Businesses could be significantly under-reporting the number of work-related Covid deaths to the government’s safety watchdog, new research suggests.
Forthcoming analysis by the TUC shows employers have notified the Health and Safety Executive of 387 work-related Covid deaths since April 2020 even though the Office for National Statistics has identified 15,263 people of working age who died from Covid over the same period.
“It is just not credible that only 2.5% of working-age Covid deaths are down to occupational exposure,” said Shelly Asquith, TUC health and safety officer. “We believe employers are massively under-reporting the number of people who have died after catching Covid at work.”
There have been 3,872 Covid outbreaks in workplaces and 4,253 outbreaks in education settings yet not a single employer has been prosecuted for breaching Covid regulations.
Asquith said the low level of reporting had endangered workers by…
