The Minister for Infrastructure has admitted the number of staff available to deal with adverse weather events has depleted significantly in the last ten years.
At this week’s Tynwald sitting, Onchan MHK Julie Edge asked Minister for Infrastructure Dr Michelle Haywood how many employees are available to be deployed if the island is hit by icy conditions.
Dr Haywood outlined the resources available but then explained there were not the same number of staff available as there was a decade ago.
She said: 'The Department has a trained workforce of 75, to respond to icy conditions with differing skill sets. There are 30 experienced and fully trained Winter Service Operators who can operate the Department’s gritter fleet.
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‘There are a further 45 staff that can be deployed to fill salt bins, close roads, remove snow, carry out localised gritting and other emergency responses as needed.
'The Department also works with other sections of Government and Local Authorities to bolster this resource and deal with localised icy conditions such as in and around schools, in retail areas, and hospitals.'
However, Dr Haywood then went on to admit resources available to her department have been depleted over the years.
She said: ‘In 2014 the department estimated it required a minimum staffing level of 110 to operate at the proper level. Current resources are significantly below this.
‘This does leave the department and the island vulnerable to a sustained weather event, however, the weather we usually have to deal with is relatively short-lived and the staff do step up as we have seen in recent events.
Dr Haywood went on to say the Met Office predictions for adverse weather is more accurate now several days in advance which allows better planning in advance of a weather event.
She also explained that when there are weather events outside of normal working hours and weekends or which last more than 24 hours they move to a shift pattern to ensure staff do not work too long hours.
There are a minimum of two standby teams on a rota basis to deal with emergencies out-of-hours which includes the highways issue of snow and ice.