Marina Hyde rightly highlights the reported deaths of thousands of workers in the run-up to Qatar’s sportswashing World Cup (Qatar 2022: this World Cup has taken place in a crime scene, 17 December). But Great Britain has no moral or legal high ground here.
In its most recent (2021-22) statistics, the “enforcement” agency, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), recorded 123 worker fatalities alongside 80 work-related fatal injuries to members of the public. It also published an estimate of 13,000 deaths as a result of work-related ill health. Other data – for example, from the UN or the Hazards Campaign – estimates total deaths caused by work at between 37,000 and 61,000, each year, every year. Yet these attract virtually no enforcement (let alone media or political) response.
While the HSE does not break down enforcement data by fatality distinct from other outcomes of violations of law – the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is a criminal statute – it does publish the fact that in 2020-21 it secured a grand total of 185 convictions for all offences. Convictions have been in freefall since 2010, when there were 730, even if the latter figure is a pinprick in the context of tens of thousands of deaths. Such data bears witness to an old trade union adage – if you want to kill someone and get away with it, first set up a company, then employ them.
Steve Tombs
Emeritus professor, Open University
• While much has rightly been made of Qatar’s record on LGBT rights and the exploitation of migrant workers, as well as the corrupt fashion in which the tournament was awarded, there were some good things about holding it there. One of them was the massive attendance of fans from African countries such as Senegal and Morocco, who made the competition the spectacle it was. If the World Cup had been held in the UK or in other European countries, many of those fans would not have been admitted because of exclusionary immigration policies.
In future, perhaps the World Cup should only be held in places that are both human rights-compliant and where people from all over the world can freely attend.
Christopher Bertram
Professor emeritus, University of Bristol
• The second letter above was amended on 20 December 2022. An editing change meant that an earlier version said “the UK or a European country”, where “the UK or in other European countries” was meant.
