It was on the first day of January 1975 that the national regulator for health and safety in Great Britain, The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) took its first steps and now, on 1st January 2025, it has just celebrated its 50th anniversary.
It is also, currently 2 years into its most recent 10-year strategy “Protecting People and Places”, launched in 2022 and has just recently taken on a more defined role as the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), to better manage the construction industry from blueprints to occupancy.
It has overseen a reduction of workplace fatalities: from 651 in 1974, to 138 in 2023 – 24
But 138 fatalities is, quite honestly, still more than can be justified. Courtrooms are still dealing with the reminders of past failures with approx. 140 prosecutions in 2024 which were due to:
- A lack of morality on the part of the employer / management or individual;
- Corporate greed; or
- Incompetence.
We (society) still need to do better, to be better and by trying to be better, remove the odour of death and the sheen of indifference, from our workplaces.
If a company and, or possibly, specific individuals within it, are taken to court for health and safety failings, GUILT is rarely being discussed, it is HOW guilty.
If being prosecuted for health and safety failings, the presumption of guilt / innocence is reversed, with the onus on the accused being to demonstrate innocence and / or to justify why something was done different to the expected standards already set by the legal system, (legislation backed up by Approved Codes of Practice {ACoP’s} and standards provided by the BSI {British Standards}).
The judge decides what penalty to issue for the law that has been broken and who will pay the price, which is determined by the aggravating factors (how serious the breach was, was it a material breach (a serious violation), was there any injury, how bad was that injury or did someone (and there were 138 someone’s in the year 2023 – 2024), pay the ultimate price for that businesses failings). The one thing that is guaranteed is that the law has already been broken or at best ignored for everyone to be in the position they are in.
Managing the problem
Employers and their management teams need to look for where there are hazards, or incidence where harm may have already occurred, in their workplace. Is it through use of machinery, the use of workplace equipment, that vehicles are moving within the workspace, that people are working in a confined space, or working at height, or are moving stock, or delivering items, driving a truck, hitting a nail, laying a brick, painting a wall or welding a joint.
Whatever workers are doing, whether they are doing it for themselves as self-employed people, or for their employer, they have the need, NO, the legal responsibility to keep everyone safe whilst they do it. Employers have the legal responsibility to ensure their workers know how to keep themselves and the people affected by their activities, safe.
Safety is managed through the risk assessment process which should be used to determine, what the hazards of the work activities are, what can be done to mitigate the risk of those hazards hurting anyone, (reduce it to its component parts) and either remove or manage the risk through precautionary measures, and how those precautionary measures would be brought to bear. This process is then rinsed and repeated until all hazardous activities conducted have been looked at and made safe to carry out.
The risk assessment should also indicate where competency is needed, whether training of employees is required, and as the management has a requirement to fulfil these training needs, how they will be organised and even refreshed, as necessary.
This will also allow for developed procedures and safe systems of work to be drawn up, (incl. the provision and use of PPE), where necessary formalised, and reviewed so that any other entry level employee(s) can be provided with the same training, allowing everyone to work safely, leaving the management free to get on with the business of making their money, safely.
If all of this is water off a ducks back, or teaching you to suck eggs, well please take this message as it was intended, with good grace, and have a great year in 2025.,
If on the other hand you are not sure that all is in place, you would like someone to have a look and give you an honest opinion on where your business stands with its health and safety management, or you know someone else who needs a hand with just deciding what to tackle first, or what is the most important thing to concentrate on, then either call us or get them to call us and let us have a look.
Be Prepared
To ensure your business and its management do not fall foul of health and safety law in 2025.
- Conduct risk assessments as and when required (prior to undertaking activities).
- Provide training regarding the risks involved and how to manage them.
- Supervise risk management, as necessary, until competence is demonstrated.
- Formally review risk assessments and associated safe systems of work, regularly.
- Update training provided (toolbox talks, in-house or external formal training).
- Keep / update records of all the above processes.
If you need help with any health & safety related issue do not hesitate to contact your health & safety consultancy. We can provide advice / assistance with:
- Your legal requirements with regards to safety and health.
- The management of health and safety – generally or specific to business activity.
- The risk assessment process and how to conduct and record risk assessments
- Required conduct – as per legal requirements to meet when managing an activity.
- Required health surveillance – as per the activity.
- How to evidence due diligence conducted.
- Training needs and how they can be met (provided and recorded).