What you need to know
- The Health & Safety Authority (HSA) completed 11,834 inspections in 2025 across occupational health and safety, chemicals and transport of dangerous goods by road.
- Workplace fatalities increased significantly, from 36 in 2024 to 61 in 2025, with agriculture and construction identified as key areas of concern.
- Construction remained the sector with the highest enforcement activity, with the HSA focusing particularly on working at height, silica dust and UV exposure.
- Employers should expect increased attention on psychosocial risks in the workplace, particularly in the consumer and healthcare sectors.
- The key message for employers is to ensure that risk assessments are current, controls are effective and health and safety arrangements are properly implemented in the workplace.
HSA mandate
The HSA’s mandate is to:
- Regulate the safety, health and welfare of people at work and those affected by work activities
- Promote improvement in the safety, health and welfare of people at work and those affected by work activities
- Regulate and promote the safe manufacture, use, placing on the market, trade, supply, storage and transport of chemicals
- Strengthen market surveillance regarding relevant single European market legislation, and
- To be the national accreditation body for Ireland.
HSA enforcement record in 2025
The HSA completed 11,834 inspections across its mandates its 2025. These include:
- Occupational health and safety
- Chemicals, and
- Transport of dangerous goods by road.
It also carried out 1,181 market surveillance assessments of chemical products and industrial products.
Unfortunately, workplace fatalities increased from 36 in 2024 to 61 in 2025. The HSA identified agriculture and construction as key areas of concern. Employers in high-risk sectors should anticipate heightened regulatory focus, particularly concerning emerging workplace hazards.
Protected disclosures
Protected disclosures are an important source of information for the HSA in identifying breaches of the law. A total of 96 protected disclosures were made to the HSA in 2025. Of those, 51 warranted further follow-up and 19 resulted in an investigation taking place. That accounts for approximately 14% of the total 131 investigations that were carried out in 2025. The 19 investigations resulted in 18 enforcement orders being served. They comprised 16 reports of inspection and two improvement notices. Additionally, 32 unannounced inspections were conducted at workplaces where general health, safety or wellbeing concerns were raised in protected disclosures.
Employers should be aware of the potential for employees to make protected disclosures. Being proactive and maintaining high standards in the workplace could reduce the likelihood of a protected disclosure being made.
Construction remains a priority
The construction sector generated by far the highest enforcement activity in 2025. The HSA recorded:
- 2,845 inspections and investigations
- 55 improvement notices or directions
- 288 prohibition notices, and
- 2,246 written advices.
The HSA targeted three key risks:
1. Working at height
The HSA completed 549 inspections during a major campaign. Working at height was identified as a hazard in 458 inspections. Inspectors found weaknesses in risk assessments and scaffold management. Enforcement action was widespread.
A farming enterprise was convicted of four charges in the District Court for breaches of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 for failing to:
- Identify hazards of working at height on the construction of a shed
- Assess the risks presented by those hazards and be in possession of a written risk assessment
- Ensure there were adequate and appropriate safe systems of work in place for working at height, and
- Put in place control measures, such as a harness system, netting, guardrails or access platforms from underneath.
2. Silica dust
A total of 570 inspections were carried out where silica dust was identified as a hazard on site. Although 93% of employers were aware of silica dust as a health hazard, only 51% of inspections found a silica risk assessment in place.
Dust control measures on site varied from none (9%) to on-tool extraction (37%), water suppression (69%), and respiratory protective equipment (81%). Respiratory protective equipment was not available in 11% of inspections. FFP3 masks were provided and face-fitted in 10% of inspections, whereas FFP3 disposable masks were available in 79% of inspections. Only 27% of face-fitted masks had been face-fit tested. Clean-up operations on site were predominantly brush sweeping (83%), which generates dust. The use of industrial vacuum cleaners was limited (11%). Health surveillance was only completed in 9% of inspections.
The HSA is currently developing an e-learning course on silica dust.
3. UV exposure
The HSA completed 679 inspections. On 86% of inspections, sun protection measures were in place. Where they were not being implemented, enforcement action was taken through written and verbal advice.
Employers should review work at height controls, silica management, health surveillance and outdoor worker protection.
Offshore renewables
As the development of Ireland’s offshore wind project is set to commence, the HSA engaged with the wind energy sector during 2025. This included meetings with Wind Energy Ireland and direct discussions with Phase 1 offshore wind developers. These interactions provided opportunities to offer regulatory clarity, listen to industry concerns and address issues raised by stakeholders.
The HSA also reports that it worked closely with the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment on the health and safety regulatory framework for the offshore environment. In addition, cross-departmental engagement and collaboration with other relevant agencies continued, with a focus on providing clarity to the sector. In line with its 2025-2027 Strategy Statement, the HSA says it will continue to work proactively with industry, Government Departments and relevant agencies to ensure the regulatory framework remains effective in protecting the safety, health and welfare of all workers working in the offshore environment.
It appears that, following its engagement with the wind energy sector, the HSA does not deem it necessary to introduce or amend legislation for the offshore renewables sector. It was previously reported that the HSA would be working on publishing specific guidance, but this remains to be seen. The current regulatory framework under the 2005 Act and its associated regulations will be the main parameters within which offshore renewable developers will be required to operate.
Manufacturing and industrial operations
The HSA conducted targeted campaigns of:
- Quarries
- Prestress and precast operations, and
- Metal fabrication.
Inspectors identified recurring issues including:
- Missing operating procedures
- Inadequate appraisals
- Bypassed machine interlocks
- Weak maintenance systems, and
- Poor risk assessments.
Employers should review machine guarding, maintenance controls and documented risk assessments. Employers in the quarrying sector should note that new Quarry Regulations[1] came into effect in September 2025. These repeal and replace the previous Quarries Regulations 2008.[2]
Chemicals and product compliance
The HSA completed:
- 1,052 inspections under its chemicals mandate
- 755 chemical product assessments, and
- 426 industrial product assessments.
It found significant non-compliance during online chemical product checks.
To address these issues, the HSA expanded support for companies managing REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) and CLP (Classification, Labelling and Packaging) obligations. It updated its courses on chemical safety in the workplace, on identifying chemical hazards and on the safe use of hazardous chemicals. A new e-learning course outlines the obligations of EU chemical importers under REACH and CLP. It is designed to particularly assist those companies to understand their obligations under REACH and CLP for the chemical products they import. Since Brexit, this includes products imported from the UK.
Companies that handle chemicals should review their chemical classifications, labelling, safety data sheets and notification obligations to ensure compliance with their obligations.
Increased attention on psychosocial risks
The focus of safety, health and welfare is often on physical safety. However, the effects of work on health and wellbeing are increasingly coming to the fore and receiving greater attention by employers. It is important that all employers identify and address these risks in the workplace. The HSA expanded activity in 2025 on:
- Workplace violence
- Aggression
- Bullying
- Work-related stress, and
- Psychosocial risk management.
In particular, it focused on psychosocial risks in the retail, transport and health and social care sectors.
Employers should ensure psychosocial risks are assessed alongside physical risks, and that they integrate effective psychosocial risk assessment and control measures into their safety management systems. The HSA promotes the use of its “BeSmart” initiative and “Work Positive” risk assessment tool to enable employers to address work-related psychological risks.
Key message for employers
The HSA continues to use targeted inspections, enforcement and sector-focused campaigns to ensure compliance with health & safety and chemicals laws. Construction, agriculture, health and social care, retail, manufacturing, waste and chemicals remain priority areas. Employers should ensure risk assessments are current, controls are effective, and health and safety arrangements are properly implemented in the workplace.
Contact our Health & Safety team
[1] S.I. No. 283/2025 - Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Quarries) Regulations 2025
[2] S.I. No. 28/2008 - Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Quarries) Regulations 2008 (as amended)
