Next weekend, Boris Johnson will set out how the UK will start emerging from lockdown. Millions are rightly concerned about what going back to work means for them.
Workers have to be confident that they won’t be putting themselves or their families at risk. So far, unions are worried by the draft guidance they have seen. What the government is proposing amounts to little more than the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) crossing its fingers that employers will act responsibly and keep their workers and the wider community safe.
Actions will be left to employers’ discretion. Risk control measures such as social distancing and handwashing should be taken “where possible”. There is a blank space where the proposed policies on PPE should be. Without a big shift from the government, when lockdown eases bad bosses will be able to expose their workers – and all of us – to infection without fear of consequences.
The TUC proposes a new approach, one that supports good employers to get it right but is clear about the requirements of every employer, and clear about the penalties for getting it wrong.
The law already says every employer must carry out a risk assessment. It’s therefore reasonable for the government to explicitly require a new coronavirus risk assessment in every workplace. This should be done in agreement with recognised unions in the workplace. Union health and safety reps are experts who have special legal rights to investigate workplace hazards. And where there isn’t yet a union, management should consult with staff.
Those with underlying health conditions and pregnant workers need to know what extra measures will be taken to guarantee their safety at work. Risk assessments must take on board emerging evidence on impacts for particular groups, including BAME workers. Outside of the workplace, the government needs a clear plan to safeguard those commuting to work on public transport. Only when these actions are completed and communicated should staff begin to return to work.
Businesses don’t operate in vacuums, they’re at the heart of our communities. Any actions they fail to take will impact the rates of infection in the areas where they’re located. This is why ministers must require every employer with more than five employees to go further and publish their risk assessment and action plan on their own website and a government portal. This approach is already used to highlight gender pay gaps. And it’s achievable: the new job retention scheme site, used by 140,000 firms on its first day, shows that the government can build robust online services quickly when needed.
Communities should be able to see what action each employer is taking, and that means enforcement can follow, if needed. This will help reputable employers, by stopping rogue bosses getting an unfair advantage by ignoring the rules. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and local authorities are responsible for ensuring employers keep workers safe, but they have been starved of resources. According to the TUC’s own analysis, in the past decade HSE inspections have fallen by 70%, and prosecutions by 82%. In order to ramp up enforcement, more resources will be needed. Inspectors will be needed to go into high-risk and large workplaces, and ministers need to be clear that they have the right to close down workplaces and prosecute employers who fail to keep their workers safe.
Ministers also need to make sure staff know how to raise the alarm about unsafe workplaces. The HSE should set up one high-profile reporting phoneline and website as a single portal for all enforcement agencies. And the government needs to run a massive public information campaign setting out what employers must do, how employees can get help if they aren’t safe at work, and making clear that every worker has the right to refuse to work in situations that present a serious and imminent danger.
Finally, the government will need to make the job retention scheme more flexible to support a phased return to work, and to help parents while schools and childcare remain closed or part-closed. And those who cannot work because they are sick, self-isolating, shielding or caring for someone need decent financial support through higher sick pay and an ongoing furlough scheme.
Like everyone else, unions want everyone to get back to work and start rebuilding Britain. But workers need to be confident that they won’t put themselves or their families at unnecessary risk. The government needs to drop its laissez-faire approach and set out tough new measures to keep workers safe.
• Frances O’Grady is the TUC general secretary
