The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) is the Irish state body responsible for enforcing workplace health and safety law. It oversees the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and its regulations, including the General Application Regulations 2007 that cover manual handling and display screen equipment. The HSA inspects workplaces, investigates incidents, issues improvement and prohibition notices, publishes guidance, and can prosecute employers for serious breaches. For employers, the HSA is the regulator whose expectations shape what compliant manual handling training, DSE assessment and ergonomic risk management look like in practice.
The HSA is distinct from the HSE (Health Service Executive). The HSA is the safety regulator; the HSE is the national health service. The acronyms are easy to confuse.
HSA inspectors can arrive announced or unannounced. Having per-employee DSE records, manual handling training records and evidence of acting on risks is what demonstrates compliance during an inspection.
Reviewed by our specialist ergonomics team. Last updated 11 June 2026.
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