Healthy,
safe and
productive lives
and enterprises

Getting Started

All employers, including those who are self-employed, are required by Irish law to take steps to manage health and safety in the workplace. This includes identifying potential hazards and putting measures in place to protect people from harm.

Risk assessment

Managing safety involves looking at the tasks you carry out in your business, recognising the risks involved, and taking practical steps to reduce them. This process is known as a Risk Assessment.

Lower-risk businesses

You do not always need specialist qualifications to carry out a risk assessment. In many small, low-risk businesses, a responsible and competent person, such as the business owner or manager, can complete the assessments.

Employees can provide you with valuable input based on their experience with their job. In many situations, you will already have safety measures in place. Your risk assessments will help check if these are enough, or if more needs to be done.

Higher-risk businesses

Businesses operating in higher-risk sectors might need additional resources and support to manage health and safety effectively. This might come from guidance provided by a competent health and safety professional.

Safety statement

All employers, including the self-employed, must also have a Safety Statement. This is a written document that explains how health and safety is managed in your business.

Free online courses for small business at hsalearning.ie

For a quick, free guide to getting health and safety right from the outset, try our online small business courses on hsalearning.ie.

There are three courses available:

  • Small Business: Employers
  • Small Business: Employees
  • Small Business: Start-Up

hsalearning.ie is an educational platform with over 50 free, short, online health and safety awareness raising courses

All of the courses have been developed by the Health and Safety Authority with the aim of improving awareness of workplace safety, health and welfare.

Courses are self-directed, allowing you to choose and study a course in your own time.

Free risk assessment and safety statement tool at BeSMART.ie

BeSMART.ie (Business Electronic Safety Management and Risk assessment Tool) is

  • a free,
  • online,
  • risk assessment and safety statement tool,
  • developed by the Health and Safety Authority, and
  • aimed to support small businesses and the self-employed to fulfil their legal obligations.

Find out more about BeSMART.ie here.

Further information