Safety, Health and Welfare At Work Act, 1989
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Restrictions on the disclosure of information. |
45.—(1) In this section— | |
“relevant information” means information obtained by a person or furnished to any person pursuant to section 42 or section 43 or pursuant to a requirement imposed by any of the relevant statutory provisions; | ||
“relevant consent” means, in the case of information furnished in pursuance of a requirement imposed by section 34 , the consent of the person who furnished it, and, in any other case, the consent of a person having control of the activity or the place of work where the information was obtained; | ||
“the recipient”, in relation to any relevant information, means the person by whom that information was so obtained or to whom that information was so furnished, as the case may be. | ||
(2) Subject to subsection (3), no relevant information shall be disclosed without the relevant consent. | ||
(3) Subsection (2) shall not apply to— | ||
(a) disclosure of information to the Authority, an enforcing agency or a Minister of the Government; | ||
(b) without prejudice to paragraph (a), disclosure by the recipient of information to any person for the purposes of any function conferred on the recipient by or under any of the relevant statutory provisions; | ||
(c) without prejudice to paragraph (a), disclosure by the recipient of information to an officer of a public body who is authorised by that body to receive it; | ||
(d) disclosure by the recipient of information in a form calculated to prevent it from being identified as relating to a particular person or case; or | ||
(e) disclosure of information for the purpose of any legal proceedings or any investigation or inquiry held by virtue of the provisions of this Act or for the purposes of a report of any such proceedings or inquiry or of a special report made by virtue of the provisions of this Act. | ||
(4) In subsection (3), any reference to the Authority, enforcing agency or a Minister of the Government includes respectively a reference to an officer of those bodies and also, in the case of a reference to the Authority, includes a reference to— | ||
(a) a person performing any function of the Authority; | ||
(b) an officer of a body which is so performing any such functions. | ||
(5) A person to whom information is disclosed pursuant to subsection (3) shall not use the information for a purpose other than— | ||
(a) in a case falling within paragraph (a) of that subsection, a purpose of the Authority, enforcing agency or a Minister of the Government in connection with the relevant statutory provisions; or | ||
(b) in the case of information given to an officer of a public body the purpose of such body in connection with their duties under the relevant statutory provisions or other statutory provisions relating to the protection of public safety, health or the environment. | ||
(6) A person shall not disclose any information obtained by him as a result of the exercise of any power conferred by the provisions of section 34 , 46 or 47 (including, in particular, any information with respect to any trade secret obtained by him in any place of work entered by him by virtue of any such power) except— | ||
(a) for the purpose of his statutory functions; or | ||
(b) for the purpose of any legal proceedings or any investigation or inquiry held by virtue of the provisions of section 47 or for the purposes of a report of any such proceedings or inquiry or of a special report made by virtue of the provisions of section 46 ; or | ||
(c) with the relevant consent. | ||
(7) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (6) an inspector shall, in circumstances in which it is necessary to do so for the purpose of assisting in keeping persons (or the representatives of persons) employed at any place of work adequately informed about matters affecting their safety, health or welfare, give to such persons or their representatives the following information, that is to say— | ||
(a) factual information obtained by him as mentioned in subsection (6) which relates to that place of work or anything which was or is therein or was or is being done therein provided that such information does not reveal any trade secrets; and | ||
(b) information with respect to any action which he has taken or proposes to take in or in connection with that place of work in the performance of his functions; | ||
and, where an inspector does as aforesaid he shall give the like information to the employer of the first-mentioned persons. | ||
(8) Where for the purpose of evaluating information obtained under section 42 the Authority discloses that information to some other person, that other person shall not use that information for any purpose except for a purpose of the Authority and, before disclosing that information, the Authority shall inform that other person of his obligations under this section. |