Tax offices deep clean after death

A member of staff at a HM Revenue and Customs office in Salford has died after being sent home ‘exhibiting the symptoms of Covid-19’, a union has said.

And a former colleague of the worker has also now tested positive for coronavirus, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said.

The worker who has died, understood to be a man, was based at the HMRC office Trinity Bridge House in Salford.

As a result, union bosses wrote to HMRC to call for the closure of Trinity Bridge House ‘pending a deep-clean of all levels of the building’.

That deep clean has now been completed.

The union also urged HMRC bosses to send all staff working there home ‘in order to allow any possible further cases to become apparent’.

HMRC bosses sent condolences to friends and family.

They said staff who don’t need to be in the office were working from home - and all public health advice during the pandemic was being followed.

Trinity Bridge House, on Dearmans Place off Chapel Street, near The Lowry Hotel, remains open for key workers.

In a statement on the union’s website, bosses accused HMRC management of failing to agree guidance with them for HMRC during the coronavirus pandemic.

A HMRC spokesperson said: “Our frontline teams of key workers are doing a vital job - protecting people’s livelihoods, keeping cash in businesses, helping people to stay employed, providing benefits for families and bringing in funds for essential services like the NHS.

“The safety of our people is our number one priority. Colleagues who don’t need to be in the office are working from home, and we’re following public health advice to keep our offices safe where services can’t be delivered from home.”