Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Workplaces overhauled after damning safety inspection at coronavirus-hit Perthshire depot

Friends line the street for binman Scott Hunter's funeral procession
Friends line the street for binman Scott Hunter's funeral procession

Safety measures at recycling depots across Perth and Kinross have been overhauled after a shock report revealed a catalogue of Covid-19 breaches.

Council bosses were last month rapped by the Health and Safety Executive, following an inspection of a waste centre at Crieff during a tragic outbreak.

The spot-check took place just days after binman Scott Hunter died following an 18-day battle with the virus at Ninewells Hospital.

Two other staff were struck with Covid-19 at the time, including one who was seriously ill in intensive care.

The UK Government watchdog was called to the site by a whistleblower who had raised concerns days before Mr Hunter’s death about a lack of coronavirus controls.

In its findings, HSE found that the three confirmed cases were not properly reported so that close contacts could be traced, while vehicles and offices were not deep cleaned – even after staff had tested positive.

Scott Hunter.

Staff had no training on coronavirus controls, and pleas from employees for hand gel dispensers and one-way systems went ignored.

The executive gave Perth and Kinross Council until Friday to submit an action plan to address all the contraventions, and to review procedures and training at all recycling sites.

Pressed on the local authority’s response at a meeting of the full council on Wednesday, deputy director of communities Clare Mailer confirmed a draft letter was poised to be signed off.

“I can absolutely reassure councillors that the response will be submitted by the end of this week,” she said.

“We have a very detailed action plan that was put in place immediately following the inspection, which picked up on every single point that was picked up by the HSE.

“The latest update that I have is that the majority of actions that were required to undertake have been completed.”

Referring to a traffic lights-style system that shows which points have been actioned, and which are still being progressed, she said: “None of the actions are sitting at red, the majority are on green and we have a couple which are under way and due for completion in the very near future.

“We have taken the response from HSE extremely seriously and there has been a high level of oversight from a very senior level throughout.”

She confirmed checks had been made at the council’s other depots at Friarton in Perth, Pitlochry, Blairgowrie and Kinross.

Strathearn councillor Stewart Donaldson (SNP) said: “The Health and Safety Executive letter was highly critical.

“We shouldn’t forget that three employees were affected at the start of January, and this wasn’t reported to corporate health and safety in adequate time.”