Protection in law for employees

Even though we have the health and safety at work act and the equality acts, new legislation should be brought forward to protect employees from infection and mistreatment in the workplace. Employers should not be able to decide what they deem to be "safe" or be able to use loopholes to avoid giving staff full protection and piece of mind. This is to avoid unequal situations in which employers flout risks to boost profits an to directly support and protect employees health and mental health. No employer should have the right to place employees in dangerous situations for self gain. A basic set of standards should be introduced. For example, access to a sink that does not require touching of surfaces or higher risk of cross contamination (a wash station that is in the work area and has unimpeded access). One shared sink away from the work area, behind closed doors is not acceptable, as this is only effective if everyone is 100% compliant with hand hygiene.

Employers should not be able to force staff into high risk situations. For example, entering people's homes while working in the wider community. This is due to putting that member of staff at risk and the wider public as they may inadvertently be acting as a potential carrier of the disease, seeding it throughout the community. This should apply to non-essential services.

Employees should not be forced to use/share equipment that may put them and others at higher risk, making it the employers obligation to provide the correct equipment. Example, computers, desks and tills etc. This would be to avoid hot desking etc. Equipment should also be deep cleaned regularly.

Employers should not be allowed to take advantage of the shielding program to highlight who is and isn't high risk as this may be used as a loophole to force employees who are high risk yet do not need to shield into dangerous situations, or increase the chances of infection further unnecessarily. Examples include, placing more high risk staff in direct contact with the wider public or sending high risk staff out into the wider community, especially in higher risk areas (areas in which the transmission rate and death rate is higher than the national average, or at certain levels on a national scale).

Staff should be provided the correct PPE at all times. It should be the employer who provides this PPE in line with current working practices for providing PPE under the health and safety at work act.

Employees should have the right to challenge practices at all times. Time and time again we hear about firms ignoring rules and mistreating staff. Employees often feel they are unable to challenge this due to reprisals, this should be a thing of the past and a fair system of challenging this should be considered. This is a more difficult area as it can be subject to abuse on both sides.

If employers do not follow a basic set of rules then a table of punishments should be defined as an insentive to meet standards.

These are just a small set of examples. The main over all theme is protection of all employees and guidence for employers. The over all idea should be simple, robust and effective to protect us all.

This idea should be put in place before anyone returns to work and to protect the key workers of our country from being taken advantage of. We have a right to personal safety and it boils down to our human rights. Our right to life, freedom and safety. These values must be upheld and protected, companies and industry should never have the power to dictate our rights to us an frame work should be implemented to protect us.