Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007: Employer Overview

The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 299 of 2007) are the main set of detailed workplace safety rules made under the 2005 Act. They are long, and employers often meet them one chapter at a time, through manual handling, display screen equipment or accident reporting. This guide gives a map: a General Application Regulations 2007 Ireland employer overview that shows how the instrument is organised, what each Part covers by its heading, and where to look next. It does not reproduce thresholds or technical limits, which should be read in the regulations themselves. For the Act-level paperwork that sits above these rules, see our guide to safety statements and risk assessments.

What the regulations are and where to read them

The Irish Statute Book publishes S.I. No. 299/2007 under the title "Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007". Regulation 1 provides that it commenced on 1 November 2007. A consolidated version on the Law Reform Commission's revised Acts site is marked "updated to" 24 May 2023, takes account of S.I. No. 255 of 2023 (the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) (Amendment) Regulations 2023, made 24 May 2023), and states that, as of 17 September 2026, it is up to date with all changes known to be in force. Because the instrument has been amended, use the consolidated text and check the Irish Statute Book list of amendments rather than relying on a summary, including this one.

The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) has a page on the regulations that lists related guidance, including display screen equipment, manual handling risk assessment in retail, the manual handling training system guidance (2010 revision) and guidelines on hearing checks and audiometry. The page text we could read was mostly menu, so this article is built from the statute and the consolidated text.

The structure at a glance

The instrument is divided into fourteen Parts. From the contents pages we read:

• Part 1, Interpretation and General (regulations 1 to 3): citation and commencement, interpretation, and revocations and savings.
• Part 2, Workplace and Work Equipment: five chapters, covered below.
• Part 3, Electricity (regulations 74 to 93).
• Part 4, Work at Height (regulations 94 to 119).
• Part 5, Physical Agents: control of noise at work (regulations 120 to 132) and control of vibration at work (regulations 133 to 142).
• Part 6, Sensitive Risk Groups: children and young persons, pregnant, postnatal and breastfeeding employees, and night work and shift work (regulations 143 to 157).
• Part 7, Safety Signs and First-Aid (regulations 158 to 166).
• Part 8, Explosive Atmospheres at Places of Work (regulations 167 to 175).
• Part 9, Control of Artificial Optical Radiation at Work (regulations 176 to 182).
• Parts 10 to 13: pressure systems, woodworking machines, abrasive wheels and abrasive blasting of surfaces.
• Part 14, Reporting of Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences (regulations 224 to 229).

Fifteen schedules follow the regulations. By their headings they include requirements for work equipment, personal protective equipment, risk factors for manual handling of loads, minimum requirements for display screen equipment, particulars to include in a report of inspection, training and instruction, and dangerous occurrences.

Part 2: the Parts most offices and service employers meet first

Part 2 is where many employers spend most time. It has five chapters.

• Chapter 1, Workplace (regulations 4 to 26). By heading, it covers stability and solidity, ventilation, room temperature, lighting, floors, walls and ceilings, windows, doors, emergency routes and exits, fire detection and firefighting, movement of pedestrians and vehicles, loading bays, room dimensions and freedom of movement at the workstation, general welfare requirements, rest rooms, sanitary and washing facilities, changing rooms, accommodation, outdoor places of work, pregnant, postnatal and breastfeeding employees, employees with disabilities, and agreements as to premises used as a place of work.
• Chapter 2, Use of Work Equipment (regulations 27 to 61). General duties on use of work equipment, information and instruction, inspection, maintenance, control devices, guards, mobile work equipment and lifting equipment, with records and examination provisions for lifting equipment.
• Chapter 3, Personal Protective Equipment (regulations 62 to 67). Provision, assessment, conditions of use and compatibility, personal use, maintenance and replacement, and information, training and instruction.
• Chapter 4, Manual Handling of Loads (regulations 68 and 69). Interpretation and duties of the employer. For the practical side, see our guide to manual handling training and employer duties.
• Chapter 5, Display Screen Equipment (regulations 70 to 73). Interpretation, non-application, duties of the employer, and provision of eye tests and corrective appliances. The HSA's remote working checklist refers to Chapter 5 and Schedule 4 as the basis for its workstation questions.

The other Parts, in outline

Whether a Part matters to you depends on your work. An office-based employer in Dublin may meet Part 2 and Part 7 (safety signs and first aid), Part 14 (reporting) and parts of Part 6 (night and shift work, young persons, pregnancy) far more than Parts 10 to 13. Employers with electrical systems, work at height, noise or vibration will look to Parts 3, 4 and 5. We have not summarised the content of those Parts beyond their headings, because we did not read their operative text closely enough to state specific duties.

Part 14 sets out regulations on interpretation, reporting of accidents and dangerous occurrences, keeping of records, application, defence in proceedings, and examinations and tests. This sits alongside the Act's own duty to report accidents and dangerous occurrences as prescribed.

Using the regulations with the 2005 Act

The regulations sit under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. The Act's section 8 requires employers to protect employees' safety, health and welfare so far as reasonably practicable, and section 19 deals with hazard identification and risk assessment. The regulations add detailed requirements for particular areas of work. In our reading, a sensible order is to start with the Act-level risk assessment, then use it to identify which Parts apply to your activities. Training obligations also appear throughout: section 10 of the Act deals with instruction and training generally, and our guide to HSA mandatory training requirements looks at the topic from the employer's side.

A practical approach

The following are our suggestions, not legal requirements:

• Create a one-page index for your organisation listing each Part and chapter, and mark which apply, which do not, and who owns each.
• Link each risk in your risk assessment to the regulation or chapter that it engages, so the paperwork shows the legal basis for each control.
• Set a date to check the consolidated text and the HSA's guidance list for changes.
• When you add a new activity or piece of equipment, check whether it brings another Part into play.

What this overview does not cover

We have deliberately left out numeric limits, such as temperatures, weights, noise action values and testing intervals, because we did not read those provisions in detail and they can be amended. Where the instrument or its guidance has changed since the dates mentioned above, the current text prevails. This article is general information, not legal advice.

Learnsignal's offices are off Baggot Street in Dublin, and we offer in-person training from there. For current details, see our CPD pages.

Frequently asked questions

What are the General Application Regulations 2007?

They are S.I. No. 299 of 2007, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007, which commenced on 1 November 2007 and contain detailed rules arranged in fourteen Parts with fifteen schedules.

Do they apply to every employer?

The regulations cover many areas of work, but which Parts are relevant depends on the activity. Chapter 5, for example, is about display screen equipment, and Part 4 is about work at height. Read the application provisions in each chapter.

Where do display screen and manual handling rules sit?

Within Part 2: Chapter 4 covers manual handling of loads and Chapter 5 covers display screen equipment, with related schedules for manual handling risk factors and display screen minimum requirements.

Where is accident reporting dealt with?

Part 14 deals with reporting of accidents and dangerous occurrences, including keeping of records.

In short, treat the regulations as a map: start from your risk assessment, identify the Parts that apply, and read those provisions in the current consolidated text.