Employers should be fined for unhealthy workplaces, think tank says
Employers should be fined if they create unhealthy workplaces as part of Wes Streeting’s plan to get unemployed people fit into work, a leading think tank has said.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said employers who fail to provide a healthier working environment for their staff, such as subsidized nutritious food, will face regulatory action including fines and public censure.
The proposal comes after the Health Secretary announced that weight loss jabs such as Ozempic could be given to the unemployed to help them return to work. Streeting added that this would also ease the demands on the NHS due to obesity.
But Chris Thomas, head of the IPPRs Commission on Health and Prosperitysaid it would not be effective to send people back to work after medical treatment in a workplace that is harmful to their health.
He said employers and the government should agree standards for good health in the workplace, with companies then taking responsibility for monitoring compliance with these targets.
Employers who have failed to take reasonable steps to limit any harm to workers’ health, which Thomas described as a ‘duty not to harm’, should face regulatory action from the Health and Safety Executive.
For example, the regulator could take action against large companies where there are “unacceptable numbers of people leaving the workforce” due to ill health.
Thomas said the HSE’s role should be expanded to tackle ill health caused by work, including obesity, anxiety and depression, in the same way as workplace accidents such as falling from a ladder.
He said the approach would be similar to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) consumer duty, which requires financial services to avoid causing foreseeable harm to their customers, with those who fail to do so facing fines. or public disapproval.
“One of the most important factors we see in whether a workplace is beneficial or detrimental to a person’s weight and nutrition is ready access to healthy food,” says Thomas, co-author of a recent IPPR report on obesity and the labor market.
“There are still some workplaces that are quite good at providing subsidized nutritious food, but not the vast majority. If you work in a very high-pressure office environment, can you take the time to prepare your food and eat lunch properly? Because you work shifts, are you more reliant on takeaways that open at 4am on your way home?
“If, after medical intervention, we send people back to an environment where they became ill in the first place, we are not doing the most effective thing.”
Thomas added that smaller companies should be offered financial incentives to help improve the health of their employees. He pointed to a program run by the West Midlands Combined Authority, made up of 18 local councils Some small and medium-sized businesses received funding to improve the health and well-being of employeesas a possible model.
Sir Norman Lamb, the former Liberal Democrat MP and Health Secretary, who chaired a mental health action plan that preceded the West Midlands programme, suggested that if the Government were to increase employers’ national insurance contributions, this could are waived for companies that improve workplace health. and well-being.
“Or you impose a levy on employers that you don’t have to pay if you take an evidence-based approach to keeping your employees healthy,” Lamb added. “So you encourage employers to behave well.”
The proposals come as NHS doctors and specialists have called for a comprehensive overhaul of obesity treatment services across England in response to “unprecedented public demand” for drugs such as Ozempic and Zepbound.
In a report published by the Obesity Health AllianceMore than 200 doctors said the introduction of these new drugs has put enormous pressure on England’s already overstretched NHS services.