'67 is not going to do the job' - ICTU wants more inspectors to ensure Covid compliance at workplaces
The head of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions says that she is not comforted by the number of health and safety inspectors available to ensure adherence to Covid-19 guidelines.
Speaking to the Special Committee on Covid-19 in the Dáil today, Patricia King said that she did not believe that the 67 field investigators currently on staff at the Health and Safety Authority was enough.
Ms King said that a lack of investigators would endanger workers.
"It is essential that the HSA have all the necessary resources available to them to execute a full-scale intensive workplace inspection campaign immediately. Not to do so would undoubtedly risk lives and would be inexcusable.
"67 inspectors is not going to do the job."
Dr Sharon McGuinness, head of the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), who was also giving evidence to the committee, said that surprise inspections would no longer be possible in some cases, but she was confident that the authority would be fully resourced.
Dr McGuinness said that all site inspections related to the back-to-work protocols would check for compliance on a statutory basis.
"As a general rule, Authority inspections are unannounced. However, due to the fact that workplaces may have different working arrangements in place to protect against Covid-19, the Authority may need in a number of cases to arrange a suitable time to visit.
"Once on site, the inspector will check for compliance against the Protocol and where there is a breach of a statutory obligation, the inspector based on the evidence and their expert opinion will determine what enforcement action may be needed."
Dr McGuinness said that the HSA has 67 active field inspectors out of 109 overall, in keeping with the need for the authority to be reactive and fulfill its statutory obligations.
She added that there was "a recognition" that site inspections would be more difficult throughout the pandemic. Dr McGuinness said that she was not yet in a position to say just how many extra inspectors the HSA would gain through secondments from other government agencies.
The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation earlier confirmed to The Irish Examiner that environmental health officers and inspectors from the Department of Agriculture and the Workplace Relations Commission will be drafted in to ensure workplace compliance with new guidelines.
However, the Department also failed to clarify the size of the investment either in monetary or personnel figures.
