SAFETY
Spot on
The HSE has been carrying out ‘spot
checks’ to ensure premises are not
COVID-19 traps as employees return to
the workplace. The success of the scheme
is considered
WBy Brian Wall
ith a new coronavirus
strain on the loose
(Omicron) – seemingly
more transmissible
than the Delta variant
– the widespread hope that ‘things will
soon return to normal’ looks increasingly
unlikely. Add in soaring gas prices and
inflation heading in the wrong direction,
and it would seem we are in for a harsh
winter. All of which brings into question
the gradual drift back to the workplace
that has been gathering momentum.
For many employees across industry,
the workplace is where they have to be
to perform their roles – and that puts
the onus on employers to create an
environment that minimises the risk of
infection. Indeed, they have a legal duty
to manage any risks to those affected
by their business. The way to do this?
By carrying out health and safety risk
assessments, including possible exposure
to COVID-19, and taking reasonable steps
to mitigate any risks identified.
Not every
employer is likely to
initiate such a regime,
which saw HSE taking
appropriate action to
ensure it was effective
and enforced. Just
two months into the
pandemic, spot check and
inspection teams were
set up to provide “guidance and
advice where required, creating a triage
process that allowed HSE to achieve
unprecedented scale and prioritising the
use of its highly trained inspectors to
target those businesses requiring a more
in-depth inspection,” the regulator states.
In August 2021, 300,000 COVID-19
spot checks had been carried out of
businesses across England, Scotland and
Wales, the HSE reports. “A key part of the
success of the programme to date has
been working in partnership with local
authorities LAs, expanding HSE’s remit
to cover sectoral areas it did not normally
operate in, allowing HSE
to support them to help
businesses navigate a
way of working they had
never anticipated,” says Rob
Smallbone, HSE’s head of service
development. “We introduced proactive
telephone-based spot checks early in the
pandemic and have since implemented
the same process for spot check visits to
workplaces, which are undertaken by spot
check support officers.”
By introducing third-party support, it
has enabled the HSE to significantly scale
up its proactive work on spot checks,
ensuring a rapid respond to local COVID-
19 outbreaks. “Using spot check support
officers to undertake the initial checks
allows our inspectors to deal with the
more complex cases, including those
26 www.operationsengineer.org.uk Winter 2021
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