Your Complaint and How It’s Handled

All complaints about workplace safety, health and welfare issues are important to us and treated seriously.

We can only respond to areas where we have a responsibility under legislation. We have responsibility for Workplace Safety, Health and Welfare, Chemicals and Market Surveillance. More details about our areas of responsibility are available here.

Where your complaint relates to an issue outside our responsibility we will suggest the most appropriate Authority or Regulator for you to contact.

How to Make a Complaint

For employees making a complaint, we advise that you raise the issue within your workplace first as your employer should be given an opportunity to address the matter prior to our involvement.

To help us deal with a complaint as efficiently as possible, you will need to provide us with the employer name and location. Our online complaints form requires that this information is provided before it can be processed.

Alternatively, you can make a complaint by telephone or post at the details provided below:

• Telephone: 0818 289 389 (9:00am to 3:00pm Monday – Friday)
• Post: HSA Contact Centre, Health and Safety Authority, Metropolitan Building, James Joyce Street, Dublin 1

We will ask you for your name and contact details and as much information as possible to ensure we fully understand the circumstances of your complaint. This information will be kept completely confidential.

Our Response

Your complaint will initially be reviewed to assess the most appropriate course of action. As part of our response, we may contact the employer/duty holder responsible for the workplace.

Complaints will be prioritised on a risk basis and may not require an inspection. Alternative forms of addressing the matter include telephone and/or written communication with the employer/duty holder. We will make that decision based on the details and information provided by you.

For complaints received in writing (online form, letter or email) you will receive a written response (by email for online complaints) with a reference number. For complaints received by telephone you will be given a reference number verbally.

What You Can Expect To Hear From Us

Just as your details are kept confidential, any dealings we have with duty holders and employers must also remain confidential. We cannot provide you with details of the specific actions taken or the outcome. By law, there is very limited feedback we can provide you with, but if you are making contact with us to seek an update on the status of your complaint, you must quote the reference number provided or we cannot provide any information.

Anonymous Complaints

We treat all complaints or concerns raised as confidential. We cannot accept anonymous complaints as we generally need to follow up with the complainant to seek additional details. All complaints are treated with total confidentiality and personal details are not provided to any third party under any circumstances.