Functional Safet at Weybridge

DEFRA have become recently responsible for the facilities & estates management of the portfolio of the UK's High Microbiological Containment laboratories within which the Animal and Plant health Agency (APHA) deliver scientific work of national importance in respect of protecting the UK from high consequence animal and zoonotic infectious diseases.

Legislative and Regulatory compliance in the microbiological industry is complex especially with respect to Electrical Control and Instrumentation systems which are installed to safeguard and prevent release of biological agents into the environment. This requires specialist competencies. The APHA scientific estate, now within DEFRAS control, has not been subject to major investment over a period of time. Consequently the present competencies within the estate are sparse or non-existent, and the estate is borderline with respect to compliance. This has resulted in APHA since 2013 being subject to an Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Intervention Plan which as a liability has been inherited by DEFRA.

At the present time, DEFRA & the APHA are subject to undertaking and closing out a number of actions identified by the HSE upon their most recent inspection (FEB 2017) as part of the intervention plan. The actions are all related to Functional Safety Management as defined in BSEN 61511 and 61508. The time frame for closure for these actions is July 2017. Failure to close out these actions by July 2017 to the satisfaction of the HSE will likely result in the receipt of an enforcement notice or possibly even removal of the APHA licence to operate. This will have a major impact upon the UK's ability to protect from infectious disease and will also likely result in reputational loss at a time that the UK needs to trade beyond our present trade borders.

To assist with the risk reduction associated with the HSE Intervention Plan, specialist Functional Safety competencies and services require to be engaged by DEFRA on an im

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