Speaking reality to power

The last two years have been a whirlwind, with the PPE crisis at the pandemic’s onset and the introduction of a new UK Conformity Assessment (UKCA) regime for manufactured goods, created by our departure from the EU.
In my foreword to the 2021 BSIF Industry Reference Guide, I talked of the need for reflection and recalibration in the industry, but we appear not to have got there yet. There have been reports from the National Audit Office and hearings by the Select Committee covering Public Accounts but the promised Public Enquiry will not now take place until we are well into 2022.
It would be wrong to second-guess the conclusions of such enquiries given the vast scale and short timeframes, the events of 2020 being, as we have come to accept, “unprecedented”. 
I expect any conclusions will focus on a lack of readiness and reflect on future preparedness. Shortly after the PPE supply crisis’s peak, there was discussion around UK Make and the need to “onshore” manufacturing to reduce reliance on extended supply chains. However, despite an increase in UK manufactured PPE the much-vaunted NHS and Public Health England workshops with manufacturers have yet to begin. These were scheduled for January 2021 but were postponed to April, then September, and, as of today, have yet to happen. Perhaps this is because the government has over 400,000 pallets of “PPE” (some of questionable provenance) still in storage! 
It has been reported that the word of the year for 2021 was “vax”. I would argue it should have been “delays”. The combination of the pandemic and Brexit has seen continuing disruption to supply chains across a wide range of industries.
During September 2020 we had the winding out of the PPE Easement 2020/403 and the launching of guidance for the UKCA and UKNI regime. The guidance stated that in the event of an EU/UK deal that did not include mutual recognition, then after the 31 December 2021, CE marked product could no longer be placed on the GB market. The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement signed on the 24 December 2020 confirmed there would be no mutual recognition of the UK/EU product conformity assessment processes.
Conformity assessment for PPE in the UK had to be carried out by newly instituted UK Approved Bodies, formerly UK Notified Bodies under the CE regime, which began to attempt to increase resource and capacity to deliver certification to the deadlines. All this against the backdrop of the extra work undertaken to approve and certify Covid-related PPE under easement.
Despite the various alleviations to the requirements to affix the UKCA/UKNI mark to the product itself, the market was clearly not going to be ready.
BSIF lobbied ministers for extensions to the standstill period but received a negative response from the Under Secretary of State responsible, who maintained “his officials had been working with the Approved Bodies to increase capacity to ensure we were ready”. I responded this was news to me and to the Approved Bodies who are all members of BSIF! I used this opportunity to highlight the risk that a lack of PPE would be on the front pages again, not because of a global shortage but because of an arbitrary, politically expedient date.
Some three weeks after that exchange, the implementation of UKCA/NI requirement was delayed a further year through the increase in the standstill period. It wasn’t all down to BSIF lobbying, but at least this “delay” demonstrated Westminster was listening and is an example where BSIF can speak truth, or indeed reality, to power.
2020 was a unique year and 2021 started with the UK outside of the EU, meaning a different set of problems presented. The BSIF has always been on hand to advise both members and end users on PPE and Safety Standards and the applicable legislation and, given the changes from Directive to Regulation to Easement and the effects of Brexit we hope we have discharged our responsibilities diligently. 
As ever the BSIF seek to help and support our membership and the UK Occupational Safety and Health market. This is our mission and we look forward to continuing to serve in 2022.

Alan Murray is CEO of the BSIF