Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 June 2020
275. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the WRC appears to be making no preparations to redeploy its workplace inspectors to work with the HSA to carry out Covid-19 workplace inspections. [9797/20]
View answer276. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation if she has instructed her officials at the WRC not to redeploy their workplace inspectors to work with the HSA doing Covid-19 workplace inspections. [9798/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 275 and 276 together.
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is an independent statutory office under the aegis of my Department. The Commission’s primary statutory functions include the inspection of employment law compliance, the provision of information on employment law, mediation, adjudication, conciliation, facilitation and advisory services. As part of its functions in this area, WRC Inspectors carry out announced and unannounced inspections at employer premises.
I am informed by the WRC that on-site visits will resume in tandem with the commencement of next phase of the Government Roadmap on 8 June and that the WRC has engaged with key stakeholders on the employer and employee representative sides in this regard.
WRC Management has also been in direct discussions over the last 3 weeks with senior Health and Safety Authority (HSA) officials to offer assistance to the HSA in carrying out Covid-19 workplace inspections. In this regard the bodies are agreeing a Memorandum of Understanding between them to ensure that this assistance is provided in an efficient and effective manner.
To give effect to this operationally:
- The WRC Inspectorate has completed the safety training required in the Return to Work Protocol in preparation for the recommencement of on-site visits and the necessary PPE (similar to what is being used by the HSA) has been procured and
- The related on-site HSA inspection procedures to carry out Covid-19 workplace inspections have been circulated by the HSA in the last week in advance of the start of the on-site visits commencing week commencing 8 June 2020.
While on-site inspection activity was suspended, WRC Inspections of employment law compliance continued to be undertaken and finalised remotely by way of desk top enquiries, interviews with employers and employees on the telephone and examination of company records (such as payroll and hours worked) following their secure upload to the WRC.
To date this year, a total of 1,640 inspections have been finalised by the WRC inspectorate. Since March, the WRC Inspectors have completed over 900 inspections, with approx. €640,000 in unpaid wages recovered and 66 cases approved for prosecution. They also have currently over 1,200 open inspections being progressed.
