Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 June 2020
439. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the number of WRC inspectors that will be assigned to the Health and Safety Authority to help enforce the back to work protocols and or assist in related matters. [8696/20]
View answer472. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation if she is satisfied that the HSA is adequately staffed; if the HSA has made a request for additional staff; the number of staff taken on by the HSA as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9231/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 439 and 472 together.
The national Return to Work Safely Protocol is designed to support employers and workers to put measures in place that will prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. The Protocol should be used by all workplaces to adapt their workplace procedures and practices to comply fully with the COVID-19 related public health protection measures identified as necessary by the HSE and the Department of Health. It is operating in parallel with existing workplace health and safety statutory requirements.
The Health and Safety Authority is the lead Agency in relation to oversight and compliance with the Protocol. In line with Phase 1 of the Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business, the Health and Safety Authority launched a national programme of inspections to check compliance with the Return to Work Safely Protocol. Authority inspectors were on the ground from that date enforcing compliance with the Protocol. As of close of business on the 29th of May at the end of week 2 of phase 1 of the Roadmap, and since 18 May 2020 when the economy began to slowly reopen, approximately 1000 inspections were completed across a range of industries. The Authority, based on its initial analysis of the inspections, found that compliance with the Return to Work Safely Protocol is high and employers are generally taking a responsible and proactive approach.
The HSA, along with its usual workload, is deploying all of its available field inspectors across businesses that are currently open to check compliance with the Protocol. Given the scale of the challenge as the economy re-opens, the Government is ensuring that the HSA inspectorate will be supplemented significantly by deploying, under the authority of the HSA, other inspectors from across the system who already have an environmental health, agriculture or other workplace/business inspection responsibilities.
Details of these additional resource are nearing finalisation, and the numbers working with the HSA will be in the hundreds, from across the system. These will be specialist officials who already have sectoral business inspection responsibilities. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has given a commitment that inspectors from his Department will work with the HSA to ensure the implementation of the Protocol in workplaces. It will start shortly with around 200 officials from the Environmental Health Service, and this number will increase steadily as officials from other parts of the system, with varying sectoral inspection and oversight responsibilities are brought on board, in line with the Government Roadmap. This will include inspectors from the WRC
