Key areas of focus for UK Health & Safety inspections in 2025

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recently released their annual statistics, which gives an idea as to the overall health and wellbeing of the workforce. As the regulator, the HSE in plays a critical role in reducing risks in workplaces and carries out inspection and enforcement action. 

Although a 10-year strategy was published last year, the HSE are also guided by the findings from workforce surveys, enforcement, reported injuries, ill health and dangerous occurrences within workplaces. They use this data to identify patterns and prioritise interventions where they can have the most significant impact. Factors that might affect how likely they are to inspect you could include:

• Incident rates: high injury or illness rates compared to national averages.
• Economic impact: costs to businesses and the broader economy.
• Worker safety: fatalities and severe risks in particular sectors.
• Compliance trends: sectors with historical non-compliance or poor safety culture.

Based on the HSE strategy document and their latest statistics, here’s our interpretation of the findings and where we think they’ll be focusing next…

Work-related ill health

With 1.7 million workers reporting ill health in 2023/24, the HSE is likely to inspect workplaces in industries contributing most to this figure. The breakdown includes:

• Stress, depression, and anxiety: affecting 776,000 workers, this is the most significant category. Industries like public administration, education, and health and social work show higher-than-average rates, making them likely targets.
• Musculoskeletal disorders: contributing to 543,000 cases, workplaces involving repetitive motion or heavy lifting like transportation, construction, and administrative support are under scrutiny.

Workplace injuries

Although fatalities and injuries are concerning and need to be prevented, the figure is significantly lower than the number of workers suffering from ill health. The stats highlight 138 fatal injuries and 604,000 non-fatal injuries, emphasising:

• High-risk sectors: construction, transportation, and agriculture have historically shown elevated injury rates, especially from slips, trips, and falls, and manual handling. 
• Common accidents: non-fatal injuries from slips, trips, and falls (31%) and handling/carrying incidents (17%) suggest the need for better risk reduction strategies in these areas.

Occupational lung diseases

Continuing the trend with worker ill health, there were 12,000 annual deaths linked to work-related lung diseases, including those likely occurring from exposure to asbestos (mesothelioma (2,257 deaths)). It’s very likely that the HSE will continue to prioritise industries with asbestos exposure, such as construction, demolition and refurbishment.

Plus, workplaces with exposure to dust and chemicals are probable targets for inspection – this could include some industries which might not initially sound hazardous, such as wood working, and baking – wood and flour dust can both cause occupational asthma and need to be controlled.

Economic costs and lost productivity

The government is keen to get and keep as many people in work as possible, and the HSE also has a role to play in this mission. The annual cost of workplace injuries and ill health stands at £21.6 billion, with 33.7 million working days lost. This shows the financial and human impact, pushing the HSE to intervene in sectors showing poor compliance with Health & Safety standards.

With this mission in mind, the HSE are very likely to inspect on a risk-based approach, informed by their data. Our analysis is as follows.

Targeted industries

Although the HSE will continue to inspect high risk industries, such as construction, there are some sectors which are statistically more likely to have Health & Safety risks, making them a target for inspections:

• Human health and social work: known for high stress and injury rates.
• Public administration and education: facing above-average stress-related illnesses.
• Construction and agriculture: featuring significant physical risks and fatal injuries.
• Transport and storage: notable for musculoskeletal disorders and manual handling incidents.

So, what can you do?

It all starts with having a robust Health & Safety policy and then identifying and managing the risks to your workforce and others. Going into 2025, our top tips are:

Conduct regular risk assessments:

• Identify hazards, evaluate risks, and implement control measures.
• Review and update assessments after changes or incidents.

Look at your workplace design:

• Try to remove manual handling tasks wherever possible.
• Provide ergonomic equipment and reduce repetitive strain risks.
• Maintain clean, organised environments to minimise slips and falls.

Provide targeted training:

• Train your workers so they have a good understanding of your controls and how to undertake their tasks safely.
• Offer role-specific safety guidance.

Maintain equipment and facilities:

• Ensure that items designed to reduce risk, such as local exhaust ventilation (LEV) and lifting equipment are maintained and thoroughly examined.
• Conduct regular inspections and preventive maintenance.
• Address hazards like faulty machinery quickly.

Build a positive safety culture:

• Encourage hazard reporting and involve staff in safety initiatives.
• Consult regularly with your workers so they’re involved with Health & Safety.

Address stress and mental health:

• Conduct stress risk assessments and consider mental health within your first aid needs assessment.
• Consider Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) and signposting for support.

 

If you’d like to chat with someone about this or any other HR & Employment Law matter, call your 24/7 HR & Employment Law advice line* on 0345 844 4848.

 

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