Industrial Health and Safety: Coronavirus

(asked on 19th February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many prosecutions have been pursued by the Health and Safety Executive relating to outbreaks of covid-19 in occupational settings; and if she will make a statement.


Answered by
Mims Davies Portrait
Mims Davies
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 1st March 2021

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) takes COVID-19 safety at work very seriously and is playing a critical role in the national response to the pandemic. The Government has provided additional funding of £14 million to HSE to strengthen its capacity to tackle COVID-19.

Since the start of the pandemic, HSE has carried out over 127,000 Covid-19 spot checks, responded to over 19,000 workplace COVID-19 concerns and 569 outbreaks. Spot checks have been specifically targeted in those industries where workers are most likely to be vulnerable to transmission risks. HSE’s experience is that more than 90% of businesses checked have either the correct precautions in place or are willing to make necessary changes promptly and without the need for formal enforcement action.

No prosecutions have yet been initiated for COVID-19 related breaches, though HSE will not hesitate to take such action, in accordance with our published Enforcement Policy Statement and the Code for Crown Prosecutors, where this is warranted.

Note: Figures extracted from HSE’s live operational database on 23rd February 2021 and are liable to change, e.g. as it may take up to ten working days for data to be uploaded onto the system.

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