The world voice for occupational safety and health professionals has labelled the former UK government’s failed £1.4bn pandemic deal on personal protective equipment (PPE) as “shameful”.
Criticism from the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) follows a BBC investigation which revealed the shocking numbers of aprons, masks and goggles which were due to be disposed of, despite them being fully compliant. In response, the biggest supplier of the PPE has claimed the products may have been spoiled because they were left in shipping containers after delivery.
Fresh from attending the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) International Labour Conference, where a new global standard governing biological hazards at work came under discussion, UK-based IOSH is critical of the fact 1.57bn items of PPE provided by NHS supplier Full Support Healthcare will never be used, despite being manufactured to the proper standard.
This also comes after delegations from 194 Member States* of the World Health Organization (WHO) attended the 77th World Health Assembly to discuss current and future priorities for public health issues. As part of these discussions, the international negotiation body continues to draft and negotiate a global pandemic agreement which aims to strengthen pandemic prevention preparedness and response (with these negotiations continuing till 2025 or sooner).
With this in mind, aside from the UK’s large-scale waste of public funds on PPE that has been burned, destroyed, thrown away or recycled, including the cost of that disposal, IOSH is concerned by the preparedness and response approach adopted. It is also troubled by the adopted procurement strategy, which appeared to have prevented PPE from being stored appropriately and ultimately not used.
Threat continues
“Biological hazards of all kinds, not just Covid-19, pose significant risks for many people working in different environments,” said IOSH Head of Policy and Public Affairs Ruth Wilkinson.
“Exposure to contagious and non-contagious biological risks in 2021 is estimated to have accounted for at least 550,000 fatalities – that’s nearly 10% of all estimated work-related fatalities”, she added.
“The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the global impact that biological hazards can have on the workforce, and the wider impacts this brings to delivering key frontline services, supply chain resilience and so on. It also evidenced the need for a more proactive approach to the prevention, preparedness and response to existing, as well as new and emerging biological hazards.
“We know PPE is the last line of defence within a comprehensive hierarchy of controls framework so to not use – and subsequently waste - valuable items of PPE, which were critical to support the implementation of control measures and strategies focused on preventing and reducing illness, both in and outside workplaces around the world, really is shameful and truly concerning,” said Ruth.
International progress on biological hazards
Last month, IOSH was represented at the 112th International Labour Conference, in Geneva. Nearly 5,000 delegates meet annually from across the 187 Member States of the ILO, comprising delegations from governments, employers’ and workers’ organisations, as well as observers, including international non-profit organisations, like IOSH. They continued their progress in crafting an international Convention and Recommendation to firmly establish emergency preparedness and anticipation of biological hazards and risks.
As these discussions continue, with a final outcome yet to be reached, it is expected this global development will lay down the basic minimum protective measures to be considered when managing current, emerging and re-emerging biological hazards in work environments. It’s hoped this will ensure protection of the health and lives of all workers. It will also facilitate a more structured approach to responding to emerging risks from biological agents.
Dr Ivan Williams Jimenez, Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager at IOSH, said: “We want to see a move towards a Convention for Biological Hazards and a Pandemic Treaty that has a stronger occupational focus on infection prevention preparedness and response.
“Though the WHO has pushed this back to next spring, we’re encouraged that the Member States have agreed a global way forward to strengthen our readiness on these biological issues.”
