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THERE ARE CONCERNS about how enforcement of physical distancing guidelines will work in shops, businesses and manufacturing facilities once officials begin to relax restrictions.
It is unlikely that there will be any significant easing of restrictions by heath officials at the end of this week, but already some businesses are opening back up, having adapted their business model to provide takeaway services or online deliveries.
There are ongoing discussions between the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), the government and employer representative body Ibec about a protocol for a safe return to work once restrictions are relaxed and more people are going back to their workplaces.
Manufacturing division organiser for Siptu, Greg Ennis said there have already been issues in the sector even under the current strict guidelines.
“We had a lot of concerns raised in the agri sector, the meat industry in particular,” he told TheJournal.ie. He said the shop stewards have been doing everything they can do address these issues with employers and ensure there is physical distancing.
“One of the biggest challenges is that these workplaces have not been designed for employees to work in that way”.
When more of these workplaces open up, he said ensuring physical distancing in areas like canteens or changing rooms will also be a challenge.
Enforcement
In the case of one food manufacturer where employees were “working cheek by jowl” on a production line, Ennis said the union had to inform the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).
“They went in, the facility had to stop work for a day and when they put measures in place, with PPE etc, then opened back up”.
Although the HSA has intervened in a small number of examples, Ennis said he has “real concerns the HSA will not have the necessary resources, provided by the government, to ensure compliance”.
“It’s alright having these protocols in a document – but how will they be policed?”
“We have workplaces that have two to three people working in them up to those with thousands of employees. These people are going back to their families and the wider community – if this is not policed and if there isn’t a rigorous approach, we could look at a second wave of coronavirus infection.”
The HSA has been reluctant to position itself as the enforcement authority in this area. In a statement to TheJournal.ie, it stressed that its legislative remit “encompasses occupational health and safety issues as opposed to public health”.
“As Covid-19 is a public health matter, advice provided by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Department of Health regarding measures to take to prevent the spread, including hand washing, respiratory etiquette and social distancing, should be followed by individuals and businesses,” it said.
The HSA said it is advising workers and their employers to follow all public health recommendations in workplaces.
“We’re also responding to complaints and queries from companies/employees on the public health information and addressing further, including as necessary by inspection, those matters which come within our occupational health and safety remit.”
The Health Service Executive (HSE) also confirmed that its environmental health officers are providing advice and guidance on Covid-19 containment measures to essential food businesses only.
“They are dealing with any complaints of queries received and monitoring compliance where required,” a HSE spokesperson said.
Retail
Last week Mandate trade union revealed results of a survey of 7,000 retail workers, which found staff at almost half the stores felt their employers were not adhering to social distancing guidelines. The respondents were all staff at retail businesses that are considered essential, such as supermarkets.
When asked which of the following is still happening in their workplace:
General secretary of Mandate, John Douglas, told TheJournal.ie most employers who have been open for the last number of weeks have “caught up” now in terms of implementing physical distancing and providing PPE or screens at service areas.
However he said the message “needs to be refreshed” as workers have reported there is a “slackening off” with the numbers of customers allowed into stores and policing of these measures in some stores.
“Even the practical things like the tape on the ground getting very worn and not being replaced, there is a slight air of complacency – both with the customers and the employers,” he said.
“When we start to have more stores opening back up – the big hardware stores for example – people may start treating it as a bit of a day out. The last thing we want is people wandering around browsing the shelves, but how do you manage that? It doesn’t really work that way if you’re coming in to select paint or wallpaper.”
With many companies moving more of their retail business online, there will be an increase in the work some retail employees do behind closed doors, in warehouses or store rooms rather than in shops.
Douglas said the union will be keeping an eye on these kinds of changes to ensure workers are not put at risk as the business evolves.
He said in some of the large distribution centres, new systems have been put in place to manage this, with staff rostered across four shift periods instead of two.
“It’s a good precautionary measure for the employer too – that way if one shift had an outbreak, they could stop that whole group coming in and still have three shift groups to keep working.”
Like Siptu’s Greg Ennis, Douglas questioned how the HSA will check that guidance is being implemented in workplaces.
“Do they have the numbers to do unannounced inspections at warehouses and other workplace? I would be very surprised.”
No browsing
Last week David Fitzsimons from Retail Excellence Ireland said a huge level of preparenedess will be needed for retailers to re-open their doors when the government gives the go-ahead.
“We know a number of them won’t be re-opening full stop,” he told TheJournal.ie. “To ensure social distancing may not be that difficult for customers, but for staff it’ll be a huge challenge.
Imagine walking into a Vodafone shop. Or a Field’s jewellers. Staff will have to stay apart.
His organisation has made a document of guidelines for retailers for when they open again.
Under headings like “managing the wellbeing of our colleagues and our customers” and ” “ensuring rigorous enforcement of social distancing for customers and colleagues alike”, it has a set of practical advice for those preparing a return to work.
Some large retailers are planning to accept contactless payments only when they reopen.
Fitzsimons said that other retailers are considering actively banning the practice of browsing in, for example, clothes shops.
Personal behaviours
Yesterday Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said that while ensuring compliance by employers will be important, the workers themselves will play a vital role.
He said there will have to be a high level of compliance among members of the public with the basic measures such as hand washing and respiratory etiquette, such as sneezing into their elbow.
“Things that might have been the norm before – people coming to work with coughs and colds – these will become no-nos in the future. We’ll be looking at this in the future the we might now look at somebody coming into an office and lighting up a cigarette,” he said.
“If we get this high standard of behaviour, then there’s the role for inspection and oversight.
“But we have to get high levels of compliance on the part of both organisations and individuals in terms of their personal behaviours. Then we will need to have arrangements in place to assure ourselves that we’re getting compliance for the protection of people in those workplace and for the protection of society overall.”
- With reporting by Sean Murray.
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Basically impossible in any construction environment.
@Ruairi O Gorman:
Using public transport will also be impossible. Taxis, Buses, Trains
@Just Some Guy: masks, restricted numbers, security, hourly disinfection?
@Ruairi O Gorman: Big sites will be an issue but I know of a quite a few tradespeople who work in the domestic market that work alone.
@Just Some Guy: I’m not pushing for an end to restrictions, not alt all, in my opinion we should listen to the experts and get our numbers where they need to be before even thinking about it, but moving forward we have to look to how the rest of the works is managing and take our lead from there..
@Kate Flaherty: world not works!
@Ruairi O Gorman: talking through your hat there. We were working on a green fields site 500m long with 125 workers under the strictest of social distancing. We could have kept working and never needed to be shut down. Unless you know what youre talking about I’d stay quiet kid
@Mal Swan: how wide is the site and how many floors.
@Kate Flaherty: I have been working in a large essential workplace since this started, 500 people. Shifts were split, canteen spread out alcohol hand sanitizer all over the place and no confirmed case of covid to date and the workers come from up to 6 counties daily so it can be done. Ireland needs to get back working or we wont recover from this for decades. Isolate the vulnerable by all means (they have done a terrible job of that so far) but we have to learn to live with this virus like any other because we cant lockdown for 18 weeks never mind the 18 months a proper safely tested vaccine is going to take to develop.
@Mal Swan: so when the heavy stuff comes in that’s not 2 meter long how do the guys on the site lift it into place?
@Michael McGrath: wow what an amazing site you work on.Next you will be telling us the 100 or so migrant workers on site are living 3 to a house in places like Castleknock and travelling to site in their own individual
Toyota Landcruisers.
@Ruairi O Gorman: but construction companies work on a build, first second & third fixing and none of any stage requires the other trade to be present
@Agenda21: they only have to after bricks and mortar are complete, so they tail gate each other with the too many cooks to maximise turn-over time on the paymasters insistence. Every business that loses the fight will be gobbled up by a vulture fund.. Wake up
@Just Some Guy: I kkow, it dreadful isn’t it
@Ruairi O Gorman: Look the majority will do our best but there will always be ones that won’t listen to anything and will ignore.
We cannot continue with this lockdown because the damage to the country will be horrific. We will just have to figure out a way to live with it because it will come and go regardless of what we do. Get it under control now and deal with the ups and downs as they come and they will come.
At risk people are just going to ultra careful for as long as it takes there is no other choice.
@Ruairi O Gorman: it’s not impossible if they wear the correct PPE. Masks gloves etc like any other sector. The thing about bulidets sparks plumbers is that they generally have profit before all else. They simoly wint follow the rules and site health and safety wint enforce it. In the week before lockdown the unions came out and said all sites were observing social distancing but each and every site my brother delivered supplies to were working as normal…on top of each other
@ChuckE: Yeah like we have tonnes of excess PPE gear floating around the country that we can spare for the builders & trades people
@joe oneill: Are you accusing me of making it up because i can assure you I am not. This whole pandemic has beem mismanaged from the word go.People can go back to work with a few adjustments and provided they follow the guidelines put in place it shouldnt be an issue. And nxt time keep your sarky comments to yourself when you dont know what f your talking about
@Michael McGrath: people can’t go to shops and social distance but you expect us to believe construction workers will? Really stop trying to make a case for something we know won’t be followed. There are people here saying people “try their best” as some good thing. If you can’t actual DO then you can’t be allowed for others safety
@itzme: 100m and its all still in the basement level
@Kate Flaherty: Totally agree, life must go on. Reduce the risk as much as possible.
The lobby of people who are pushing for complete lockdown are mainly lunnie lefties who want to kill private commence. The appalling thing is the largest source of community transfer in Ireland was due to one of their nonsense protest marches the weekend of Paddys Day.
@Scotswahey: we lift it in with the tower crane I operate like we do with everything heavy
I work in retail and have been working all along, alot of customers haven’t respected distancing.
@Daniel Roche: in my local shops they have
@Daniel Roche: and yet people are not dropping like flies
@Daniel Roche: Whats your solution?, I keep hearing this nonsense with no actual way with dealing with this and not destroying the economy. This virus is not going anywhere we will just have to live with it and deal with what it brings, shutting down the country is not an option anymore end of.
@Peter Hughes: So whats your Solution then Peter, do we just let everyone do what they want and cross our fingers and hope that the healthcare system doesn’t collapse from the weight of all the inevitable extra infections this would cause?
@James Rowan: Well done to your local shops
@Peter Hughes: did I mention anything about destroying the economy, I’m working 50hrs a week, think I’m okay on that.
@523StarBar: did I say they were
@Daniel Roche: thing is, you queue up outside for ages then it’s a free for all in the shop!
And how will
It be adhered to in schools. Particularly primary and special needs. The children will not be able to understand the measures and teachers and sna will need to be much nearer than 2m. Will children and teachers have to wear masks and ppe which will be impractical for most children with special needs. I cannot understand why they would risk it especially with the emerging evidence of severe systemic inflamatory response to covid by some children which can result in admission into icu. These children do not display usual
Symptonms abut a few weeks later this can happen. It was first noted in italy and now in the uk. Dont treat our children as guinea pigs.
@Nell foran: it seems to be rare enough, I was reading about it earlier, as if people haven’t enough to worry about, the one and only good thing about all of this was children didn’t seem to be too badly affected, this is putting a different spin on things, hopefully it remains rare…
@Nell foran: And what about the teachers- of all ages and with their own health issues and at risk family members? In a classroom all day with 30 + primary children who don’t do hygiene all that well? Or in secondary schools with 9 groups of 30 students every day? Are teachers just to be guinea pigs so that schools can be opened?
@Ger McDonnell: a time of national crisis when everyone has to deal with the challenges – and all you can do is moan about being guinea pigs – ‘having to be in a classroom all day with children ‘ – eh that’s the job – how about trying to solve the challenge instead of moaning and whinging – thats like nurses saying ‘ we have to be in hospital all day with patients. Seriously maybe get out and take another 2km walk and get off social media for a while if all you can do is moan and whinge about the challenges of the job – would you be a teacher by any chance ?
@Ger McDonnell: I think you are getting teachers mixed up with health care and the other front line workers in essential retail. Your pre-emptive on that ger
@Dave Hammond: any practical suggestions!!
@Dave Hammond: Would it hurt to be civil or is being nasty a given in your comments?
I was simply pointing out the impossibility of social distancing in most schools, where classrooms, stairs, corridors and cloakrooms are too small for the numbers involved. Add in the instinctive behaviours of children – and teenagers- and it’s a recipe for covid to spread. As for it being “the job”, is that comment applicable to every sector,, or is the nastiness reserved just for teachers? Are you telling the whole country to just get back to work without preventative measures in place, because it’s ^ the job” or is that ridiculous comment aimed just at teachers?
@Ger McDonnell: And no, I’m retired actually!
@Dave Hammond: The irony of you telling others to quit whinging and moaning on social media is astounding. That’s exactly what your doing.
To answer your question, Nurses signed up to work in dangerous potentially infectious environments & their work is essential in a time of crisis like the present.
Teachers did not sign up to work in infectious environments & their work is not essential in a time of crisis like the present. And having them & their students gathering together daily is likely to worsen the crisis
Each person will have to spend at least 90 seconds in a walk-in 800W microwave before being allowed back to work. Please remember to empty your pockets of keys and any metal items before being cooked. It’s optional that you bring a pre-packed microwaveable lunch.
We’ll also need to microwave the air on public transport and in the workplace for any potentially infected airborne droplets that may be hanging about. Microwave any surface that workers may come in contact with. Really not looking forward to the electricity bill, but at least mortgages have been put on “freeze”. We’ll need a microwave to defrost those also and pay the extra interest.
@Sean O’ Donovan: you’ll also need to have microwave on the brain syndrome.
@Micheal S. O’ Ceilleachair: relax, you can get a lead lined helmet for that.
It’ll be another box ticking exercise for employers. Like ours, who refuse to provide face masks or hand sanitiser for us. Social distancing is impossible in our place.
@John Jones: Name and shame. If you’re afraid of losing your job. Use a different profile to do it.
Public transport will be an problem with the current seating restrictions, overcrowding was an issue before the virus, now capacity will be a fraction of what it was
Also. Do wash your groceries in the bath after your weekly shop and quarenteen the unwashables for 3 days. Its BS that the packaging is safe.
@Imagine !: I think you’re a bit nuts….
@cybersecsteve: that’s how the virus spreads though… people wearing masks are wasting their time.
I’m back to work just over a week. We put social distancing in place for staff. It’s almost impossible to implement. It’s totally impractical. People started off wearing masks, that’s had to police too: they get very uncomfortable and people are constantly taking them off and putting them on, which sort of defeats to purpose. One guy came to work despite the fact their partner was waiting the result of a test, she tested positive. You cant legislate for stupidity like that, andcthose arextge reasons we will almost certainly have a second wave sooner rather than later.
@Connoroconner: testing is just a moment in time. You could be tested today and come out negative. You could repeat the test in two days time and come out positive. All we can do is follow guidelines to the best of our ability and hope the outcome will favour us. It is what it is.
@Micheal S. O’ Ceilleachair: the guys wife is a nurse, she had symptoms, she had actually been tested and was waiting on results when he came to work. That’s inexcusable.
@Micheal S. O’ Ceilleachair: The guidelines you mentioned explicitly state that if you or someone in your household are waiting for a test result your entire household has to isolate at home until the results are out.
Deep sea diving gear, without the flippers?
The eyes are very receptive to the virus so unless everyone else around you is wearing a mask (this is not the case here in Ireland) you need to wear goggles to be protected.
@Imagine !: or wraparound sunglasses would also do the trick. Anything that acts as a barrier against droplets. Glasses can easily be sanitized. I have seen ultra violet sanitizers on sale long before the coronavirus came on the scene.
@Imagine !: A mask is sufficient to prevent a person from spreading the virus into another persons eye.
So masks being mandatory should be enforced until a vaccine is available.
If everyone wears a mask as instructed then there should be no need for goggles..
Personal PPE = A mask + A quality pair of swimming goggles. Wash the goggles after use and dispose of the mask.
@Imagine !: if you wear the mask and also wear the see through visor then that would hopefully protect the mask from being infected. The visor could be sanitized multiple times.
@Imagine !: what about people who wear glasses? Any hay fever suffers?
Can’t at all imagine how they’ll do it on a factory floor but in shops its easy enough to restrict the number of people going in. Dunnes is doing it already
@Shelley Byrne: the company I Donegal that repurposed itself to produce inexpensive visors might help with protection.
Back in work 3 weeks. First week with a full shift in. No PPE, no social distancing, no one wants to be an enforcer. Genuine question, who do I report my employer to as it’s dangerous to work here right now. I can avoid people here but most can’t
In any business…
It will be maily down to management of individual places and unfortunately some managers do not have the competency or interest of staff or customers at the core of the business, only targets and profits.
Going it work with a cough or a cold is now a no-no!!!! Jesus nobody will be in so!! That’s absenteeism on the rise!
@Lochlainn Marcus: very good point, I have never taken a day off work over a cold or sniffle, had to come to work with diarrhoea and vomiting bug once because nobody was available to cover for me.
@Porter Mechanic: so you are the type of person that spreads illness regularly to people you work with. Here you are praising yourself. Work with people who are equally lacking common sense or manners
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