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Staff pressured to go to work in non-COVID-secure workplaces

19 Jan 2021

    • Millions of British workers are putting themselves and others at risk of COVID-19 due to inadequate sick pay and pressure from their employers, new research shows.

    The RSA (Royal Society for arts, manufactures and commerce) warns that a growing 'economic security trap' — the choice workers face between protecting their income and their health — is contributing significantly to the spread of the Coronavirus.

    Polling carried out between 13 and 15 January by Yonder (formerly Populus) of UK workers finds:

    • Around one in 25 (4%) British workers has worked within ten days of a positive test, rising to one in ten (10%) of those in insecure work such as a zero-hours contract, agency work or the gig economy;
    • Six per cent of British workers have worked with COVID-19 symptoms, rising to 8% of insecure workers and 13% of the self-employed;
    • Two per cent have been ordered into work when they could have easily and more safely worked from home; and
    • Just 16% think Statutory Sick Pay is sufficient to meet their needs.

    There have also been thousands of complaints about workplaces not being COVID-compliant during the current lockdown; however, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors have not issued any enforcement notices on companies for COVID-19 safety breaches since the start of the latest lockdown, despite having been contacted 2,945 times between 6 and 14 January about safety issues.

    The Guardian reports that Coronavirus outbreaks in workplaces rose by almost 70% in the first week of the national lockdown, with 175 COVID-19 case clusters reported in English workplaces, not including care homes, hospitals and schools.

    Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, is reported to have said:

    “With intensive care beds filling up and the virus still at sky-high prevalence, breaking transmission chains is urgent. But for millions who can’t work from home on a laptop, or whose employer insists they still go to work, this is a phoney lockdown. We need clear enforcement, making workplaces COVID-secure.

    “Employees who don’t need to be there shouldn’t be forced into work, and those ill with COVID-19 should be provided with decent sick pay and financial support to isolate. For ministers to have still failed to put in place these fundamentals is unforgivable.”

    TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said:

    “If the government is upping enforcement, ministers should start with employers who break COVID safety rules.”

    She also called for an increase in resources for the HSE "to stop rogue employers getting away with putting staff at risk. Every employer needs to know an inspection could happen any time."

    The HSE says it has scaled up its work to check, support and advise businesses, and has carried out more than 32,000 site visits during the pandemic.