Health and Safety
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DESCRIPTION
The Scheduled Inspections and Activities Plan (PIAP) deals with inspection activities carried out annually in the city of Madrid in connection with the official control of food, of establishments with an impact on public health and of activities pertaining to animal protection and health. It’s a comprehensive approach intended to guide municipal actions to ensure that they are carried out with the highest possible standard of technical and functional quality.
This holistic approach aims to maximise the coherence of actions and inspections, and is the basis of annual planning. For each programme, the Plan specifies the individual objectives, general and specific activities, necessary resources, time frame for actions and the appropriate evaluation and monitoring system to allow the intended goals to be achieved.
The Plan is designed and implemented entirely by municipal government employees attached to the 21 Health Departments of the Municipal District Councils, and the Food Safety, Central Inspection, Drinking Water, Food Transport, Mercamadrid Inspection and Environmental Health departments of the Subdirectorate-General for Public Health Coordination Unit of Madrid Salud. Similarly, Madrid City Council's Public Health Lab plays an essential role in analysing foodstuffs, water and other products collected by inspection services.
To draw up the Plan, all legislation governing inspected activities is taken into account, particularly the 2014 Ordinance on Public Sanitation in the City of Madrid.
The Plan is structured into 27 action programmes in total.
OBJECTIVES
The PIAP is intended to be a dynamic tool that deals with the identification of specific risks associated with inspected activities and establishments, with a view to risk prevention and continual improvement. It guides and coordinates inspection activities, harmonising terminology, criteria, structure, organisation and management of scheduled activities.
DURATION
The Plan is annual in nature and was created due to the need for municipal services to perform official checks on a regular basis in proportion to the degree of risk associated with the relevant activity, without prejudice to any unplanned inspection actions that may be performed due to suspicion of non-compliance, citizen reports, complaints or for any other reasons that inspection services deem appropriate.
ACTIVITIES
The activities included in the Scheduled Inspections and Activities Plan are aimed at controlling risks that can affect consumer health or safety in various areas:
- With respect to the official control of food, the Plan is compliant with EU Regulations on official controls performed to ensure the application of food and feed laws.
- There are risk prevention and control programmes for the mass catering and food retail sectors and for wholesale markets (Mercamadrid), as well as risk control programmes for food transport. Similarly, food information and ingredients and their biological and chemical risks are controlled via the relevant sample-taking and lab analysis programme in each individual case.
- The activities include a specific programme to control drinking water in the water supply system and drinking fountains in public streets and parks.
As regards establishments with an impact on public health, the programmes encompass control of beauty salons and aesthetic clinics as well as child care, play and recreational water centres. These centres undergo checks relating to both water and air quality.
With respect to pet centres and to animal health and welfare, control programmes are carried out on establishments that sell pets, veterinary clinics and offices, hygienic treatment centres and pet training and boarding establishments.
FACTS AND FIGURES
To perform the scheduled activities, there are 122 designated inspectors, including those assigned to the districts and those at Madrid Salud.
The Scheduled Inspections and Activities Plan (PIAP) is published annually, and information on the specific actions planned can be found in each plan.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Madrid Salud >>
Food Safety >>
Public Health publications on Madrid City Council's website >>
Official Control of Food >>
Environmental Health >>
Veterinary Services >>
