There is no doubt that the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes COVID-19, has changed the workplace and impacted considerably on working practices across the world.
During the pandemic, Napo has sought to work closely with employers to ensure that they take all possible steps to protect the health, safety, and wellbeing of staff.
Announcements at the Prime Minister’s press conference on 14 June, and subsequent comments from other ministers seeking to reaffirm, for England at least, suggested that the road map was “irreversible” regardless of any changes. There was also an underlying message which deviated from the previous dogmatic view of defeating the virus, to one of the public needing to find a way to “live with COVID” and accept that people will continue to develop COVID-19 with some developing long term health effects or dying, and that this was simply inevitable.
Whilst we agree that the risks presented by SARS-CoV-2 will not go away for the foreseeable future. Napo does not believe that further illness and death is unavoidable or should simply just be accepted. Nor has the duty owed by employers suddenly gone away, the workplace cannot just simply return to how things were before the pandemic and adjustments need to be made to account for this.
The following gives a full account of the work that Napo is doing to hold employers to account regarding Health and Safety. Read Here