Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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600. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of inspectors employed by the Health and Safety Authority in each of the years 2016 to 2019 and to date in 2020; if additional inspectors will be hired in view of the Covid-19 pandemic; if the HSA will receive additional funding in 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6304/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The number of (wholetime equivalents) inspectors employed by the HSA in each of the years 2016 to end of April 2020 is as follows:

2016:95.5

2017:93.5

2018:  103.5

2019:99.0

2020 (end April):104.5

(Apart from 2020, the numbers shown were those employed at 31December of the relevant year)

The Authority has a full staff complement of 182 which is made up of staff in administration and inspector grades. The inspector grades comprise of Grade 1s (senior inspectors) as well as GII and GIII inspectors. Inspectors operate across all our mandates – occupational health and safety, market surveillance of products and chemicals. They may also be involved in either general inspection, specialist inspection or policy implementation at national, European and international level.

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. The HSA is deploying all its available inspectors on Covid19 inspections.

As we have seen with the general public health measures over the past two months, most people are complying with the rules. I expect the same from employers and workers, most of who want to get back to work, and want the workplace to be safe, for them and for the families that they are returning to in the evenings.

The HSA’s 2020 current Budget allocation is €20.502m which compromises pay, non-pay and pensions related funding.