As we step into 2025, health and safety remain at the forefront of workplace and public health concerns, with evolving risks, new technologies and updated regulations constantly keeping businesses and industry professionals on their toes.
In this blog, we take a look at some of the most significant health and safety regulations across different official Health and Safety bodies, from 2024 through into 2025. Continue reading to find out key statistics.
Key Health and Safety Statistics for 2024
Some of the key statistics from the HSE annual statistics report include:
- 1.7 million working people suffer from a work-related illness, including 776,000 suffering work related stress, depression or anxiety. 543,000 workers also suffered from work related musculoskeletal disorder. This could be a sign workers are often overworked, negatively impacting their wellbeing.
- 138 workers killed in work-related accidents. This could be down to errors such as lack of appropriate PPE, and other protective measures issues.
- £21.6 billion estimated cost of injuries and ill health from current working conditions, again suggesting inadequate PPE was in place as well as a poor level of risk assessment.
Key Health and Safety Themes for 2025
Despite the year only just beginning, there are a number of new regulations that have been bought in and will impact certain workforces:
New simplified advice for installers of stone worktops
As mentioned by the Heath and Safety Executive, Britain’s workplace safety regulator has published a helpful guide of do’s and don’ts for people installing stone worktops. The guidance helps to ensure that suitable precautions are in place to help protect against exposure to stone dust and breathing in respirable crystalline silica. Simplified advice should help more people understand the risks and implement mitigations.
With an estimated 500 construction workers dying each year from silicosis (Safety First Group), its vital awareness is increased to ensure the risk of damaging lungs is reduced.
Work-related ill health
Ill health related to work is another theme that dominates the health and safety landscape every year and is likely to be a key talking point in 2025. Statistics from the Health and Safety Executive showed that 1.7 million workers suffered from work-related ill health in 2024, leading to sick leave and reduced office productivity. While the number of 1.7 million is a slight decrease from 2022/23, continued efforts will be needed to ensure this number continues to decline.
Technology Developments
Another area includes the development of technology, which can include the likes of wearable devices, artificial intelligence (AI) and drones. Wearable PPE devices can include the likes of helmets, safety vests, gloves and goggles with enhanced sensors and communication capabilities.
It’s believed that only 60% of workers use PPE according to PubMed Central, and there is no doubt that technological advancements will help to encourage those who do not use PPE to start wearing it.
Overall, we hope this article has been insightful and informative showcasing some of the most significant Health and Safety stories going into 2025. Keep an eye out on our blog to find out more about new and exciting health and safety topics as the year progresses!