87% of HSA meat plant inspections carried out unannounced since May

Since May 18, 2020, 87% of the meat plant inspections carried out by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) have been unannounced.

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue noted that of the 239 inspections completed as of February 3^rd, 208 were unannounced and 31 announced.

Interim Guidance On Covid-19 Outbreaks In Meat Factories

Guidance includes;

Workers should be organised into pods or groups;
Consideration should be given to erecting a marquee as extra canteen space to ensure physical distancing;
Management should consider providing transport for workers, ideally, car-pooling would only be for workers within the same household;
Cases who are unable to self-isolate in their own home should be offered a place in the state’s isolation facilities, currently Citywest, so that they can self-isolate away from other household members;
In the event of a sufficiently extensive outbreak, consideration should be given by the local outbreak control team to temporary closure of the plant or part of the plant;
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