The Health and Safety Executive has criticised the coronavirus measures in place at Westminster Magistrates' Court.
According to the Evening Standard the Chief Executive of Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service, Susan Acland-Hood, has been ordered to oversee improvements at the court prior to a reinspection next month.
Ms Acland-Hood was recently appointed to a temporary role at the Department for Education and it is not known when (or even if) she will return to her permanent role at HMCTS. Kevin Sadler is currently Acting Chief Executive of HMCTS, so the task of ensuring Westminster's coronavirus compliance will fall to him.
In response to an anonymous complaint, HSE Inspector John Crookes undertook an inspection of the central London court on 7th October 2020.
He found problems with the court's coronavirus risk assessment, evidence of unsafe security checks and evidence of rooms being over occupied.
"Staff were sitting next to and facing each other and in some cases gathered around one computer", he wrote.
"While the distance between those facing each other may have been 2 metres, those side by side were closer with no further mitigation in place."
HMCTS has promised that immediate action is being taken to address the concerns raised in Mr Crookes' report.
An HMCTS spokesman said: "Public health agencies have endorsed our approach to assessing risk and keeping court users safe in our buildings.
"The Health and Safety Executive is content for the court to stay open and continue to safely hear cases."
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