Inspection encounters during a crisis: Suppositions from the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

Inspectors play an important role in society - and even more so when crises strike. Combining the roles of state agent with an enforcement task, expert and citizen agent results in multiple pressures on the ways these inspectors are doing their jobs. It can be expected that those pressures increase during crises, when new tasks are added to their core tasks and guidelines to perform them are unclear or ambiguous. The impact of crises on inspection work, however, is understudied. This chapter provides theoretical building blocks for future empirical studies on risks for inspection encounters that arise during crises. Our contribution is twofold. First, we develop a conceptual model for future research on risks that new tasks during crises - such as for example the Covid-19 pandemic - pose for inspection encounters. The model shows how various actors may mitigate such risks and cope with them. Second, we formulate specific directions for further research and policy recommendations on how to improve inspection encounters and avoid non-compliance among inspectees during crises.