Author: Peacock Carter

The law requires employers to ensure an adequate supply of fresh air in the workplace and this has not changed during the pandemic. Good ventilation, together with social distancing, keeping your workplace clean and frequent handwashing, can help reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have updated their guidance to  help businesses identify poorly ventilated areas in the workplace and provides steps to take to improve ventilation while maintaining a comfortable temperature. It will apply in most workplaces and includes guidance on:

• balancing ventilation with keeping people warm
• identifying poorly ventilated areas
• how to improve ventilation
• ventilation in vehicles

The new ventilation and air conditioning guidance is part of the HSE’s advice on making the workplace COVID-secure.

On Friday 20 November at the Environmental Health Update, the Annual Presentation of Awards was held virtually due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Awards presented at this event included the Meritorious Endeavours in Environmental Health Award, the President’s Award and Honorary Membership of the Institute. Other awards presented included the REHIS Diploma in Environmental Health, SFSORB Higher Certificates and a number of Community Training awards, with the generous sponsorship of Highfield Products, where the training and examinations are conducted by REHIS Approved Training Centres, contributing to education and training in a range of environmental health related subjects. 

You can view the presentation on our YouTube channel here. 

Scottish Licensing Courses

The Institute has been working with the Scottish Government, People 1st, the SQA and other awarding bodies to review the Scottish Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (SCPLH) and Scottish Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (Refresher) (SCPLHR) qualifications.  

As a result of this, the Institute is delighted to announce that from 1 December 2020, Approved Training Centres can apply to the Institute to offer these courses. 

These qualifications meet the requirements of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 and include the topics as outlined in the qualification standard.  These include an introduction to licensing, the responsible operation of licensed premises and the effect of alcohol consumption on customers and business. To be eligible for a personal licence under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 an applicant must hold the Scottish Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (SCPLH). The training certificate in itself does not constitute a personal licence.   

Both these qualifications are levelled on the Scottish Credit Qualification Framework (SCQF) at Level 6 and awarded 1 credit point each. To complete these qualifications learners should expect to undertake 10 hours of learning which includes a minimum of 6 hours tutor time. These qualifications are assessed by a multiple-choice examination. 

For more information, please contact the Institute.

The Institute’s Annual General Meeting was held on Friday 20 November and for the first time in the history of the Institute it was held virtually as a result of COVID-19. Lisa McCann, elected President welcomed fifty-nine members to the virtual meeting where she give an interesting Presidential Report and the election of the 2020/21 Council took place. Thank you to all those who were able to attend.

Current members of the Council can be found here.

The UK Government has launched a consultation on proposals to ban online adverts for foods high in fat, sugar and salt in the UK. The areas being consulted on include: 

• types of advertising to be restricted 
• liability for compliance 
• enforcement of the restrictions

The consultation is open until 22 December 2020, and hopes to gather views from the public and industry stakeholders in order to understand the impact and challenges of introducing a total ban on the advertising of these products online.

Food Standards Scotland and Public Health Scotland have produced a guidance document to support food business operators with preparing for the investigations that will take place if an outbreak of COVID-19 is suspected in the workforce.

The Investigation of COVID-19 Outbreaks in Food Businesses guidance aims to help Food Business Operators (FBOs) to better understand the investigations that will take place when an outbreak of COVID-19 is identified in their workforce, and how an Incident Management Team (IMT) will decide on the actions that need to be taken to stop the further spread of the virus in the workplace and the wider community.

Whilst it is acknowledged that every outbreak is different, and there is no single set of defined criteria that can be used in every situation to determine the required steps to protect public health, reading this guidance will assist FBOs in preparing for the types of questions that are likely to be asked during an investigation and the broad principles that inform decisions taken by the IMT, including whether a business should be closed or can remain open.

The guidance also underlines the importance of FBOs being able to demonstrate to the IMT that they have taken appropriate steps to protect their workforce from the risks of COVID-19.  

Key advice for FBOs in the guidance includes:

• Identify – to help identify a potential outbreak of COVID-19, maintain up-to-date records of working patterns of staff and maintain accurate sickness absence records across the whole workforce. An outbreak should be suspected if there are two or more confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the setting within 14 days, or an increase in the rate of absence due to suspected or confirmedcases of COVID-19.
• Act – If there is any indication that an outbreak of COVID-19 may have occurred in the workforce (or there is an increased risk of one occurring), contact the relevant local NHS Board Health Protection Team (HPT) at the earliest opportunity. Contact details can be found here. The HPT will carry out an initial risk assessment quickly and will convene an IMT if an outbreak is suspected to confirm whether this is the case, and, if so, take over the investigation and identify appropriate action required to protect public health.
• Control – understand the FBO’s legal obligations with regard to COVID-19 controls and the relevant guidance documents on safe working practices during the pandemic. These are frequently updated on FSS's website pages for food businesses.       
• Prepare – understand in advance what information the IMT will require, which will include questions looking for accurate records of staff working on each shift and visitors to your site; how your workforce is organised; how employees move through the premises; plans for controlling the spread of COVID-19 leading up to the outbreak; preventative measures put in place to reduce the risks of COVID-19 at work; auditing procedures; staff PPE; cleaning procedures; how COVID-19 controls are communicated to staff and more.

Remember, where the food business is unable to provide sufficient evidence that they have effective COVID-19 measures in place, the IMT will inevitably have less confidence in the business and will require stronger action to be taken to protect public health.

In the event of food business closure or part closure, every effort will be made by the IMT to support the FBO in identifying where changes or improvements need to be made in order to minimise the risks of any further incidents. The re-opening of a premises is a decision for the IMT, together with the appropriate regulatory body.

Food Standards Scotland have updated its guidance for food business operators (FBOs) and their employees on 30 October. It aims to assist all businesses in the food and drink sector in following government guidance on infection prevention and control measures against COVID-19. It has been produced with input from the food industry and Trade Unions and reflects the most up to date advice from Scottish and UK Government and Health Protection Scotland.

A summary of the changes in the update are as follows:

• Additional guidance published on the investigation of COVID-19 outbreaks in food businesses.
• The FSS guidelines for food business operators and their employees was updated to take into account details of Scotland's Strategic Framework which sets out a new approach to outbreak management based on five levels of protection (the Protection Levels Framework) and the ability to impose restrictions nationally or locally.

Dr Tracy Morse, Honorary Vice-President of the Institute, has returned from Malawi and is now based back in Scotland. Tracy has taken up the position as Head of the Centre for Sustainable Development at Strathclyde University. Tracy will be continuing the research work in Malawi and also with her teaching. Tracy is very keen that Strathclyde University continues to work with the Environmental Health profession in areas of research and teaching which tackle Environmental Health issues. The Institute wishes to congratulate Tracy in her new role and looks forward to continuing partnership working with her.

The President was delighted to announce, at the recent Annual General Meeting, that Honorary Membership has been conferred on Tom Bell in recognition for the many years Tom has committed and contributed to the field of Environmental Health.

Tom is probably most recognised nationally and internationally within the Environmental Health community in his role as Chief Executive of the Institute, a position he held for over 15 years. Tom has tirelessly worked with and guided many elected members of the Institute to promote the objects of the Institute’s Royal Charter and its charitable purposes.

Tom was delighted to accept the Honorary Membership and said the following:
“a very sincere thank you to the Institute’s Council for inviting me to accept Honorary Membership of the Institute – I am honoured and delighted to accept this prestigious award”.

Congratulations Tom!

Coronavirus (COVID-19): tourism and hospitality sector guidance has recently been updated.

The changes include updates to the frequently asked questions page and amendment to amusements in games in hospitality statutory guidance section.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been asked to lead a study addressing the transmission of COVID-19 in the environment, including in workplaces, transport and other public settings.

Th research is one of seven studies part of a national COVID-19 research programme funded by the UK government and fronted by the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance.

The National Core Studies are a small group of key research projects and infrastructure programmes designed to answer essential policy and operational questions as the UK enters the first winter period of the coronavirus pandemic.

The seven studies will examine fundamental questions such as: the levels of infection in the general population and in specific settings such as schools and nursing homes, the role of different environments in enhancing spread, and whether antibodies confer protection and for how long.

The programme will be a multi-agency response with each study lead drawing upon the best scientific knowledge and expertise available in the UK from within government and academia to help ensure these and other critical questions are answered quickly and well.

Reacting to the news, HSE’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Andrew Curran said:

“HSE is privileged to lead this programme and use our experience in workplace risk management to improve our understanding of how the virus is transmitted. We employ some of the leading scientists in workplace health and safety who are skilled in addressing complex issues such as this. We will also harness the knowledge and expertise of our counterparts in other organisations to coordinate the most effective response to answer these important questions.

“As findings emerge, they will be shared. We hope they will feed directly into effective approaches and guidance that will help improve practices in workplaces. This work will yield information on an ongoing basis, improving our understanding of what a COVID-Secure workplace looks like. When infection rates will allow sustained re-opening of the economy, working safely will be even more crucial than it is now.”