Key changes and developments
[ch 11: page ]• New TUC research has found that employers have “massively under-reported” Covid work-related deaths and infections, with employers reporting just 2.5% of working-age Covid deaths as resulting from workplace exposures under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR);
• The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) is considering recommending to the government classification of Covid-19 as an occupational disease;
• Nearly three in ten workers with long Covid have experienced symptoms lasting longer than a year, according to a new TUC survey;
• A new report on work-related suicide recommends that suicide be included in the list of work-related deaths that must be reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) under RIDDOR;
• Worker deaths rose by a massive 25% last year, according to new figures released by the HSE. In 2021, 142 workers were killed in incidents at work in Great Britain, 29 more than in the previous year. These statistics do not include deaths arising from occupational diseases, including Covid-19;
• In July 2021, the government published its response to the 2019 Health is Everyone’s Business consultation.