Guest blog by Dr Vandita Upadhyaya and Janet O'Neill
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety, helping people live safer and healthier working lives. Their 10-year strategy reflects HSE’s role of protecting people and places through mitigating traditional and new risks. Their five objectives include:
- Preventing work-related ill-health with particular emphasis on supporting good mental health at work.
- Ensuring people feel safe in their lives and at work.
- Safe innovation of industries, thereby preventing major incidents and supporting net zero.
- Making Great Britain one of the safest countries to work in, evidenced by annual injury and ill-health statistics.
- Making sure HSE is a great place to work by attracting and retaining people.
The HSE is established under the provisions of Health and Safety at work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA), as amended. It does not have the power to make its own legislation and needs to submit proposals to the Secretary of State for making regulations under relevant statutory provisions. Its functions include:
- Setting standards for health and safety by submitting proposals to the Secretary of State for health and safety regulations.
- Securing compliance with standards through enforcement.
- Conducting research and publishing its results.
- Providing Ministers on request with information and expert advice.
Working life has changed considerably. While the HSWA still applies, it needs to be adapted to the new ways of working. Below are examples of such areas:
- The growing levels of work-related illness (HSE statistics 2024/25). A 44% increase in work-related illnesses from 2010-2011, and 93% increase in work-related mental illnesses.
- A concern for a lack of adequate controls by duty holders.
- Remote and hybrid work. The Act does not consider home offices, with employers being responsible for provision of a safe working environment.
- Mental Health and Wellbeing. These are the leading causes of absences at work and therefore, more specific, and focused legal recognition could improve these areas.
- New technology and automation. Safety concerns have arisen because of use of Artificial Intelligence, robotics and data-driven systems and updated guidance is required to tackle issues related to these.
- Climate and Sustainability. Environmental hazards and climate change are increasingly relevant to health and safety, and an updated Act could consider climate resilience as part of workplace protection.
Alongside these drivers, the HSE is currently working on the Government Regulation Action Plan. One associated objective is to change the definition of Occupational Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences reported in RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences 2013), alongside improvements to the reporting process. To achieve this, they wish to reduce the burden on businesses by simplifying the reporting process to the regulator. HSE is currently obtaining views on whether proposals will help support HSE’s work to tackle work-related ill health by expanding the available data. Therefore they have launched a public consultation on RIDDOR: “Consultation on proposals for The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013” with the survey found here.
This will review how work-related injuries, ill health and dangerous occurrences are reported to the regulator. The consultation aims to seek views on proposals including:
- Clarifying definitions within RIDDOR where existing terminology has been identified as unclear or ambiguous.
- Revising the list of dangerous occurrences to better reflect modern workplace risks.
- Updating the list of reportable occupational diseases.
- Broadening who can formally diagnose a reportable occupational disease beyond GMC-registered doctors to other registered health practitioners.
- Simplifying the online RIDDOR reporting form to improve usability and tackle under- and over-reporting.
The consultation is relevant across all sectors and industries. Duty holders, self-employed workers, those in control of work premises and healthcare practitioners are particularly encouraged to respond. The consultation runs until 30 June 2026.
The government, public and duty holders (a duty holder is a person or organisation, such as a landlord, contractor, or employer, legally responsible for complying with health, safety, or building regulations) are fully aware of the rising rates of work-related ill health demonstrated by the HSE’s own statistics. It is also well known that RIDDOR reportable illness and injuries are 50% under reported (Unite, 2019). If we add this to the funding cuts restricting the HSE’s ability to regulate (iCroner, 2023), we can see the importance of such a consultation. This gives the public (and those in occupational health with a vested interest in work and health) a perfect opportunity to have our say and support improvement.