Right to withdraw from work because of serious and imminent danger
[ch 2: page 31]Employees have the legal right to protection from detriment or dismissal if they leave, or refuse to return to, a place of work in circumstances of “serious and imminent danger”, or take other appropriate steps to protect themselves or others from the danger (section 44, ERA). Workers who are not employees are unlikely to have this right.
There is likely to be protection from serious and imminent danger to health on the commute to work (for example, public transport) as well as at the workplace (Edwards v Secretary of State for Justice [2014] UKEAT/0123/14/DM).
Reps who feel that their workplace is not Covid-secure despite their employer’s safety measures should contact their union’s legal team first for urgent advice before asserting the statutory right to leave the workplace. Members will be better protected if they act together with the support of their union, making the demand for a safe workplace a collective, not an individual one.