Hot topics in the health and safety sector

2023 looks set to build on changes made in the past few years to rules, regulations and safety aspects – these changes to the way we work have come about through a few different reasons such as COVID-19, new technological advances and overall concern about safety in specific areas (such as fire safety on high rise buildings following the Grenfell Tower fire).

Building Rules & Regulations

Building safety looks to be a particular focus in the health and safety sector for 2023, as the main aspects of the Building Safety Act 2022 are coming into force this year. These come in along new fire safety legislation; namely, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 which commenced on January 23^rd, 2023.

Building Safety Act 2022

The Building Safety Act 2022 is related to the safety of people in new buildings, as well as the standard of the builds themselves. It updates the Architects Act 1997 and the process for complaints when made to the housing omsbudsman. Among this are new safety requirements for higher-risk high rise buildings over 18m/7 storeys.

More information: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-building-safety-act

Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022

These came into being following the Grenfell Tower inquiry and focus largely on fire safety in mid-high rise blocks of flats and residential buildings over 11 metres.

More information: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-fire-safety-regulations-come-into-force-in-england

Mental Health in the Workplace

Mental health has been a point of focus for a number of years but has taken particular priority over the past 3 years since working from home became of importance due to the COVID pandemic. The rules around staying indoors hit many hard; for example, people who went from working out of the house with colleagues to staying indoors the majority of the time conceivably found this adjustment hard, and on top of worries around health and wellbeing due to the COVID virus itself.

Mental health in the workplace is an ongoing focus for the year ahead, especially as many are still working to a part-remote schedule, perhaps for the foreseeable future. Whilst this does have its benefits, it can be hard to not have the physical support and routine of working out of the house, so more care needs to be taken to ensure that employees feel valued and supported.

PPE

PPE is always a priority for workers who may be exposed to chemicals, harmful substances, noise or other risks. As technology moves forward, PPE requirements also change. As such, employers need to keep abreast of these advances to ensure their employees are always kept in PPE that meets their needs.

Smart wearables that aid health and safety are up and coming in the PPE field; these include items such as heart rate monitors, blood pressure monitors and other wearables to measure an individual’s vitals. Tracking software is also used more now than ever – this can include operation tracking, vehicle trackers and security cameras, for example.

Security in the workplace

The rise of flexible and remote working has opened up new challenges for keeping equipment and persons secure whilst at work. Whereas an employer may previously have only had to manage security in the workplace, they now also need to consider the security and wellbeing of workplace equipment such as laptops and monitors whilst out of the primary workplace at a location such as a home office or conference area. This also applies to personal safety of employees.

A remote workplace safety checklist is now essential for an employer who offers remote working. This can include aspects such as: