One of our members, Brakes took part in a Covid-19 spot check initiative in conjunction with Wakefield PA, the initial agreement was to have 2 sites visited by the enforcing authorities with full compliance being established in line with government guidelines.
Following this, another 2 sites were contacted by telephone and the COVID spot check was completed by call operatives, although stage 2 concerns were raised by the call operative to the Primary Authority partner, Primary Authority then advised that these concerns were found to be down to interpretation between call centre operative and site operative, when in fact the sites were found to be fully compliant.
Paul Duncalf, Head of Safety at Brakes commented ‘we have put much time and effort into making our sites COVID safe, we have an open and honest policy and have embraced the spot check initiative with open arms, we believe it’s good practice to get an external view of any control measures implemented in the workplace and would recommend this process to other companies’. To read the whole story please follow the link Brakes and Primary Authority
These are cases where PA has been challenged by other authorities. Although PA is there to help protect companies, if they are not following the advice given, or if they don’t have the appropriate advice covering the particular issue, then another local authority can challenge the company. Examples can be found here PA Determinations, however in all cases the companies affected have altered policies and procedures to protect them in the future.
There are also a few case studies available to view online Primary Authority Case Studies
