The Nifast Seminar

Nifast is running a seminar on Safety, Health and Risk Management on September 14, which will provide a comprehensive opportunity to hear about all the most recent developments in Ireland, including expert guidance on how to manage Safety, Health & Risk effectively in your organisation.

The key elements of the Seminar will be:

1.     Analysis of the legal reasons why almost 100 individuals (including many managers from private sector organisations and a senior manager from a public sector organisation) have criminal records for poor safety and health risk management.

2.     Discussion of the most recent HSA prosecutions, including the criminal convictions in the Clare County Council case (Circuit Criminal Court, February 2010).

3.     Answers to key legal questions such as: who are “managers” under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005?

4.     The latest figures from the Injuries Board on the cost of typical work-related claims.

5.     How managing, or not managing, safety and health can influence the financial costs in relation to increased insurance premium costs.

6.     Case studies on how organisations can carry out successful risk management using OHSAS 18001, officially recognised by the HSA as the leading Management Standard.

Speakers and Topics:

Risk Management – The Legal Perspective

Raymond Byrne (BL) - Director of Research at the Irish Law Reform Commission & Nifast Associate

Raymond Byrne, a qualified barrister, has lectured widely to both public sector and private sector audiences on the legal aspects of safety and health at work. He was the founding chair of the Dublin City University MBS Programme in Safety and Health at Work.

Since 2003, he has been Director of Research at the Irish Law Reform Commission. He is the author of the leading textbook on this area, Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Law in Ireland 2nd edition (Nifast, 2008). He is also co-author of The Irish Legal System, 5th edition (Bloomsbury Professional, 2009) and of the Annual Review of Irish Law series (now in its 22nd volume). From 2001 to 2003, he was a board member of the Irish National Accreditation Board, a division of Forfas.

He has been an associate of Nifast since it was established, and is a regular contributor to our national and regional seminars on aspects of new and pending safety and health legislation.

Risk Management - A HR Perspective

Helen Moran – Director of Business Support Systems, InjuriesBoard.ie

Helen Moran is Director of Business Support Services with InjuriesBoard.ie.  InjuriesBoard.ie is a statutory body set up to assess personal injury claims by independently facilitating the delivery of personal injury compensation in a fair, prompt and transparent manner for the benefit of society. 

Helen has been involved in the set up of InjuriesBoard.ie from the outset and is a member of the five strong executive management team with responsibility for ongoing strategy formulation.  In her current role she has responsibility for the front line Service Centre, a team of assessment staff in the Assessment Centre in Tallaght and the Legal team.  She previously had responsibility for the IT and HR functions of PIAB and the panels of experts such as Medical and Actuarial who support the assessment process. 

Involved with the insurance industry for 22 years, Helen has been with InjuriesBoard.ie since set up in early 2004.

Risk Management - An Insurance Perspective

Brian Collins - Managing Director, OSG Liability

An A.C.I.I. Chartered Insurance Practitioner, Brian has a broad range of experience across all claim types, gained over 30 years in company and adjusting markets.  Expertise in liability related claims both personal injury and property, on behalf of European, UK and local market with particular emphasis on technical and high value/catastrophic injury and complex Third Party Property Damage cases.

Brian's Specialist Expertise includes:                      

• Motor Liability
• Employers Liability
• Public/Products Liability
• Professional Indemnity
• Medical Negligence
• Liability Investigation
• Claims Management
• PIAB Assessment
• Personal Injury /Quantum Assessment
• Court Procedures and Legal Process Management
• High Value/Catastrophic Injury Case Management
• Complex Third Party Property Damage Cases
• External File and Reserve Auditing

Risk Management - The Practicalities on Implementing a Robust Risk Management Sytem

Dave McDonald - Senior Consultant, Nifast Health and Safety Training & Consultancy

David McDonald, Senior Consultant with Nifast, has 30 years experience in Health and Safety. Dave’s specialism is in the area of Occupational Hygiene. He works closely with clients carrying out chemical, biological and physical agent risk assessments in the pharmaceutical and manufacturing industries.

David has extensive experience working with Senior Management in both the public and private sectors on implementing risk management systems and models, including the development of SORPs and policies and procedures manuals. David holds an Honours Degree in Occupational Hygiene along with a Higher Diploma in Information Technology. David has worked for many multinationals corporations as a Senior Health and Safety Consultant in Ireland, UK, USA and Israel.

David specialises in ionising and non-ionising radiation, noise and vibration, chemical and biological safety and emergency response. As well as carrying out site surveys in these specialised fields, David has comprehensive training experience including the delivery of Nifast’s risk management led training courses including IOSH Managing Safely, IOSH Supervising Safely and the FETAC Level 5 Safety and Health at Work Certificate course.

Why Attend This Seminar?

There are many reasons why managing safety and health is even more important than ever in an economic downturn.

• Experience indicates that compensation claims increase during a downturn, making preventative safety and health management systems even more crucial than ever.
• Detailed studies show, having a well-developed approach to managing safety and health in Ireland and the UK has led to reduced levels of accidents and ill-health at work.
• The HSA has brought an increasing number of high-profile criminal prosecutions, which have included cases where fines of €1 million (2004 case) and €2 million (2008 case) were imposed on private sector and public sector organisations.
• The HSA has also prosecuted senior managers personally where their failure to act to manage safety and health has resulted in serious injuries or deaths.
• One company director served a short (three day) sentence of imprisonment in 2003, with many other convictions leading to suspended sentences or substantial fines (including a fine of €50,000 imposed on a managing director of a company). These fines cannot be claimed back under any insurance policy.
• The HSA’s increasingly tough regulatory approach – a mixture of risk management principles and detailed rules (now being copied in the banking sector) – has led to a halving of national rates of deaths and injuries at work over the last 20 years.