Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O’Reilly for bringing forward this Bill. It provides me with an opportunity to update the Dáil on recent regulatory changes and to facilitate a valuable exchange of views on the matter of Covid-19 in the workplace. I am sure that I am not alone in expressing my thanks and gratitude to all those who have worked tirelessly on the front line, in our hospitals, care homes and other essential services, throughout this pandemic to keep people as safe as possible. I have referred here on many occasions to all those involved in the retail sector. They are also on the front line. That is well recognised here. It is in everyone's interest that they are fully protected as best as possible. The State has gone to great lengths to achieve that.

The intention behind the Bill is well-motivated insofar as it those who drafted it are seeking to ensure that all instances of Covid-19 infection identified at places of work be reported to the HSA. However, it is important to clarify there are already established reporting mechanisms in place for all Covid-19 infections. Accordingly, there is no reporting gap to be filled in that regard.

A different impression was given here earlier that was wrong. The allusion made tonight is not uncommon in debates in the House. However, I wish that it would not happen. On serious matters such as public health, we should deal with the facts. While I am all for improving situations, I would like if people used the facts in their speeches.

While recognising concerns regarding the specific acquiring of Covid-19 infections in the workplace, the fact is that the workplace is not isolated from wider society. Covid-19 is primarily a public health matter and the management of it, including the reporting of it and the response to it across all sectors of society, must be led by public health authorities. Accordingly, Covid-19 infections are, in the first instance, reported to the Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health, to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre and to the HSE, as is the case with other public health infectious diseases. That has been the way since the start of the pandemic.

Of course, there are Covid-19-related concerns that arise in certain workplaces. In this regard, on foot of an EU directive, Covid-19 has now been designated as a biological agent under the new Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Biological Agents) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, introduced on 22 November 2020. Under these regulations, there are now greater reporting requirements for employers regarding the categories of employees exposed to biological agents in the course of their work, including exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the agent responsible for Covid-19. The regulations have made SARS-CoV-2 a newly reportable biological agent in certain workplaces with a confirmed occupational exposure. Occupational exposure can occur from deliberate work with the virus, for example, in a research laboratory. It can occur incidentally from work activities which, by their nature, involve potential specific exposure to the virus, for example, working with a Covid-19 patient, handling infected waste or carrying out diagnostic testing in respect of Covid-19 in a laboratory.

As a result of these new regulations, where a person’s work activities involve occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2, their employer is required to carry out a specific biological agent risk assessment. The Dáil was informed in early summer that these changes were afoot. Other requirements, including implementing protective measures, keeping exposure lists and making appropriate health surveillance available, can also be required, depending on the outcome of the biological agent risk assessment. A clear distinction must be made, however, between employment sectors, where workers encounter Covid-19 as an occupational exposure, in contrast with other workplaces where virus infections cannot be reliably attributed to work activities and is just as likely to have been acquired in a wider community setting over which an employer does not have control. As we have seen over the past nine months, the reality is that Covid-19 can be acquired in any setting.

The biological agents regulations provide for a targeted and realistic approach to the reporting of Covid-19 in the workplace rather than a blanket imposition of a general reporting requirement on all employers which would be largely unworkable. There are several reasons for this, not least that Covid-19, like many infectious diseases, cannot be reliably linked to a specific workplace or work activity apart from the circumstances covered by the new biological agents regulations. There are also genuine privacy issues to be considered around the reporting of Covid-19 in the context of making it a statutory requirement on employers.

If there were to be a statutory requirement on an employer to report cases of Covid-19, an employer would have to be made aware of such cases.

There is no obligation on a medical practitioner or the HSE to inform an employer that an individual employee has acquired COVID-19, nor is there an obligation on employees to inform their employer of the exact nature of any illness or disease they may be suffering from.

The purpose of the Bill is to make workplace outbreaks of Covid-19 notifiable to the HSA. In reality, the proposed amendment will not provide significant additional value for the authority in terms of it being able to provide advice and support to employers and employees in managing Covid-19 in the workplace and to respond to workplace clusters, which is what they do. In recent months, mechanisms have been put in place to ensure that the HSA is made aware of workplace clusters, especially in high-risk sectors through an agreement with the HSE to share information on Covid-19 outbreaks in workplaces, especially in high-risk sectors. The HSA also participates on national and local outbreak teams, which enables it to respond to particular workplace clusters. However, notwithstanding this, as Deputy O'Reilly is aware, the HSA has initiated a regulatory impact assessment on the reporting of Covid-19 as an occupational illness on foot of discussions at a HSA board meeting as well as in response to representations from ICTU and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. The outcome of this review, which will include public consultation, is expected early in 2021, after which the HSA will submit a recommendation to me for consideration. On that basis, the Government is not opposing the Bill. The HSA board meeting at which the decision was made happened in September and this is under way. I briefed the House on plans to do this during the summer.

I look forward to engagement from those on all sides of the House and I believe that a constructive and co-operative debate will contribute to the learning curve that we have all been on in respect of managing and living with Covid-19 and the changes that it has brought to the workplace and society in general. It is important that we base our contributions on the facts and allay the fears that people might have in certain areas.

Reference was made to sick leave. The Tánaiste has made a very strong commitment on this and the process is well under way - on foot of discussions in both Houses of the Oireachtas - to bring forward legislation to put in place a statutory sick pay scheme. That process is under way but people still give the impression that nothing is happening. There is a commitment to be back here in March with legislation. This is on foot of other debates we have had.

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