Labour condemns the decision not to classify covid as a “serious” workplace risk

Labour has condemned the decision not to classify covid as a “serious” workplace risk following a review of the categorisation.

The review followed revelations from Health and Safety Executive inspectors that the lower classification of “significant” meant that inspectors did not have the powers to halt dangerous working.

Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Employment Rights and Protections, Andy McDonald MP, said:

“The decision not to classify covid as a ‘serious’ workplace risk means that inspectors are unable to halt work activities exposing workers to coronavirus, and shows that the Government is putting working people and the wider public at risk. There have been almost 4,000 workplace outbreaks yet not a single employer has been prosecuted.”

“It is outrageous that even after 15,000 working age people have died from Covid, and many more are suffering from long covid, the virus isn’t considered ‘serious’.

“With rising case numbers of the Delta variant ahead of the planned easing of restrictions, this decision is deeply irresponsible and shows that the Government is failing to keep working people safe.”

Ends

Notes to Editors

• Following the revelation that the HSE did not classify covid as “serious”, preventing enforcement action, a review was undertaken. The review decided against reclassifying covid as serious. (Source: Review of enforcement during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/regulating-health-and-safety/enforcement-coronavirus.htm)
• The Office for National Statistics has identified 15,263 people of working age who died from Covid since April 2020. (Source:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/22/thousands-of-work-related-covid-deaths-go-unreported-in-uk)
• There have been 3,872 Covid outbreaks in workplaces, however not a single employer has been prosecuted for breaching Covid regulations. (Source:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/22/thousands-of-work-related-covid-deaths-go-unreported-in-uk)
• Over 20% of pre-pandemic concerns resulted in an enforcement notice; that figure for Covid-19 concerns dropped to less than 0.2%, meaning the HSE is over 100 times more likely to take action if the concern doesn’t concern Covid-19 at work. (Source: https://www.hazards.org/infections/rubbedout.htm#enforcementdisease)
• In oral evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee, Mike Clancy, the General Secretary of Prospect, the trade union representing health and safety inspectors, stated that the failure to classify COVID as “serious” is responsible for the limited number of investigations and enforcement actions (Source: Q141https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/1910/pdf/)
• At the same evidence session, the Deputy General Secretary of the TUC, Paul Nowak, stated that inspectors have confirmed that “the failure to categorise Covid-19 as a ‘serious’ risk effectively limited the scope of inspectors to issue prohibition notices.” (Source: Q142 https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/1910/pdf/)