My office is ‘Covid-secure’ but I don’t feel safe

I could not agree more with Owen Jones’s analysis of the unrelenting spread of Covid-19 (Operation ‘blame the public’ wilfully ignores Covid-unsafe workplaces, 14 January). Not only does the government not enforce workplace rules or fine employers who break them, but it provides unclear guidance on safe workplaces which is open to interpretation.

While regulations will vary for each individual workplace, who has defined “Covid-secure”? How can employees be supported in raising concerns when there is no clear definition of a “safe workplace”? For example, how many people can safely work in an office of 15 sq metres for 8 hours a day, at a 2 metre distance from one another?

I work in an office that is labelled “Covid-secure”, and this is given as the justification for why staff must be in the building for the majority of the week. Yet I do not feel safe there due to hot-desking, mask-wearing only when not seated, and inadequate ventilation. However, I have no grounds in law to challenge this, as the government guidance is merely aspirational, not legally enforceable. Imagine if fire safety regulations for workplaces were as unclear.

As Jones states, we know that Covid-19 is mainly transmitted in confined indoor spaces. Despite this, it seems that many employers prefer to risk the public’s health, rather than trust their staff to work from home; the government is supporting this through offering half-hearted guidance rather than strict law.
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• We are told to work from home if possible, to protect the NHS. Unfortunately, the NHS itself doesn’t seem to have got the message. A member of my family works for the NHS bank, available for admin work which could be easily done from home. However, they are not allowed to work from home because they are not trusted to do the work they are paid for if they don’t travel into the office to do so. So who is being protected?
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