Stormont lets bosses off the hook on health and safety

Workers are acting responsibly. The bosses and politicians are not.All non-essential workplaces must shut. Social distancing, protective equipment and sanitation must be put in place in all essential workplaces. And it must be enforced – if the bosses and politicians wont, then workers and their unions must.

The Health & Safety Executive has announced it will carry out no physical inspections on workplaces, and will take employers at their word that they are abiding by guidelines. This is the same approach which allowed the virus to get out of control in Italy.Instead, it has been left to workers and their unions to take action to demand shutdowns, social distancing and sanitation, as in Moy Park, ABP Meats and Linden Foods.

The Northern Ireland Executive has announced sweeping new measures to clamp down on people leaving their homes for all but essential reasons, including the threat of fines of up to £5,000.Yet they are allowing many non-essential workplaces to remain open and taking no action to enforce necessary health and safety measures in essential workplaces.

Workers are acting responsibly. The bosses and politicians are not. All non-essential workplaces must shut. Social distancing, protective equipment and sanitation must be put in place in all essential workplaces. And it must be enforced – if the bosses and politicians wont, then workers and their unions must.

Total
29
Shares
Previous Article

Iran & Covid-19: Trump’s criminal sanctions amount to biological warfare

Next Article

Capitalism and the Spanish Flu of 1918-1919

Related Posts
Read More

The profiteering of big pharma

In what should be positive news it looks like Remdesivir, an antiviral drug developed in the wake of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, could be used to help treat patients with severe cases of Covid-19. The drug has not been proven to be a cure, but it can alleviate the worst effects of the disease. Remdesivir was developed with at least $79 million of US government funding according to a paper published by KEI.