What Is a Safety Statement?
The Safety Statement is a legal must for almost every Irish employer, yet it is widely misunderstood. Here is what it is, what it must contain, and who is required to have one.
Ask a roomful of Irish business owners whether they have a Safety Statement and you will get a mix of confident yeses, vague maybes and blank looks. Yet the Safety Statement is a legal requirement for almost every employer in the country, and it is one of the first documents a Health and Safety Authority (HSA) inspector will ask to see. This guide explains what it is, what it must contain, and who needs one.
The legal basis
The Safety Statement is required by section 20 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. In simple terms, it is a written document that sets out how an employer manages safety and health in their particular workplace. It is built on the foundation of the risk assessment carried out under section 19 — the assessment identifies the risks, and the Safety Statement explains how they are controlled.
If the risk assessment is the diagnosis, the Safety Statement is the treatment plan. It puts in writing who is responsible for what, and how the workplace is kept safe day to day.
What a Safety Statement must contain
A Safety Statement should be specific to your business — a generic template lifted from elsewhere rarely meets the requirement. As a minimum, it should set out:
- The hazards identified and the risks they present, drawn from your risk assessment.
- The control measures in place to manage those risks.
- The resources provided for safety and health.
- The names or roles of those responsible for safety duties within the organisation.
- The arrangements for consultation with employees on safety matters.
- Emergency plans and procedures.
- Co-operation arrangements with contractors and others sharing the workplace, where relevant.
Who needs one
The short answer is: nearly every employer. The duty applies regardless of size, so a sole trader with one employee is covered just as a large factory is. The detail and length of the statement should be proportionate to the size and nature of the business — a small office will have a much shorter statement than a manufacturing plant — but the obligation to have one is the same.
There is one practical concession for very small, low-risk businesses: the HSA provides the BeSMART online tool, which helps smaller employers produce a risk assessment and Safety Statement tailored to their type of work. It does not remove the duty, but it makes meeting it considerably easier.
★ Key takeaways
- The Safety Statement is required by section 20 of the 2005 Act.
- It explains how identified risks are managed, building on the section 19 risk assessment.
- It must be specific to your workplace and name who is responsible for safety.
- Nearly every employer needs one, with length proportionate to size and risk.
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Bring it to life
A Safety Statement only works if people know it exists and act on it. The law requires employers to bring it to the attention of employees — in a form and language they understand — at least annually and whenever it is amended. New staff should be made aware of the relevant parts when they start. A statement locked in a drawer protects no one and offers little defence if something goes wrong.
It should also be reviewed and updated as the business changes, just like the risk assessment that underpins it. If you are building yours from scratch, start with our guide to the five steps to a risk assessment, then translate those findings into a clear, workplace-specific Safety Statement.
Far from being a box-ticking exercise, a good Safety Statement is a genuine management tool — one that makes responsibilities clear, keeps everyone informed, and demonstrates that your business takes its duties under Irish law seriously.
