Brian Stanley
Ceist:886. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the plans being put in place to provide workers in meat plants with full PPE equipment. [6187/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 20 May 2020
Ceisteanna (886)
Freagraí scríofa
My Department supplies PPE to its own staff and contractors in Food Business premises. It does not supply PPE to Food Business personnel. Food business have put in place a range of protective practices and equipment to protect employee safety and these include measures such as the reduction of throughput rates at the plant, temperature checks on entry into the plant, the extension of operating hours and other safeguards such as “podding”, the provision of additional PPE, the use of perspex screens and the provision of additional facilities to support physical distancing measures.
A national Outbreak Control team has been established by the HSE to deal with all issues relating to Covid 19 in meat plants. My Department is represented on this committee and it is expected that recommendations, including any in relation to testing, will issue from this group in due course. Any clusters of cases in individual meat plants, in common with clusters in other workplaces, are dealt with by local HSE-led outbreak control teams.