Decision details

That:

i. the transition to double crewed inspections that was enabled from 1 November 2021 (following your last meeting/discussion on this matter) continues, including consultation / engagement with Highway Officers via local management teams
ii. as part of the above consultation / engagement, where specific circumstances might preclude double crewed inspections (such as personal / underlying health conditions) and Highway Officers are in agreement, that single crewed inspections are retained in those circumstances but reviewed bi-monthly by the Highway Officer concerned and their line manager
iii. where double crewed inspections commence, the Health & Safety / Fleet / Public Health guidance contained in this report regarding mitigation and control measures is followed as rigorously as possible / as activities permit and that this is done in conjunction with any task-specific and Covid-related risk assessments
iv. provision remains in place to revert to single-crewed inspections on a wider scale if there is either a large-scale Covid outbreak amongst the workforce and/or Government guidance changes
v. the transition back to double-crewed inspections is fully concluded by the end of March 2022 unless circumstances [such as (iv)] dictate otherwise
vi. ongoing monitoring of the situation continues over the coming months and a final report is submitted to your meeting of 29 April 2022 (unless deemed necessary to be reported sooner) in order to bring this matter to a conclusion and return to Business as Usual. This would ultimately be dictated by factors such as the anticipated lifting of all restrictions and overall infection rates.

In order to ensure the correct balance is achieved between delivering a resilient service, acknowledging where we are in the Government’s Covid roadmap, keeping the highway network as safe as possible through our inspection regime whilst also maintaining a robust defence against third party claims but also allowing flexibility to respond to any change in Covid rates and the resultant impact on the workforce.