Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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173. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of HSA inspections of meat processing plants that have been carried out for compliance with Covid-19 regulations since 1 January 2021; the number that were unannounced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62809/21]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Between the 1January 2021 and the 10December 2021, the Health and Safety Authority completed 253 inspections of meat processing plants, of which 250 inspections were unannounced.

Health and Safety Authority inspections are predominantly made without prior notification, however in some exceptional circumstances prior notification may be appropriate, for example, in support of Public Health management of an outbreak, advanced notification may be required for operational reasons.

Based on the inspections, Health and Safety Authority inspectors have observed a generally high level of compliance with the recommended measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 in a workplace context, in line with the Interim Guidance issued by the National Outbreak Control Team.

The Health and Safety Authority is a member of the National Outbreak Control Team dealing with the COVID-19 outbreaks at Meat Process Facilities. Local outbreak control teams work with the employers and employees of affected facilities to control and reduce the spread of infection. These teams are led by HSE Public Health departments and are also multi-agency, with representatives from environmental health, occupational health and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

The Health and Safety Authority inspections involved engagement with on-site personnel including management, health and safety advisors, COVID-19 Lead Worker Representatives, safety representatives and DAFM officials. Inspectors also liaised, pre-inspection and post-inspection, with the Chair of the relevant local outbreak control team to ensure effective planning and feedback.

The Health and Safety Authority also continues to support and work with public health experts in dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks in the meat plants and food processing businesses.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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174. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of workplace accidents that occurred in meat processing plants in each county between 1 December 2020 and 30 November 2021; the type of accident and injury involved, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62810/21]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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There is a duty on all employers, the self-employed and other duty holders to report to the Health and Safety Authority any work-related accident causing workers to lose four or more days of work.

The information collected in the accident reports is based on European Statistics on Accidents at Work methodology, this allows comparison of accidents between EU member states. The statistics system relies on a classification system known as NACE which stands for the Nomenclature of Economic Activities. The work practices carried out in a meat processing plant can be categorised under three of the NACE classifications, as follows.

The number of accidents reported to the HSA in meat processing plants (as identified by the three NACE codes above) for the period from 01 December 2020 to 30 November 2021 period is 362.

The number of accidents reported for the period in meat processing plants by county, all of which were non-fatal accidents is set out in the table on Appendix I.

All accidents reported to the HSA include important details such as the trigger i.e. the cause of the accident and details of the triggers involved in the accidents reported are set out in Appendix II.

The Health and Safety Authority’s annual programme of work is based on a risk assessment of sectors, with inspections targeted at sectors with higher levels of workplace fatalities and accidents. The food sector is a highly regulated sector with a high level of compliance with Health and Safety legislation. Thus, in any one year the Health and Safety Authority carries out a lower level of inspections in the food sector compared to the construction or farming sectors where workplace fatalities and accidents are considerable higher.

Appendix 1

Appendix 2