructure for data capture and processing. While the Authority has undertaken, as part of its modernisation programme, to explore this option with the DSP it is unlikely that this level of data sharing could be achieved within a short timeframe. Therefore, it is considered appropriate to evaluate the impacts of Option 3 only in this RIA, that is, to repeal and replace Part X, Regulations 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63 and the Twelfth Schedule (Notification of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences) of the General Application Regulations The proposed Regulations contain a number of updates and amendments which are summarised below: - Change of Regulation title to Reporting of Accidents, Illnesses and Dangerous Occurrences - Inclusion of definitions for prescribed occupational illness and prescribed dangerous occurrence - Updated definition for pipeline and responsible person - Changes to requirements for reporting injuries involving members of the public with the requirement now limited to only those injuries which require treatment in a hospital as an inpatient for more than three consecutive days excluding the day of the accident - Removal of the requirement for a family member to report a fatal accident involving a selfemployed person RIAreportingregulationsconsultation dft 14oct2011 md Page 9

10 - Specified timelines for making reports to the Authority with fatal injuries to be reported within five days and non-fatal injuries to be reported within ten days of the incident. - Clarification on incidents related to medical treatment or pre-existing medical conditions that are not reportable to the Authority - Limiting reporting requirements to prescribed occupational illness cases that are the immediate result of a discrete event - Update of list of dangerous occurrences to reflect modern work activity The impact of these proposals is analysed in the following section. 4 Impact Analysis 4.1 Benefits of introducing new Reporting Regulations Health and safety benefits: The introduction of the Regulations and associated guidance should bring a renewed focus to the reporting requirement, encouraging employers to review their procedures and ensure compliance. Compliant reporting procedures will increase awareness of accidents and illnesses and their causes and circumstances within the organisation and should encourage actions to avoid recurrence. Compliance benefits: The proposed Regulations should make it easier for employers to identify which incidents should and should not be reported to the Authority. For example, the health sector should benefit from the amendments clarifying that accidents or illness sustained in the course of medical treatment or as a result of pre-existing medical conditions are not reportable. Also, the introduction of prescribed occupational illnesses should end uncertainty about if and when cases of work-related illhealth should be reported to the Authority. Some employers may have fewer reports to make for incidents involving members of the public due to the amendment to include only those incidents that require hospital treatment. An average cost per report can be estimated using CSO labour cost data 6. The hourly labour cost for a worker in the clerical, sales and service category is Assuming that the submission of a report to the Authority takes approximately 30 minutes, the saving per report is in the region of Central Statistics Office, Earnings, Hours and Employment Costs Survey (EHECS), Q3,2009 RIAreportingregulationsconsultation dft 14oct2011 md Page 10

11 Enforcement benefits: The update of the definitions and schedule of dangerous occurrences will enhance the efficiency of the Authority s inspection and enforcement activities. Inspectors can be definitive about which accidents and illnesses are required to be reported; appropriate enforcement action can be taken in cases of non-compliance. The Authority should also benefit from an increased reporting rate, and quality of data could also be expected to improve. Reporting of non-fatal accidents and illnesses within ten days is likely to result in more accurate and reliable reports, compared to current practice where many employers make reports periodically. 4.2 Costs of introducing new Reporting Regulations Compliance costs: Employers may find it necessary to consult with a doctor or occupational health professional to accurately identify and report some of the prescribed occupational illnesses. However, in the case of a reportable illness event the employee is likely to have been treated by a medical expert who can confirm the exact category of illness for the employer as required. Enforcement costs: The introduction of a prescribed list of occupational illnesses could send an unintended signal to employers about the Authority s concern with other occupational health issues that do not feature in the prescribed list. It would be important that the proposed new Regulations would be accompanied by a communications campaign which would address these issues. The cost of any such campaign will be accommodated within existing budgets. 5 Consultation The proposed Regulations and this RIA will be made available on the Authority s website for a one month period in accordance with the Authority s standard public consultation policy. Selected stakeholders may be contacted directly by the Authority and invited to make submissions, including the following: - Worker representatives - Employer representatives - European Commission (Eurostat) - Department of Social Protection - Faculty of Occupational Medicine - Irish Society of Occupational Medicine - Road Safety Authority RIAreportingregulationsconsultation dft 14oct2011 md Page 11

12 - An Garda Siochana - Local authorities - Public utilities - Insurance sector Submissions will be collated and considered by the Authority and relevant additions or amendments may be incorporated in the proposed Regulations and reflected in an updated RIA. The proposed Regulations and RIA will be submitted to the Legislation and Guidance Sub-Committee of the Board and the Board of the Authority for consideration and approval. Any resultant proposals for legislative change will be submitted to the Minister for at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation for his consideration with a view to formal legal settlement by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government. 6 Review The Authority will review the impact of the proposed Regulations through monitoring of the number of accident and illness reports received. The Authority s annual reports and statistics summaries will continue to provide an update on reporting performance. RIAreportingregulationsconsultation dft 14oct2011 md Page 12