‘Abject failure’ over PPE provision for officers
There has been an “abject failure” over PPE provision and guidance for police, the body that represents rank and file officers has claimed.
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) has described some of the guidelines around PPE as “laughable”.
I n a l e t t e r t o t h e S c o t t i s h P a r l i a m e n t ’s J u s t i c e C o mm i t t e e , g e n e r a l s e c r e t a r y Calum Steele said Police Scotland expects its officers to use “mythical powers” to determine someone’s Covid-19 status.
He also said guidelines from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Health Protection Scotland (HPS) fail to deal with the reality officers face.
D i s c u s s i n g o f f i c e r s w h o we r e s e n t o u t t o d e a l w i t h house parties, Mr Steele said: “I t i s s i m p l y u n a c c e p t a b l e t h a t t h e P S o S ( Po l i c e S e r v - i c e o f S c o t l a n d ) c o n s i d e r s that passing the decision on t h e P P E f o r e a c h s e p a r a t e h o u s e p a r t y s h o u l d b e o n e for individual police officers based on some nebulous judgment.
“This is an abject failure but for as long as the HSE, HPS and PSOS continue to rely on each other in support of this ineptitude, police officers will continue to be exposed to risk of exposure to, and transmitting of, the Covid-19 virus.”
His letter added: “It is widely reported that over the weekend of August 29, the PS os attended over 300 house parties.
From our engagement with members and despite access to ‘full PPE’ - which essentially means the inclusion of FFP3 masks - we have failed to identify a single occasion where the FFP3 masks were worn by attending officers.”