Paul Murphy Demands Faster Action on Workplace Ventilation Code

It is almost a year since our COVID workplace ventilation bill passed through second stage. At that time Minister English said that we wanted to see it speedily and effectively implemented. He was going to call me that afternoon to see how we could have regulations to get this implemented. We don't need legislation. Where are they? What has happened? We are back into winter. The issue of ventilation is going to be central in terms of the spread of COVID again. And what has the Government done to ensure that workers have the right to clean air? Thanks, Chair. As Deputy, as you are aware, following our discussion that night on your private member's bill on workplace ventilation, which was not opposed by the Government, I asked the Health and Safety Authority to immediately start a formal review of the existing provisions on workplace ventilation to determine what further enhanced measures could be considered. Following this review, a decision was made to update the existing regulations and to introduce a robust coder practice of ventilation in the workplace. Both the new regulations and the new coder practice are being progressed by my department officials in conjunction with the HSA. The coder practice for indoor air quality will set out the optimum standards for indoor air quality, along with detailed practical guidance for employers and employees. A coder practice is an established compliance mechanism and can be referred to in legal proceedings. The Board of the HSA has approved the draft coder practice for indoor air quality for public consultation. The public consultation will commence the week beginning on 21 October, as in next week. It will last about four weeks. The timeline for the publication of the finalised coder practice will depend on the extent of any amendments to be made following the public consultation. But it is anticipated that the coder practice will be published in early 2023 and that the updated regulations will be introduced at the same time. The existing 2007 general application regulations create a requirement on employers to make sure that there is an adequate supply of ventilation in the workplace and that the evaluation of ventilation forms form part of an overall workplace risk assessment. The amendment of the general application regulations will bring into force the new coder practice for indoor air quality. Any worker who is concerned about appropriate levels of ventilation in the workplace should immediately contact the HSA for advice and guidance on the matter as well. So this is progressing quite well and as per our agreement on that even with your legislation as well. I do believe our regulations will probably go forward and achieve more because your requirement of a specific COVID measure, we are trying to improve the air ventilation in general, which has many other benefits beyond the prevention of the spread of COVID. Okay, so the Minister is saying it's going to be a code of practice. What's going to be the consequence if the company doesn't abide by the code of practice? And secondly, what's the level prescribed in terms of CO2 parts per million in your code of practice? Because our bill didn't just relate to COVID, it related to CO2 parts per million, which are effectively, it was a proxy for the likely presence of COVID, but related to the air being of good quality. Because I do think this is a moment when it's not just in relation to COVID, but we can guarantee workers access to clean air at work. It's estimated that 2 million disability adjusted life years are lost in the EU 28 each year due to poor indoor air quality and its effects, which include, but are not limited to cardiovascular diseases, lung cancers, asthma, respiratory tract infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and acute intoxication. And so we need to know what the levels are. We need to know what the consequences are for not sticking to them. And obviously 2023, like, this is a problem. We're going into winter again. People are going to be inside more. We're going to have spread of COVID. So this needs to be done really as soon as possible. I think the fact that the code of practice has been published next week, I think, means we're moving it pretty quick. And it will be in place in 2023, which I'm most reminded is only about eight or nine weeks away. So it's not like we're saying this is a couple of years' time. And to be fair, there's a process to go through when you're updating these regulations. I assume you wanted this done right, so I believe it will be done right in this way it's been done. The code of practice will be published next week. And the development of the regulations to bring into a new force of code of practice in the workplace is being progressed by the officials. The existing 2007 regulations have been amended to impose an obligation on employers to comply with higher standards of indoor air quality, which will be set out in the associate code of practice. The updated regulations will give legal effects to the code of practice. You're asked what that's about. The code of practice for indoor air quality will set out the optimum standards for indoor air quality, along with detailed practical advice and guidance for employers and employees on areas such as containers on indoor air and their sources and health effects, risk assessment, indoor pollutants, the thresholds, measurement and analysis, ventilation strategy, ventilation types and appropriate control measures along with practical checklists and tools for employers. Under the code of practice, the HSA inspectors will have the full range of powers available to them, including the right to assess a report of inspection, serve an improvement or prohibition notice, enter a place of work, question, search and investigate, examine records and examine the workplace activity and processes being carried out and can be used in criminal proceedings. Deputy Mayor. Thanks a lot. Let's see what the code of practice is. I do wonder whether there will need to be a primary legislative framework to mean that there are real substantial sanctions sanctions on employers which do not provide clean air for their workers. In Belgium, for example, which has been one of the first movers on this in the European Union, they are currently introducing something quite similar to our workplace ventilation bill. In relation to that, I mean, has the department any idea of how many people who have long COVID were infected in their workplace? Will the department change its policy in terms of refusing to classify COVID as an occupational illness? The Oireachtas Library and Research Service estimated last January that there could be around 115,000 people in Ireland suffering from long COVID. We're going to add more people to that list over the course of the coming winter. Very, very many of them will have picked that COVID up and then long COVID in their workplaces in poorly ventilated buildings. Mr Chair, again, we did analyse your bill at the time and we felt that to amend existing regulations was a more appropriate way, a more pragmatic way of achieving the objectives of your bill. So we probably would have achieved the same things. The bill, as drafted, your bill, focused primarily on improved workplace ventilations. However, both the department of the HSA believe that workplace ventilation goes beyond COVID-19. So the code of practice is that we'll provide a more long-term, sustainable and holistic approach to workplace ventilation and gives flexibility to further updates as opposed to primary legislation. The bill that's currently drafted is quite prescriptive. It's not practical to use primary legislation, in our view, to deal with every single place of work, because places of work are very, very different. They differ greatly from each other and the impact of CO2 readings must be judged in the context of different workplaces with different workforces at different times. The measurement of carbon dioxide levels was recommended by the government's expert group on ventilation as an effective method for identifying purely ventilated multi-occupant and enclosed indoor areas. The work safety protocol set out how these monitors should be used in the workplace. However, a high CO2 monitor reading is not a proxy for risk of exposure to COVID-19, but rather for identifying pure ventilation. And this needs to be fully appreciated when reading CO2 levels and also the fact that other sources of CO2 can legitimately exist in certain workplaces. So that's why we think the regulations which can be changed and adjusted as we move on is important.