Written answers
Wednesday, 3 March 2021
Department of Health
Covid-19 Pandemic
Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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703. To ask the Minister for Health the number of confirmed outbreaks of Covid-19 on construction sites and in industry in general. [11702/21]
Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Between the 1st September 2020 to the 27th February 2021 the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) has carried out 4,119 workplace inspections across a wide range of sectors, of which 1,495 were carried out on the construction sector. All of these inspections in the construction sector were unannounced.
The table below details the numbers of inspections per month in all sectors and construction sector since 1st September 2020 to the 27th February 2021.
Health & Safety Authority Inspections
| September 2020 | October 2020 | November 2020 | December 2020 | January 2021 | February 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Inspections | 823 | 660 | 637 | 820 | 556 | 623 |
| Construction Inspections | 453 | 328 | 312 | 75 | 121 | 206 |
Note: The inspection figures are provisional. Inspection figures are subject to change due to delays in recording inspections arising from other priority work commitments
Under the Public Health Act (Infectious Diseases) Regulations, all infectious diseases are required to be reported to the Public Health Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting system (CIDR), which is managed by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC). COVID -19 was included under the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 53 of 2020) on the 28th February 2020. Request for numbers and details on numbers of outbreaks in any sector should be made to the HPSC. Management of outbreaks of COVID-19 come under the Departments of Public Health and specifically the Medical Officer of Health.
The HSA is involved with Public Health outbreak control teams, including those in the construction sector and it continues to support and work with public health experts in dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks.
The HSA is the lead agency in relation to the assessment of compliance with the Work Safely Protocol in workplaces, including construction sites, which remain open at the various levels of restrictions.
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