, Labour’s Shadow Employment Rights and
Protections Secretary, commenting on the
Government’s admission that Covid-19 has not been categorised as
a serious workplace risk, said:
“Given that almost 113,000 people have died from Covid-19,
and as many as one in five people are suffering from the effects
of ‘long Covid,’ it is beyond belief that the Government does not
consider the virus to be a serious risk to working people.
“With workplace health and safety enforcement almost
non-existent, and after a decade of cuts that has left agencies
under-resourced, the Government must urgently re-categorise
Covid-19 as a serious risk and bring in new safety rules and
enforcement to protect workers’ lives.”
Ends
Notes to editors
• In answer to Written Parliamentary Question (WPQ) 147867,
the Minister for Employment, , stated that ‘HSE has decided the category
‘significant’ in the EMM table best supports inspectors in making
sensible, proportionate regulatory decisions. The definition is
that the effects are non-permanent or reversible, non-progressive
and any disability is temporary. This definition refers to the
likely response of the working population as a whole, not taking
account of individuals with a particular resistance or
susceptibility.’ (Source: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2021-02-02/147867)
• The HSE document, ‘Enforcement Management Model (EMM)’,
page 17, provides a ‘Consequence table’ with three descriptor
categories of the level of risk in descending order: Serious
personal injury/serious health effect; Significant
injury/significant health effect; Minor injury/minor health
effect. (Source: https://www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/emm.pdf)
• The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has received
134,000 complaints since the crisis started, but issued only 192
enforcement notices, meaning that only 0.1% of complaints have
led to the issuing of an enforcement notice. (Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55766906)
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported that
‘among those 18 to 34 years in good health, 20% (1 in 5) reported
that some symptoms were prolonged’, and that ‘COVID-19 can
sometimes result in prolonged illness, even in young adults and
children without underlying chronic medical conditions…There are
many case reports from people who do not regain their previous
health following COVID-19’ (Source: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/risk-comms-updates/update-36-long-term-symptoms.pdf?sfvrsn=5d3789a6_2)
• According to the latest figures on ‘The prevalence of
long COVID symptoms and COVID-19 complications’ from the Office
for National Statistics (ONS), ‘around 1 in 5 respondents testing
positive for COVID-19 exhibit symptoms for a period of 5 weeks or
longer’, and ‘around 1 in 10 respondents testing positive for
COVID-19 exhibit symptoms for a period of 12 weeks or longer’.
(Source: https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/statementsandletters/theprevalenceoflongcovidsymptomsandcovid19complications)
• With at least 3,959,784 having tested Covid-19 positive,
it is estimated that almost 80,000 will have exhibited symptoms
of ‘Long Covid’ for a period of 5 weeks or longer.
• Andy McDonald raised this issue in Oral Questions to the
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy,
asking:
“’The effects are non- permanent or reversible,
non-progressive and disability is temporary’.
These are the words of the Minister for Employment in
justifying why COVID19 has not been categorised as a “serious”
workplace risk.
112,000 British citizens dead
10’s of thousands experiencing long-Covid and many more
with permanent damage to vital organs.
But only 0.1 per cent of workplace complaints result in an
enforcement notice.
This IS serious – and re-categorisation IS needed
urgently.
The UK continues to suffer the highest Covid-19 death toll
in the world, but with such a disregard for workplace safety, is
it any wonder?”
