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What the HSE’s 2026/27 Priorities Mean for UK Businesses
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) continues to focus on reducing work-related ill health, preventing serious workplace incidents and improving health and safety standards across Great Britain.
The HSE 2026/27 priorities provide businesses with a useful opportunity to review whether their existing health and safety arrangements remain effective.
For businesses, the value of following HSE priorities isn't simply knowing what the regulator is focusing on. It's using those priorities as a prompt to ask whether your own health and safety arrangements are still effective.
What the HSE 2026/27 Priorities Mean for Workplace Health
Health and safety isn't only about preventing accidents.
Work-related stress, musculoskeletal disorders and occupational health risks can have a significant impact on employees and businesses, but they can also be harder to identify than immediate physical hazards.
Organisations should consider whether their current arrangements adequately address these risks and whether employees have appropriate support, information and controls in place.
Familiar Risks Still Need Reviewing
Serious workplace incidents continue to involve established risks such as falls from height, machinery and unsafe working conditions.
The fact that a risk is familiar doesn't mean it is adequately controlled.
Businesses should regularly consider whether their risk assessments still reflect how work is actually being carried out.
Changes to equipment, processes, employees, contractors or working conditions can all affect existing controls.
A risk assessment should reflect the workplace today, not the workplace when it was originally written.
Are Your Controls Working in Practice?
Having policies and procedures in place is only part of effective health and safety management.
Businesses should also consider whether those arrangements are actually being followed.
Are inspections taking place? Are employees receiving appropriate training? Are identified issues being addressed? Are contractors working to the expected standards?
These practical checks can reveal gaps that aren't always visible from documentation alone.
What Should Businesses Review?
HSE priorities provide a useful opportunity to step back and review your own arrangements.
Consider checking:
Risk assessments and method statements
Workplace inspections
Training and competency
Contractor management
Equipment maintenance
Incident and near-miss records
Corrective actions
The aim isn't to create more paperwork.
It's to make sure your controls are appropriate, understood and working in practice.
Don't Wait for an Inspection
Businesses shouldn't have to wait for an HSE inspection or an incident to identify weaknesses in their health and safety arrangements.
Regular reviews allow organisations to identify changes, address gaps and improve controls before problems become more serious.
Good health and safety management isn't about reacting to the regulator. It's about understanding your risks and taking action before someone else has to point them out.
How Base Solutions Ltd Can Help
Our Health & Safety Consultancy team can help businesses review their existing arrangements, identify gaps and develop practical controls that support day-to-day operations.
If you're unsure whether your current arrangements are still fit for purpose, speak to our team for a practical review of your health and safety needs.
Call: +44 (0)20 3976 9478
Email: info@basesolutionsltd.com
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