Job illness is double in West, seminar told

THE west of Ireland has nearly twice the national average of occupational illness, a health and safety seminar heard yesterday.

The number of days lost in the region during 1995 amounted to 82 "working years", and the most frequent difficulties were respiratory problems due to asbestos dust, welding fumes, the contents of certain paints and a range of chemicals.

"Employers who don't carry out health surveillance checks and who don't put the necessary safeguards and precautions in place are simply playing `Russian roulette' with the lives of their employees," said Mr Sean O'Dwyer, health and safety officer for Galway and Mayo. "There is also a need for workers to avoid taking unnecessary risks which could cost them their lives 10 years down the road."

Because illnesses could develop over a number of years, they tended not to get the priority they deserved, he added.

"There may be a tendency for employees to `plough into a job' and think they are not suffering any ill-effects. But health problems might show later when a person could be diagnosed with cancer."

The Health and Safety Authority is now gearing its campaigns more towards smaller industries and workplaces. Speaking in Galway, the occupational medical director of the authority, Dr Dan Murphy, said they were investigating the very high rate of workplace illness in the west and were hoping to counter it.