Director and Manager Personal Liability for Construction Safety in Ireland
Irish construction directors and managers can face personal prosecution under Section 80 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.
There is a common misconception in the Irish construction sector that health and safety law is the concern of site managers and safety officers, not company directors. That view is wrong, and in 2025 and 2026 it has proven costly for a number of individuals who found themselves personally prosecuted alongside their companies. This article explains the personal liability framework for directors and senior managers under Irish health and safety law, what the courts have said in recent cases, and the practical steps you can take to protect yourself and your business. ## The Legal Framework: Section 80 of the 2005 Act The foundation of personal liability in Irish health and safety law is Section 80 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. This provision allows the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) to prosecute directors, managers, and other senior officers of a company where an offence committed by the company is attributable to their: - **Consent** (they agreed to the unsafe practice) - **Connivance** (they knew about it and turned a blind eye) - **Authorisation** (they directed or approved the unsafe practice) - **Neglect** (they failed to exercise reasonable oversight) Critically, Section 80(2) creates a presumption against a director or decision-maker in certain circumstances. This means that if something goes wrong, the burden shifts: you must demonstrate that you exercised due diligence and proper oversight. The HSA does not have to prove you were personally on site or personally responsible for the specific act or omission. It is enough that your failure to govern, oversee, or act appropriately contributed to the breach. ## Why This Matters More in 2026 The HSA's Programme of Work 2026 explicitly commits to holding duty holders to account using the full range of enforcement powers, including recommending prosecutions where necessary. Construction is identified as one of the highest-risk sectors, and the sharp increase in workplace fatalities in 2025 (63 total, with 11 in construction alone, more than double the 2024 figure of five) has intensified regulatory scrutiny. The HSA has made clear that an inspection can lead directly to prosecution where breaches are identified, even in the absence of an incident. A site visit triggered by a complaint or a routine inspection can uncover breaches entirely unrelated to the original reason for the visit. Directors should not assume that because there has been no accident, there is no risk of enforcement action. ## Recent Court Decisions: Personal Liability in Practice Three recent prosecutions illustrate the reality of personal liability for Irish construction directors: **DPP for HSA v John Fletcher Limited and David Fletcher (March 2025)** A fatal workplace accident involving unsafe manual handling of heavy equipment. Both the company and its director were prosecuted. The company received a fine of €400,000. The director was personally fined €5,000. The failures identified included not providing a safe system of work and not using mechanical aids that were available on site. **DPP for HSA v Solar Power BK Limited and Brian Kelly (July 2025)** An employee died in a fall due to the absence of a safe system of work. The director received suspended prison sentences and a personal fine of €10,000. This case is particularly significant because it demonstrates that suspended custodial sentences are available to the courts in serious cases. **DPP for HSA v Shay Murtagh Precast, Ciaran Murtagh and David Whyte (November 2024)** A serious fall from a fragile roof light during solar panel installation resulted in a skull fracture. The company was fined €125,000. Both the managing director and the health and safety manager had the Probation Act applied. This case shows that personal liability extends not only to directors but to senior managers with safety responsibilities. The pattern across these cases is consistent: personal liability arises where governance and oversight failures at a senior level contributed to the breach, regardless of whether the director was physically present on site. ## The Construction Regulations 2013: Additional Duties for Clients and Duty Holders Beyond the general framework of the 2005 Act, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2013 impose specific duties on a range of duty holders in the construction sector. These duties are layered on top of, not in replacement of, general employer obligations. The Client (the person or organisation commissioning the work) must appoint in writing two key roles before work begins: **Project Supervisor for the Design Process (PSDP):** Coordinates safety during the design phase, ensures risks are identified, eliminated or reduced before construction begins. **Project Supervisor for the Construction Stage (PSCS):** Manages and coordinates health and safety during construction itself, and is responsible for developing the Construction Stage Safety and Health Plan. These appointments are not administrative formalities. They are legally mandated safeguards, and failure to make them correctly exposes clients, directors, and managers to direct liability. The obligation to appoint arises for projects with more than one contractor, lasting more than 30 working days, involving more than 500 person-days of construction work, or involving a particular risk. Notification to the HSA before work commences is also required for qualifying projects. Failure to notify is itself a breach that can trigger enforcement action. ## What Directors and Managers Must Be Able to Demonstrate When an HSA inspector arrives at your site, or when a prosecution is initiated, the question is not simply whether there was a breach. The question is whether you, as a director or senior manager, can demonstrate that you exercised appropriate governance and oversight. In practice, this means being able to show: **A documented safety management system.** Your company must have a written Safety Statement that is specific to your business, reviewed regularly, and actually implemented on site. A generic document that has not been updated in years will not satisfy an inspector. **Competent appointment of duty holders.** PSDP and PSCS appointments must be made in writing, to competent persons, before work begins. The individuals appointed must have the skills, knowledge, and experience to discharge their duties. **Evidence of monitoring and review.** Directors must be able to demonstrate that they receive regular reports on safety performance, that site inspections are conducted, and that corrective actions are followed up. Board minutes, safety committee records, and inspection reports all serve as evidence of active governance. **Training records.** All workers must have appropriate training, including Safe Pass, Manual Handling, and any task-specific training required for the work being carried out. Training records must be maintained and available for inspection. **Incident and near-miss records.** A culture of reporting near misses and minor incidents is evidence of a proactive safety culture. The absence of any records is itself a red flag. ## The Practical Steps to Protect Yourself The good news is that the steps required to protect yourself from personal liability are the same steps that make your sites safer and your business more resilient. They are not additional burdens; they are good management practice. **Review your Safety Statement now.** If it has not been reviewed in the last 12 months, or if it does not reflect the actual work your company is currently doing, it needs to be updated. A Safety Statement that does not match your operations is evidence of neglect. **Ensure PSDP and PSCS appointments are in place for every qualifying project.** Do not rely on informal arrangements or assume that someone else has made the appointment. Confirm in writing, before work starts, that the correct appointments have been made and that the appointed persons are competent. **Establish a reporting line to the board.** Safety performance should be a standing item at board or senior management level. Directors need to be able to demonstrate that they were receiving information about safety performance and acting on it. **Conduct regular site inspections.** Inspections should be documented, with findings recorded and corrective actions tracked to completion. The frequency and scope of inspections should reflect the risk profile of the work being carried out. **Take near-miss reporting seriously.** A near miss is a free lesson. Organisations that investigate near misses and implement corrective actions before an incident occurs are demonstrably safer and are in a much stronger position if they face regulatory scrutiny. ## When an Inspector Calls If an HSA inspector arrives at your site, you have both rights and obligations. You must cooperate with the inspection and provide access to documents and records. You are entitled to ask the inspector to identify themselves and to explain the purpose of the visit. If the inspector identifies a breach, they may issue an improvement notice (requiring you to remedy the breach within a specified timeframe) or a prohibition notice (requiring you to stop the activity immediately). A prohibition notice on a live construction project can have significant commercial consequences, including programme delays and contractual penalties. The best preparation for an inspection is to have your systems, documentation, and culture of safety in order before the inspector arrives. If you are not confident that your site would withstand scrutiny today, that is the issue to address. ## Frequently Asked Questions **Can a director be prosecuted even if they were not on site when the incident occurred?** Yes. Section 80 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 allows prosecution where the company's offence is attributable to the director's consent, connivance, authorisation, or neglect. Physical presence on site is not required. **What is the maximum penalty for a director convicted under Section 80?** On conviction on indictment, the maximum penalty is a fine of €3,000,000 and/or two years' imprisonment. On summary conviction, the maximum is a fine of €50,000 and/or two years' imprisonment. **Does personal liability apply to health and safety managers as well as directors?** Yes. Section 80 applies to any person who was a director, manager, secretary, or other officer of the company, or who was purporting to act in any such capacity. The Shay Murtagh Precast case (2024) involved both the managing director and the health and safety manager. **What is the difference between an improvement notice and a prohibition notice?** An improvement notice requires you to remedy a specified breach within a timeframe set by the inspector. Work can continue in the meantime. A prohibition notice requires you to stop the specified activity immediately (or from a specified time) because of a risk of serious personal injury. It has immediate commercial consequences on a live site. **How often should a Safety Statement be reviewed?** Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, a Safety Statement must be reviewed whenever there is reason to believe it is no longer valid, or following a significant change in the matters to which it relates. In practice, an annual review is recommended as a minimum, with additional reviews following any incident, near miss, or significant change in operations. --- *Safety Check Ltd provides Safety Statements, PSDP/PSCS appointments, site inspections, and safety management support for construction companies across Leinster. If you would like to discuss your compliance position, contact us at info@safetycheck.ie or call +353 85 873 4413.*