Companies which comply with health and safety regulations should be rewarded with lower insurance premiums, Mr Frank Fahey, the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment told an Oireachtas committee yesterday.

Offering lower premiums would encourage businesses to comply with best practice and favour those with good safety records, Mr Fahey told the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business.

He said: "If an employer can show that his business is compliant with good health and safety standards and practice, and if that employer has a good record, he should be compensated by pro-rata lower insurance costs."

But there was also an onus on employees to ensure they were abiding by health and safety regulations, said Mr Fahey.

Mr Fahey said: "Safety at work is a two-way thing and there is also an onus on all employees to take responsibility for their own safety, just as there is a continuing responsibility on employers to provide a safe and healthy working environment."

Although there was a greater awareness of health and safety in the workplace, work-related deaths remained unacceptably high, said Mr Fahey. There were 66 workplace fatalities in 2003, compared with 61 in 2002.

In response to the rising death toll, the Health and Safety Authority planned to increase the number of workplace inspections it carried out, he told the committee.

It will conduct 4,500 construction site inspections in the next 12 months. There were 17 construction industry deaths in 2003.