Dr. Sharon McGuinness:

I understand that the document has been read so I will paraphrase if that is okay. I thank the committee for the opportunity to come before it today to discuss the current situation in meat processing plants. The HSA operates under the provisions of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and associated regulations. It is the national body with responsibility to ensure occupational safety, health and welfare for all persons at work.

Following the publication of the Return to Work Safely Protocol in early May and the commencement of phase 1 of the roadmap, the authority has conducted 3,820 different inspections and investigations, 2,844 of which addressed Covid measures as set out in the protocol, across all different workplaces and sectors including meat processing plants. While the authority is overseeing the checks of compliance with the protocol, given the nature of Covid-19, a cross-body inspection and compliance check approach was agreed by the Government. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is co-ordinating the provision of these additional inspection and monitoring mechanisms, which involve more than 500 resources from across the range of statutory bodies. This is in addition to the authority's existing field inspectors who have been assigned on foot of the protocol. We have provided the national help file for queries and complaints through our workplace contact unit and, since March, it has dealt with more than 8,000 contacts, with 66% relating to Covid. These included 21 complaints about meat and food processing plants involving 12 specific employers and 15 requests for information.

In early May, the authority became a member of the national outbreak control team that was established to review matters relating to meat processing plants at that time. Our role there was entirely in the context of occupational health and safety. Those meat plants were identified by the national outbreak control team and each inspection by the authority involved a full occupational health and safety inspection and a check of compliance with the interim guidance issued by the national outbreak control team as well as the protocol. The inspection took place across all parts of the plant. In the main, authority inspections were and are unannounced. In certain circumstances, however, limited advance notification may be required for operational reasons. A limited number of inspections may require the co-ordination of resources from a range of State agencies and Departments, which may lead to the employer being notified shortly before the inspection is due to take place.

Inspection visits to MPPs with known outbreaks were pre-advised at short notice to ensure that relevant management and other key personnel were available to meet with us.

Further to our involvement in the NOCT, we originally undertook 33 inspections. The figure of 34 is in our submission and now we can say there have been 39 inspections. These inspections included each of those plants connected with an outbreak, along with other plants not associated with any outbreaks. The inspections involved engagement with all the on-site personnel from management right down to safety representatives and Department of Agriculture and the Marine officials. Based on the inspections the authority identified a generally high level of compliance with the recommended measures to limit the spread of Covid in a workplace context as set out by the NOCT.

The authority attended a meeting arranged by Department of the Taoiseach about the current outbreaks last week. We have also been invited to and are engaged in a number of the current local outbreak control teams, OCTs, dealing with specific outbreaks in a number of the plants involved. A national committee on cases and outbreaks of Covid-19 in high risk settings has been convened under the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, HPSC, and we have attended three meetings of that committee so far.

We recognise the unique challenges posed by Covid-19 and acknowledge the shared responsibility between workers, employers and all of us to limit the spread of Covid-19 in the workplace. It is important to note that an outbreak in a particular setting does not necessarily reflect a poor system of control on behalf of the employer. Our general experience to date indicates high levels of compliance across sectors and we have found employers, in the main, to be willing to engage and co-operate.

The Health and Safety Authority wants to see all businesses in Ireland reopening as safely and successfully as possible while keeping workers safe too. We remain committed to working with everyone to support and advise on how to be compliant with the protocol, the interim guidance from the NOCT, and all occupational health and safety measures and we will take appropriate enforcement action as and when needed.

I again express my thanks for the invitation to speak to the committee today and along with my colleague, I am willing to answer any questions or queries members may have.