A team of inspectors has been established by the Health and Safety Authority to examine the condition of accident and emergency units in hospitals.
Hospitals had been given until yesterday to carry out a comprehensive risk assessment of each A&E unit and report to the HSA on the steps taken to remedy any problems.
The authority has the power to close any A&E unit it considers unsafe for staff, but that action is not being contemplated at present.
It wrote to hospitals last month asking for the risk assessments after the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA) claimed overcrowding of A&E units was causing a serious threat to safety.
A spokesman for the HSA yesterday declined to say how many hospitals had complied with the authority's request.
He said a special team of inspectors was compiling all of the information received and the authority would make a public statement next Thursday.
That would provide details of the hospitals' response and outline "what we intend to do in the next phase of the process", the spokesman said.
HSA inspectors have a range of powers to act against unsafe workplaces, including A&E units, under the Welfare at Work Act of 1989.
They can issue improvement directions, which involves inspectors writing to an employer directing that they submit an improvement plan within a specified time.
This action would be likely in cases where a workplace was considered particularly untidy, or welfare facilities were not adequate.
A stronger step would be the issuing of an improvement notice, in cases where an inspector identified a contravention of health and safety legislation.
Prohibition notices can be issued where inspectors conclude that activities in a workplace involve a risk of serious personal injury. A notice of this kind would direct that activities cease until matters had been remedied.
While prohibition notices can be served on any workplace, the HSA said yesterday that, in practice, they tend to be served more often in high-risk sectors, such as construction and quarrying.
