Legislation and Guidance
The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 2005 and the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Applications) Regulations, 2007 are the principal pieces of occupational health and safety legislation to regulate these sectors. Some guidance has been developed over the years to assist the retail sector and assist in compliance
Core of this legislation is again the risk assessment approach and the legal duty on employers to prepare a written health and safety document referred to as a Safety Statement. The Health and Safety Authority has developed the Simple Safety approach to address the wants and needs of retail micro businesses and will continue to expand the scheme.
Learn more about Simple Safety and guidance for the retail sector.
Health and Safety in Small Retail Premises information sheet.pdf (size 54 KB Opens in new window)
Enforcement
The retail sector has not previously been the target of proactive enforcement action and there is no plan to alter this approach.
The intention is to assist the retail sector to achieve high standards of safety and health through the intervention of preventative measures alone, thus allowing compliance inspectors to concentrate on high-risk sectors.
Reactive interventions by compliance inspectors will continue as required.