At Friday’s Health and Social Care Select Committee, West Lancashire MP and Committee Member Rosie Cooper questioned the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock about whether the deaths of clinical staff who have died working in the NHS are being referred to the Health and Safety Executive for investigation.
Responding, the Secretary of State said that investigations are being done by the NHS and the employers of the staff and will involve the Health Service Safety Investigations Body.
Following ‘The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013’ it is a legal requirement to make a report when a worker dies.
In response to this, Rosie Cooper MP has submitted a Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Health, asking whether the NHS would be breaking the law by not reporting the deaths of staff following occupational exposure to coronavirus to the Health and Safety Executive.
West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper said:
“I feel it is absolutely necessary for any investigation into these deaths to be carried out by a wholly independent body.
“It is essential that these investigations are transparent and conducted independently of any organisation involved in the handling of this crisis as we cannot effectively have the employer investigating itself.
“I have written to the Chief Executive of the Health & Safety Executive to explain that I believe it is imperative that the Health & Safety Executive investigates each and every one of these deaths, to ensure that the circumstances and any opportunity for learning are made public.”
Update. The government have replied to Rosie’s questions.