Health and safety at work in Northern Ireland

For confidential advice on a safety risk your employer will not deal with, contact the Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland (HSENI).

What your employer must do

Your employer must provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to you free of charge. You must use this correctly and follow the training and instruction you've been given.

Workplaces should be kept at a comfortable temperature: at least 16 degrees Centigrade for sedentary work such as offices, or 13 degrees where the work involves physical activity.

Accidents at work

Your employer must report serious work-related accidents, diseases and dangerous incidents to the Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland or the Health and Safety department at your local authority. All employers (except for very small companies) must keep an accident book.

In most cases, if you need time off because of an accident at work, you'll only have the right to Statutory Sick Pay, unless your employer pays more.

Screen work

There is no legal limit to how long you should work at a VDU, but under health and safety regulations you have the right to breaks from work using a VDU. If you're prescribed glasses to help you work with a VDU, your employer must pay for a basic pair of glasses, provided they're needed especially for that work.

Suspension on medical grounds

If you've been in your job for a month or more when you're suspended, you have the right to be paid for up to 26 weeks of suspension. The pay should be equal to a normal week's pay. Refusing other suitable work while suspended ends your right to pay.

Your employer must make a special assessment of the risks to pregnant mothers and their babies.

Stress

Stress is not a disease, but it can be a threat to your health and safety at work. Legally, your employer must take care of your health and safety when you are at work. If your employer cannot remove the cause, use the grievance procedure in your contract or handbook. See problems at work.

Bad weather

You must go to work unless you're sick or on leave, so it's your responsibility to get to work even in extreme weather. You have no legal right to be paid if you don't go into work, unless it's in your contract.

Drug tests and monitoring

You can't be made to take a drugs test, but refusing when your employer has good grounds under a proper policy may lead to disciplinary action. You have the right to some privacy at work, and monitoring must normally be open.

Common questions

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