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With the start of a new year comes the opportunity to start afresh, and many of us are busy thinking about the positive changes we can make in the year ahead.

In the workplace, January is a perfect time to take stock and consider what’s working well, what needs updating and what new strategies can be put in place to ensure your employees, as well as your legal obligations, are being properly taken care of.

Stuck for ideas? Here’s just a few practical pledges that may help to enhance your health and safety culture and performance in 2023.

1. Make health and safety your mantra

Re-brand your health and safety management programme with an updated slogan and fresh vision for the year. This is a simple and effective way to remind workers of the importance of good health and safety practices, as well as demonstrate that you’re actively thinking about their welfare.

Remember, there’s no such thing as perfect health and safety management. It’s therefore essential to regularly evaluate your organisation’s safety culture and performance, and seek to continually improve matters.

2. Rethink and revisit training

Consider how well equipped employees are to undertake their role safely, without putting themselves or others at risk. If there are gaps in employees’ knowledge, if they haven’t received any refresher training since their induction, or if there have been changes to their role, the workplace or working practices, now is the time to think about what training courses might be appropriate.

As well as signalling to staff that you care about them and your organisation overall, investing in health and safety training is an effective way of reducing injury and illness, saving on the cost of absences, diminished productivity and increased insurance premiums. With this in mind, taking the time to upskill staff and refresh their knowledge should be high on your list of health and safety priorities for the year.

3. Revitalise your health and safety policy

When did you last review or update your health and safety policy or safety statement? The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recommends that this should be reviewed at least annually, as well as whenever work practices or legislation changes.

Health and safety regulations are constantly evolving and the HSE regularly updates their guidance, conducts targeted campaigns and issues safety alerts, so it’s important that your policy and practices reflect the current position.

To make sure you get off on the right foot and promote best practice, start the year by reviewing your organisation’s policies and procedures to check they’re up to date, taking into account any changes to regulations, personnel and the work environment.

Remember, if you employ more than five members of staff, it is a legal requirement to have a written Health & Safety Policy.

4. Risk assess your environment

Like a health and safety policy, risk assessments are a mandatory requirement in any organisation. Their purpose is to help you identify hazards or risks in your workplace, then develop plans to either remove or reduce them. An up-to-date and correctly completed risk assessment will help to keep staff safe and ensure you’re complying with the health and safety law.

Risk assessments are living documents and should be reviewed at least annually, so now is an opportune time to re-do or revisit yours, especially if there have been significant changes in your activities, actual incidents or near misses, or if there is reason to believe your current risk assessment is no longer valid.

Our Risk Assessment Training courses explore why risk assessments matter and how to write an effective one.

5. Test your equipment

Check the inspection dates on all of your equipment, and if required, replace or update it. Similarly, make sure that fire extinguishers and alarms are in good working order and that first aid kits are fully stocked.

Don’t skimp on this resolution – always be thorough in your checks, and if equipment isn’t in tip-top condition, don’t risk it; make sure it’s out with the old and in with the new. Use this resolution as an opportunity to educate or remind staff of the regulations surrounding equipment.

6. Clear the workplace of hazards

Deep cleaning and decluttering the workplace will help to ensure your environment is safe and can go a long way towards preventing common slip, trip and fall incidents. Organising stray cables, clearing walkways of obstructions and checking that floor coverings are in good condition are simple and inexpensive ways to reduce risk over the year ahead.

7. Take time to reflect

Making New Year’s resolutions without taking stock of last year’s events is akin to setting half-baked goals. Look back at 2022 and identify any mistakes and successes that you can learn from, then use what happened to create specific and informed safety resolutions.

Were there any documented health hazards? How about slips, trips and falls? Were staff engaged in health and safety matters? Could any incidents have been prevented? Make a note of potential solutions, consult staff, and put measures in place to promote safer working in 2023.

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Snow and ice have caused huge disruptions recently as the UK has experienced its coldest weather spell in over a decade. With the Met Office issuing a yellow weather warning for most parts of the UK, the cold weather looks set to stay for a while longer.

Safe working conditions are vital in any workplace to maximise productivity and reduce the risk of illness or injury, however many people are unsure of the rules and regulations surrounding maximum and minimum temperature conditions in the workplace.

What is the legal minimum temperature for working indoors?

There are currently no laws that specify the minimum temperature for working indoors. However, the HSE’s Workplace Health, Safety and Welfare Regulations 1992, place a legal obligation on employers to provide a ‘reasonable’ temperature in the workplace. The regulations suggest that the typical workplace, where the activity is mainly sedentary – offices, for example – should be at least 16°.  If the work involves lots of physical activity – manual labour and warehouse work, for example – temperatures should not fall lower than 13°.

What is the minimum working temperature when working outside?

If employees work outdoors, there is no specific minimum temperature guideline. This is because it is not practical to maintain a workplace temperature in excess of 13 degrees when work is being done outside or if it involves working in freezers. However, it is critical that employers take all reasonable steps to reduce the obvious risks to employees which result from working in cold conditions. Employees should be encouraged to mention any existing health conditions that may make them susceptible to extreme temperatures.

What are the obligations as an employer?

Employers have a duty of care, rather than a legal obligation, to maintain safe working environments for their employees. Employers are expected to do whatever is ‘reasonably practicable’ to safeguard their workers’ wellbeing, and they must provide a safe environment where staff are not at risk of falling ill from the cold. The principle applies to all employees, even those working from home.

This requires carrying out regular risk assessments and acting on the results. Employers must also take into consideration those with existing health conditions that could be affected to a greater extent by the cold temperatures, such as those who are medically vulnerable or pregnant. In particular, those employees with heart/circulation and breathing problems such as emphysema may be more sensitive to working in cold temperatures.

The HSE provides some actions that employers can take to protect people working outdoors in extreme cold conditions.

• Ensure the personal protective equipment issued is appropriate
• Provide mobile facilities for warming up, and soup or hot drinks
• Introduce more frequent rest breaks
• Consider delaying the work until warmer times of the year without compromising on safety
• Make sure workers can recognise the early symptoms of cold stress, such as a cough or body aches

Cold Weather Awareness eLearning

Want to know more about protecting your employees during extreme cold weather? We offer a Cold Weather Awareness eLearning course to help managers and employees manage the risks that can be caused by working in cold temperatures.

This course is part of our suite of Health and Safety eLearning solutions which includes courses on personal safety, risk assessments and working safely. You can either choose our eLearning courses as off-the-shelf packages, or we can tailor the content to suit your organisation. And because eLearning can be delivered conveniently at your own offices, using your existing PCs, it’s easy to keep your colleagues updated with the latest health and safety information.

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The latest figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show a 28% increase in worker injuries year on year – and a steep increase in ill health compared to pre-pandemic levels.

The HSE has now released its annual summary statistics for Great Britain, providing new insight into health and safety at work in 2022.

At a headline level, 1.8 million workers suffered from work-related ill health (new or longstanding) in 2021/22, up 5.8% from last year. This reveals a worrying trend around mental health, although new cases are down, from 850,000 to 722,000.

Equally concerning is the fact that 565,000 workers sustained a non-fatal injury in 2021/22 according to self-reports – representing a year-on-year increase of 28%. Injuries reported by employers under RIDDOR have also increased, from 51,211 to 61,713, although this is likely to be as a result of more people returning to work after the pandemic.

While a 28% increase in work-related injuries is alarming at face value, it’s important to note that this is still lower than post-pandemic levels. Indeed, 693,000 workers sustained a non-fatal injury in 2019/20 and 581,000 workers were injured in 2018/19, the last year unimpacted by the pandemic.

Conversely, the number of new ill-health cases has almost doubled compared to pre-pandemic times, from 497,000 to 722,000. Total cases have also risen from 1.4 million to 1.8 million – an increase of 29%.

Additionally, highlighting the devastating consequences of poor health and safety practices, the report confirms that 123 workers were killed at work during this period, validating provisional data from its fatal injuries report released earlier this year.

The causes of ill health

Stress, depression and anxiety remains the leading cause of work-related ill health, accounting for 51% of all ill-health cases.

Echoing previous years, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) were the second most common cause of ill health, making up 27% of all cases. That said, in terms of actual figures, the number of MSD cases has remained broadly flat, increasing marginally from 470,000 to 477,000.

Meanwhile, though the total number of workers suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety has increased from 822,000 to 914,000, there has been an 17.5% drop in new cases, from 451,000 to 372,000.

Nick Wilson, Director of Health & Safety Services at DeltaNet’s sister companyWorkNest, commented: “It’s interesting to see that new cases of work-related stress, depression and anxiety have fallen over the past year. This is somewhat surprising, given the various stressors people are facing at present, though of course not all of these are work-related. Still, this doesn’t change the fact that, overall, cases have increased by 11.2% and we now know that 17.0 million working days were lost as a result – emphasising that this should remain a key area of focus for employers, not only for their staff’s sake but for the sake of business productivity too.”

Sector-wise, human health/social work and public administration/defence were found to have the highest rates of work-related ill health. Notably, while Education remains in third with 160,000 ill-health cases (59% of which related to stress, depression and anxiety), it seems some progress is being made, as its rate of ill health per 100,000 workers is no longer statistically significantly higher than the all-industry average.

Injuries

By accident type, the report reflects previous years. Slips, trips or falls on same level; handling, lifting or carrying; and being struck by a moving object remain the leading cause of non-fatal work-related injuries, followed by acts of violence and falls from height.

By sector, agriculture, forestry and fishing, construction, wholesale/retail trade; repair of motor vehicles; and accommodation/food service activities had statistically significantly higher workplace injury rates compared to the average rate across all industries.

The cost to businesses

This year’s report includes some interesting figures around the cost of work-related injury and ill health to businesses – data that was missing from the previous year’s report due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Crucially, it reveals that a staggering 36.8 million working days were lost due to work-related ill health and non-fatal workplace injury in 2021/22.

In addition, latest available data shows the significant costs incurred by employers, individuals and the government. In total, work-related injuries and new cases of ill health (excluding long latency illness such as cancer) cost an eye-watering £18.8 billion in 2019/20, £3.5 billion of which was borne by employers.

Broken down further, £11.2 billion of the total cost was incurred by new ill-health cases, with £7.6 billion due to workplace injuries.

Nick Wilson said: “The fact that 60% of this total cost comes from ill health is worth noting, as employers often devote their health and safety efforts to accident reduction, when in fact it’s ill health that stands to cost them more.

 “Of course, a big part of this cost comes from absences. The report shows that 1% of injuries and 3.3% of ill-health cases result in time off work. Again, ill health seems to be the bigger problem to tackle; while injuries are now slightly less likely to result in time off than they were in 2013 (back then, 1.4% of cases led to time off work), the number of ill-health cases that require time off has crept up in the past decade (from 1.9%).”

COVID

Turning to the COVID-19 pandemic, the report reveals that in 2021/22, 123,000 workers suffered from a new or longstanding case of COVID-19 which they believe may have been from exposure to coronavirus at work. This represents 32% increase on last year, despite – or perhaps because of – a perception that the pandemic is behind us and the virus having become less of a focus for employers.

Nick Wilson said: “Despite many organisations maintaining some sort of hybrid working model, working practices have largely returned to normal, and many people are now back at work with fewer COVID precautions in place. The HSE’s new stats are a stark reminder that COVID hasn’t gone away, and while figures suggest that the winter wave has already peaked, employers must continue to take reasonably practicable measures to reduce this risk.”

There has, however, been a drop of almost 10% in the number of workers suffering from a work-related illness either caused or made worse by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, from 645,000 to 585,000. Unsurprisingly, around a quarter of those suffering were in human health and social work activities, with higher than average rates also reported in public administration/ defence and education.

More to be done

Nick Wilson concludes: “While the number of injuries to workers is lower than pre-pandemic levels, it’s disappointing that the decrease we saw last year hasn’t been maintained. The fact that this year’s figure has shot back up also suggests that the perceived improvements noted in last year’s report may have simply been down to the pandemic and fewer people working rather than any real improvement in workplace health and safety.”

He adds: “Some might say a rise in injuries was inevitable given the wider return to work, but it’s important that employers don’t become complacent. COVID-19 put health and safety firmly on the agenda, and it must continue to be a priority now that the immediate threat of the pandemic has subsided. To drive down the numbers further, employers should focus on the suitability of their risk assessments, particularly as many won’t have revisited them since reopening.”

“More worryingly, however, is the rise we’re seeing in workplace ill health compared to pre-pandemic levels. Employers must recognise that ill health, including stress and anxiety that may be caused or aggravated by work, is considered alongside all the traditional workplace hazards we are accustomed to tackling.”

The full report is available here.

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Effective health and safety training for employees can go a long way in helping to establish good health and safety practices in your organisation by reminding learners of the need to take responsibility for the safety of themselves and others.

Minimise your chances of being one of these statistics with our Health and Safety eLearning collection, which is packed with engaging courses designed to ensure safety and wellbeing in the modern workplace.

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