While risk is a factor of life, organisations who invest in resilience are at a distinct advantage in today’s world. Providing a healthy and safe workplace can lead to enhanced productivity, whilst adequately assessing environmental risk factors is an insurance policy against lengthy periods of disruption and downtime when disasters occur. Directors and those in management positions need to understand their role in ensuring a safe workplace, or otherwise risk corporate and personal liability. Expert speakers will discuss how collaboration with stakeholders is key in the roadmap to a safer Ireland. Effective logistics safety management can significantly impact project timelines, costs, and overall success. By focusing on safety and compliance in the supply chain, construction companies can improve their logistics operations and achieve better project outcomes. 

Topics will include:

• designing for safety in construction
• integrating advanced risk management software, processes behaviours within your operations
• guidance for architects, engineers and designers under the Safety Health & Welfare at Work legislation
• ensuring the successful completion of the role of PSDP on construction projects

The 2025-2027 Strategy Statement is a roadmap to a safer Ireland. It is a commitment to not only keep pace with the evolving workplace but to lead in protecting the wellbeing of our workforce, especially in high-risk sectors.

Mental wellbeing, psychosocial risks and work-related stress are among the most challenging occupational safety and health concerns within the construction Industry. It is vital that the industry is aware of how to encourage best practice in its employees and provide the resources necessary to promote and monitor health for all, including vulnerable work groups. This panel will discuss sector-specific issues and offer examples of good practices to address them, and how interventions with individual and organisational elements can best protect construction workers’ mental health. These include tools to assess workplace psychosocial risks and initiatives to mitigate them, increasing mental health awareness and introducing better working conditions. The panel will also outline some of the emotional, physical and financial supports available to construction workers and their families.

Ensuring that education and training programmes keep pace with changes and the supply of a skilled workforce at all levels, from apprentices to researchers, across a wide range of disciplines is of crucial importance in order to provide a sustained human capital pipeline which is best suited to supporting the industry.

New research shows that industrial robots could lower workplace injuries but increase stress – monitoring technologies may improve risk identification but decrease influence at work.

The Irish construction industry is experiencing a transformative shift with the implementation of the CWMF (Capital Works Management Framework) BIM (Building Information Modelling) requirements, which has been come known as the Irish BIM mandate, marking a new era of digital innovation. Digital technology offers increased opportunities but also presents greater challenges and risks in terms of safety and health. Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used by EHS professionals to analyse construction site conditions and worker behaviours to predict and address safety risks before they escalate. With the increasing move towards digitalisation of fieldworkers, Health & Safety and Operational leaders need to be abreast of the latest solutions being used by progressive organisations in the sector.

Topics will include:

·       the impact of new technologies in modern methods of construction on health and safety

·       how AI can address safety risks, react to incidents, focus on preventing them, and thereby  shifting from reactive to proactive

The construction industry inherently has a higher level of risk than many other industries due to the nature of the work involved. There are many different types of risk, including operating heavy machinery, working at height and working in confined spaces. Working with chemicals and hazardous materials can also increase the risk to employees in the construction industry and inadequate training in recognising and mitigating risks in roles where this is unavoidable can significantly increase the likelihood of an accident occurring. Ensuring that employees receive high quality training in all areas of health and safety that relate to their work can save lives, and it can also protect your business from the financial and reputational costs of accidents and injuries in the workplace.

Topics will include:

• promoting and protecting better occupational health and hygiene
• preventing serious work-related illnesses such as cancer, asthma and communicable diseases
• how to identify, evaluate and control exposure to workplace hazards including chemicals, dust, fumes, noise, radiation, vibration and extreme temperatures
• ensuring that your employees receive high quality training in all areas of health and safety
• how to encourage men to set simple, realistic and practical tactics to improve their health