A total of 2,177 inspections were carried out by occupational health and safety officers in the first six months of the year, the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OHSA) said on Friday.

It said in a statement that the inspections were followed up by around 400 private meetings with those responsible for health and safety at the workplace to discuss the inspections.

In situations of significant but not high danger, improvement notices were issued with instructions to employers to remedy the situation in a reasonable time. A total of 357 such notices were issued between January and June.

At 403 places of work inspected, where dangers were considered serious enough to death, the work was immediately stopped until the situation was rectified. These cases kept being followed up with administrative fines issued or judicial procedures embarked upon.

During the same period, 253 entities or individuals were given administrative fines for breach of occupational health and safety legislation amounting to just over €100,000. Legal procedures were embarked upon in 74 instances.

The most common shortcomings were precautions to prevent falls from heights, a lack of project supervisors on construction sights, and clients not following the recommendations of project supervisors.

During the same period, OHSA verified 2,466 reports of equipment verification and 951 forms of construction notifications, among others.