Concerns have been raised about employees being forced to go to workplaces that do not comply with Covid.
Between 6 and 14 January, the Health and Safety Management (HSE) received 2,945 complaints about safety issues.
The head of the British trade unions has called on ministers to tackle employers “who violate Covid safety rules”.
The HSE said it had stepped up its work to monitor businesses during the pandemic.
The Observer reports that no businesses have been prosecuted and fined for violating the safety rules for coronavirus in the workplace since the start of the latest national exclusion in England, although an HSE spokesman said figures on enforcing actions, which may include oral advice or a written warning can only be confirmed on Monday.
She added that the inspectors “continue to go around, placing employers on the spot and making sure they comply with the health and safety law”.
The HSE has instituted telephone checks in response to the coronavirus crisis, she said.
“We continue to increase the number of calls and visits we make on-site so that we can reach as many businesses as possible during the current closing period.”
Frances O’Grady, TUC general secretary, said: “If the government increases enforcement, ministers should start with employers who violate Covid safety rules.”
She also insisted on an increase in resources for the HSE ‘to prevent rogue employers from getting away with endangering staff. Every employer should know that ‘an inspection can take place at any time’.
During the pandemic, the HSE made more than 32,300 site visits.
The government must also make it clear that anyone who can work from home must do so, O’Grady added.
What are the rules for going to work?
Under the current closure restrictions, people in the UK who can work effectively from home must do so. They should only travel to their workplace if they cannot do their work remotely.
These include health workers, teachers, childminders, transport workers, people working in construction or manufacturing, funeral directors and essential retail workers.
For workplaces that remain open in England, employers must “carry out an appropriate Covid-19 risk assessment” to develop a “specific” strategy to stop the spread of the virus.
In England, guidelines contain strict measures that employers must follow, such as reducing the number of unnecessary visits to the office, regular cleaning of workplaces and ensuring that staff take 2 m (6 feet) of social distance where possible.
There are similar guidelines for employers in different sectors in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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A government spokesman said: ‘The law is clear that people can only leave home to work if they cannot work reasonably away from home.
“We have worked with unions, businesses and medical experts to provide comprehensive Covid safe guidance so that businesses that are allowed to stay open can do so in a safe way for workers and customers. This is reviewed as we understand of the virus. ‘
A recent survey conducted by the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) also indicates that some staff were under pressure to return to work despite a recent positive coronavirus test.
Of the 1,172 UK employees surveyed, four out of ten said they worked within ten days of a positive result.
More than 10% of respondents also said they were ordered on the spot when they could work “easily” and “safely” from home.
‘It’s really demoralizing’
Brian (not his real name), is cleaning portable toilets at construction sites in the South East of England.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live that he did not feel safe but that he was “forced to keep working so I could pay my bills”.
At the site he mostly works at, he has yet to “wear a large amount of mask” and says he was laughed at because he wore his face mask and visor.
“It’s really demoralizing because you’ll be laughed at because of the job you work in anyway.”
He says the situation is ‘50% worse ‘than when construction sites were closed during England’s first national exclusion.
Because of his and his wife’s concerns, he asked if he could plow, but his firm said he would only be eligible for statutory sick pay.
“Morality is on the floor,” he says.
Alan Lockey, head of the RSA’s future work program, suggested that workers ‘feel compelled to put themselves and others at risk for the virus’ due to unsafe work and pressure from bosses.
He also called on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to put an end to the “compromise between health and food” by giving self-isolating workers access to the government’s legal system and increasing the £ 20 a week in universal credit. maintain. must expire in April.