Angus residents have been urged to speak out if they have concerns about coronavirus rule-breaking among council staff or contractors.
As Angus Council approved an updated health and safety policy, officials said they wanted to be told of any incidents in which employees or sub-contractors were not sticking to pandemic guidelines.
The policy covers all aspects of health and safety, but officials said it had been updated to also reflect the “myriad of Covid-19 guidance” since the pandemic started.
Breaches
Forfar councillor and SNP group leader Lynne Devine said locals had highlighted a number of possible breaches to her.
“I have had comments about people rocking up in vans – maybe three of them close together with no masks on,” she said.
“They are then working close together, again with no masks on.”
She said a recent consultative committee had brought praise for the work of the council’s health and safety team during the pandemic, but sought assurances that reports of potential rule-breaking would be taken seriously.
Annual review
Council depute chief executive Mark Armstrong said the health and safety compliance team worked to support and advise directorates and services to ensure they were meeting requirements.
He said the pandemic had delayed the completion of the policy review for 2020/21.
“Since March 2020, the impact of the Covid-19 global pandemic on council services has been significant,” he said.
“Consequently, the priorities of the health and safety service continue to be reprioritised to reflect the changing landscape, ongoing assessment of the myriad of Covid-19 guidance and to ensure that safety is paramount for our staff and customers.
“There have also been weekly meetings with human resources and the trade unions, which have been welcomed and have strengthened already good working relationships.”
He said trade unions had found the work done by the health and safety team over the past year had been exemplary.
“There are contractual obligations when we are engaging third parties,” he added.
“If members are being given intelligence around people who are sub-contracted then please advise the appropriate officers and we would pursue that.”
Contractor guidance
Infrastructure services director Ian Cochrane said the council had been in contact with a number of contractors over the past 12 months, particularly since the construction industry’s return to work.
“We would require them to comply with the guidance in terms of social distancing, lift-sharing and such like,” he said.
“I would equally be content to take any reports if where we think our contractors are not compliant.”
Angus is also involved in the roll-out of a new health and safety software programme which will include a reporting tool for incidents in a collaboration with Perth and Kinross and Clackmannan councils.
Union response
A UNISON union spokesperson said: “As a trade union, Unison Angus has led the way in working with the council’s health and safety team in reviewing and scrutinising risk assessments, written and implemented to ensure that our members and the public are as safe as possible during the pandemic.
“This has included highlighting the mitigations in place.
“Branch officers have worked tirelessly in this regard, responding to nearly 100 such assessments since the outbreak of Covid-19.
“We continue to liaise at least weekly with health and safety and HR colleagues,” they added.