The worst of the pandemic is behind us but there is still a significant number of employees living with long COVID. The latest ONS figures estimate that 1.9 million people in the UK (2.9% of the population) were experiencing self-reported long Covid symptoms. 79% of them reported an adverse effect on their ability to carry out their day-to-day activities, with 20% reporting that their day-to-day activities had been ‘limited a lot’. We’ll speak to a health and safety expert on preventing reinfection.
People Management reports on the ONS figures in their article: ‘Long Covid at work: what employers need to know’. The data shows that while some recover relatively quickly from these ongoing symptoms, others can still be suffering more than a year after they were infected, if not longer. As they point out, that can present a challenge for employers, who may need to commission medical reports to help them decide whether an employee has a disability under the Equality Act and, if so, what reasonable adjustments should be made. Of course, that will depend on the particular facts of the case and will be focused on the individual’s needs and circumstances.
The health and safety angle looks at this with a wider lens and is covered in some detail in the July/August issue of IOSH magazine. In ‘The dangers of long COVID’ the central message to employers is they need to be doing everything they can in work environments to prevent reinfection. So what does that involve? To help with that I spoke to health and safety expert Zoe Betts:
Zoe Betts: “I think a lot of people, completely understandably, would like to say that COVID is no longer a thing, or COVID isn't relevant, and my belief is it really is. There's a vast number of people in our society who are affected by long COVID – I think it's about 2 million people, which represents just under 3% of our UK population and a number of those people are workers, they are employee. So this is an issue that employers need to deal with. First of all, you need to think about preventing reinfection in the workplace. First and foremost, we've got to prevent this risk arising but then, also, employers have to deal with people who've got long COVID, and who might be returning to work.”
Joe Glavina: “So, what are practical steps employers should take, Zoe? Are we talking risk assessments?”
Zoe Betts: “Yes, risk assessment is always the basis of good health and safety management and I think if you're talking about reinfecting in the workplace and trying to prevent that from happening, then your risk assessment is still valid. You still need to be looking through the hierarchy of controls, how can you try to prevent that infection from spreading? You also need to think about other measures for people within the workplace. So can you have better ventilation? Are you still advocating handwashing and use of hand sanitizer? Are we still, to some degree, using PPE, and that's more relevant for certain occupations and others – so people in the healthcare environment, teachers who are regularly exposed, even bus and taxi drivers, really need to consider and have advice from their employer about the type of variant that is currently doing the rounds, and the correct PPE to wear. So, that's part of the risk assessment, Joe, but the other part, of course, is the more bespoke risk assessment that you would be doing if somebody is returning to work with long COVID, especially if they're in a role where they could be at risk themselves or put others at risk. There has to be a really open and honest conversation with management, and with HR is my suggestion, about what symptoms those people may be experiencing, and what adjustments in the workplace might be relevant so that they can do their job safely and not put themselves, or others, at risk.”
Joe Glavina: “You mention HR there and you’ve previously talked about the need for HR and health and safety professionals to work together on these issues. What does that look like in practice?”
Zoe Betts: “Yes, I think sometimes people overthink this, or almost over engineer it. I think there's nothing wrong with sitting around the table together, or even having a Zoom conversation. It's about opening the dialogue, it’s about making sure that people aren't working in silos and believing that because they're in the health and safety team there can be no cross communication, or cross fertilisation of ideas, with people who might sit in the HR team, and vice versa. If what we're really looking at is a holistic view of how to make sure that we are promoting the highest standards of health and safety within the workplace for everybody, including the individual affected, then you need to have that collaborative approach, and that joint input, and that's the sort of advice I give to my clients, not to be scared of sharing those ideas. If there is a return-to-work plan, a phased return to work then, of course, you need the input from someone with a health and safety perspective who is very familiar with doing a risk assessment but also, of course, the HR input on the occupational health side of things, and I think if you have that kind of approach you're going to come out with the best output.”
Joe Glavina: “We talk about preventative measures and keeping the workplace safe but of course lots of people with long COVID will be working from home if they are working at all. So, that will reduce the risk, presumably?”
Zoe Betts: “I think that can reduce the risk, you're absolutely right. I think first and foremost, though, we need to make sure that people working at home is in fact the right step. Should they be working at all? I think a lot of the research around long COVID shows that rest is particularly important and just saying to somebody, well, you can still do your job but you can do it from home, might actually be getting that person back to work too soon. We need to make sure we're reducing the stigma around somebody saying that they still need to be on sick leave, that actually they do need that rest period in order to fully recuperate, they need their doctor’s support in that of course, but if they are working from home, I think we saw this during the pandemic, sometimes out of sight out of mind. Working from home might reduce the risk of reinfecting other people in the workplace with COVID but at the same time you can isolate that person, they can suffer from mental health problems, and we need to make sure that that aspect of their role is being factored in as well.”
Joe Glavina: “Is there anything else to add, Zoe? A key message?”
Zoe Betts: “I think the key messages is that collaboration piece. I think it is important that HR and H&S join up on this issue. I think the openness of the dialogue, encouraging people to be honest about how they feel and their confidence that their employer will not, in any way, punish or treat them badly for admitting that they're not fully up to speed. That has to be the right thing, to foster that kind of culture within the workplace, and then be proactive about dealing with it.”
That IOSH article on the dangers of long COVID is available to read in the online version of the magazine – it’s in the July/August edition. We have put a link to it in the transcript of this programme.
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