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The national regulator for health and safety in Great Britain celebrated its 50th Anniversary on 1 January 2025.
Created by the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) was officially launched on 1 January 1975, and for the last 50 years has played a central role in reducing workplace death and injury, helping Great Britain become one of the safest places in the world to work. In 1974, 651 employees were killed at work; HSE’s latest annual statistics for 2023/24 show that number had reduced to 138.
Sarah Albon, Chief Executive of HSE, has said that despite the transformation of Britain’s workplaces over the past half century, the mission of the regulator remains as relevant as ever.
She stated: “Over the past half century, the Health and Safety Executive has led the way in establishing Great Britain as a safe place to work. As we look ahead to the next 50 years, we recognise there is still much for HSE to take on.
“We’re proud of our successes over the last five decades, but the fact remains that any work-related death is a tragedy, and there are still far too many workers suffering ill-health brought about by work activity.
“In 2022, we launched our 10-year strategy, Protecting People and Places, to build on HSE’s strong foundations and address our current and future challenges.
“So today, HSE’s role goes beyond worker protection to include public safety assurance on a range of issues. Recent years have added new responsibilities, such as becoming the appointed Building Safety Regulator and playing an extended role in chemical regulation, post Brexit.
“It is hard to foresee what the world of work will look like in the next 50 years but as ever, our fundamental principle will continue to be to make sure that those who create risk, take responsibility for controlling risk, and those who fail to do so will be held to account.
“We will continue to work with businesses, with industry, with other regulators and with government, to enable strong economic growth, while we continue to deliver our founding principles as we work to protect people and places.”
Mike Robinson, Chief Executive at British Safety Council, praised the important role that HSE has played in helping reduce the number of work-related deaths and injuries since its creation.
Robinson said: “As Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety, HSE has played a key role in helping to bring down numbers of people killed or injured at work in the UK over the past half century, and should be recognised for its hard work in upholding the principles of the ground-breaking Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.”
He added: “However, while we celebrate this impressive achievement, we must acknowledge that there is still much work to do. In 2023/24, 138 people were still killed in the workplace, a rise on the previous year, and injuries were also up. Reversing this will require HSE to be given the resources it needs to ensure that there is no rowing back on the progress that has been made since the 1970s, and that the health, safety and wellbeing of workers continues to improve over the next 50 years.”
