An education provider has been found to have broken several health and safety laws relating to Covid-19, the UK’s health and safety watchdog has said, after it was investigated following the death of an employee.
Donna Coleman, who worked at the Burnley College as a professor, died in January 2021, aged just 42, after she contracted Covid-19.
The subsequent investigation by the Health and Safety executive (HSE) said it was “inconclusive” as to whether Coleman had contracted the virus at work.
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However in a letter to the Burnley College – published by the University and College Union (UCU) – the HSE said the college had not been “taking all reasonably practicable steps” to prevent the spread of the virus at the time, and that it had failed to enforce social distancing requirements during in-person meetings with external parties.
The letter said there was video evidence showing staff, including Coleman, standing “side by side” and without face coverings during the meetings.
It also found that Coleman had been sharing a “relatively small” office with two other colleagues, which “didn’t allow for social distancing” and that had no ventilation apart from a window, “which relied on the confidence of employees to open the window during the winter months”.
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