Following the General Election, the new Labour government in July had its first King’s speech where the King read out the new governments legislative agenda. Whilst there was no explicit mention of what a new Employment Rights Bill may entail for health and safety, the government has stated that it will legislate to introduce a new deal for working people to ban exploitative practices and enhance employment rights (UK Parliament, 2024). This ‘new deal’ is a core part of the governments legislative agenda and featured as part of its general election campaign. This means reviewing and modernising health and safety guidance and regulations in order to modernise guidance to better reflect a contemporary workplace. Changes will be centred around an understanding that guidance needs to reflect unacceptable temperatures in some workplaces, preventative actions and further steps to ensure workplace safety. In the coming weeks when Parliament comes out of recess this bill could move quickly into becoming UK law. Businesses up and down the country will have to prepare for new safety standards in the upcoming months.
While the exact wording and details have not yet been unveiled, safety in the workplace does remain as important as ever. Taking the fire risk in the industry for example, we are sadly reminded of its importance each year with the national fire statistics. In 2023/2024 there was a total of 13,295 non-house related fires in the UK. Of these there were 857 casualties, and 18 deaths as result due to both accidental and deliberate fires. It is vital that employers and their employees and their employees know the risks to themselves, their colleagues and their business regardless of the sector. Recent fires at an east London construction site in Canning Town led to 10 fire engines and 70 firefighters being deployed to the 10-storey site; with 7 hospitalised. Drawing in huge amounts of resources and firefighters, Canning Town highlights how essential it is that companies and employees have safe working practices embedded into their work place culture.
The coming months is a great opportunity to get ahead of the game and up to date on training to mitigate such instances. Hendeca Group specialises in the training which can help you to create a safer working environment in construction industry and beyond.
Hendeca Group is not a political organisation and does not hold a political position on these changes. We instead report the potential changes to the industry and are here to support businesses in the UK to create a safer place to live and work. For more information on our courses and availability please check our website.