What happened to enforcement during the pandemic?

The Health and Safetey Executive’s (HSE) mission statement is ‘to prevent death, injury and ill-health in Great Britain’s workplaces – by becoming part of the solution.’

For many workers, this doesn’t seem to have been the case during this pandemic. As workers either locked-down or carried on working, the risks to their health and safety weren’t controlled and sadly hundreds died and thousands more were infected with the virus and have been left with chronic ill health.

The Hazards Campaign has been challenging the HSE, government and employers throughout the pandemic to control the risks and enforce our health and safety law. But the savage cuts taken by the enforcement authorities over decades have left them unable to carry out the proactive, preventative inspections needed to ensure workers’ safety and health.

In July, the HSE said that out of 5,466 telephone spot checks, only 201 had been referred for a site inspection and no enforcement notices were served.

In a recent bulletin, the HSE have said they have been carrying out spot checks and inspections – saying that they have contacted more than 17,600 businesses – including site visits and phone calls. They don’t make it clear how many have been called and how many visited but they conclude that 88% of businesses are compliant and therefore ‘Covid-secure’ and that they will take immediate action where businesses are not.

But this is far from the reality for many workers. Workers continue to be exposed to transmission risks and their employers are not controlling the risks. A recent survey by the TUC said that less than 40% if workers had their risks adequately controlled, only 42% had been issued with adequate PPE, and less than half said their employer had introduced safe social distancing.

In August, the Hazards Campaign produced the Covid-Safe Workplace charter and briefing document with Independent Sage. If workplaces are to be safe, then risk needs to be properly controlled, and workplaces need to be certified as being safe. Until this is the case, then workplaces should close. If transmission rates are to be reduced then we need our health and safety laws to be enforced and a Covid-safe workplace strategy alongside a zero-Covid strategy needs to be implemented.