Fears over workplace virus safety measures

Fewer than half of workplaces have put in place adequate social distancing measures, unions claim.

The TUC said its research suggests that many firms were not taking adequate measures to protect workers from coronavirus, casting "huge doubt" over Government claims about the safety of returning to work.

It also says those working in low-paid and insecure jobs worse affected.

Just under half of the 2,100 workers surveyed for the union organisation said they felt that their workplaces have introduced safe social distancing.

Fewer than two in five respondents said their employers have carried out COVID-secure risk assessments, and a similar number reported being given adequate personal protective equipment.

TU C general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "Making sure workplaces are safe is key to preventing the spread of COVID-19 and getting our economy back on its feet.

"Rather than trying to bully people back into offices, ministers should change the law to require all employers to publish their risk assessments, and make sure workplaces are safe.”

She added: “Funding for the Health and Safety Executive has been cut by over a third in the past decade.

"The Government should reverse those cuts and provide sustained funding so they can recruit and train proper workplace inspectors, inspect more workplaces, and prosecute bad bosses who don't keep their workers safe.”

A Government spokesman said: "We have been working closely with businesses across the country to give people confidence that they can go back to work safely.”