Over 10,000 businesses using online safety resource

12 December 2012

Many small business owners may lack the resources or know-how to meet their health and safety obligations. With this in mind, last year the Health and Safety Authority launched a free on-line tool, BeSMART.ie, that allows users create their own risk assessments and safety statements.

Now www.BeSMART.ie is being used by over 10,000 businesses throughout the country. With over 160 different types of businesses covered, the system caters to a wide range of enterprises, everything from Accountants to Woodworkers.

All workplaces are required to have a safety statement and previously many small business owners would have paid a health and safety expert to create one for them.

Paula Gough, Programme Manager with Health and Safety Authority says that the system is designed to relieve the burden and cost of creating a safety statement. “Users of BeSMART.ie can login at any time day or night, select the type of business they are running and then follow the steps to create a safety statement that is specific to their own activities. We believe that BeSMART.ie empowers both employers and employees to take real ownership of safety and health in the workplace. When that happens, the number of accidents and the associated costs are reduced.”

Over the next few months the Authority will be looking to add more users and more business types to further expand the service. Paula Gough says that the on-line system has huge potential. “We estimate that there are roughly 90,000 businesses out there employing fifty or less, and BeSMART.ie is targeted at them. The next phase for us is to encourage more businesses to use the system and to expand BeSMART.ie to include the two main high-risk sectors, Agriculture and Construction.”