Examining Health and Safety Statistics: Are We Doing Enough?
Separate findings from the British Safety Council, the Health and Safety Executive, the Institute for Employment Rights, and University think-groups paint a decaying picture of health and safety management in 2025. British Safety Council chief executive Mike Robinson starkly proclaims: “With fewer staff, stretched resources and a growing workload, we risk rowing back on the good work that’s been done since 1974”.
This comes less than a year after the Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974 celebrated its 50-year anniversary. Has the UK fallen into health and safety complacency? Is there an assumption that an act coming into effect so long ago renders it common sense and therefore assumed knowledge? Or have the cries of ‘health and safety gone mad’ embedded into the British psyche at such a deeply subconscious level that standards are slipping, and we have all neglected to notice? “Some individuals also assume that accidents are rare or unlikely to happen to them, fostering an attitude of disregard,” says Phil Jones, Chief Operating Officer at Vantify.
The growing crisis: statistics that demand attention
These questions are being asked more and more in the current climate. That is, a climate in which 604,000 working people sustained an injury at work according to the Labour Force Survey in 2024, and an estimated 33.7 million working days are lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury. This isn’t just a few disconnected opinions from people of prestige – this is a full-blown health and safety crisis blooming in the UK.
Why we can’t afford to ignore Health and Safety
As health and safety compliance experts, we developed an ecosystem of compliance products to help businesses mitigate risks more than they have ever been armoured to before. The use of disparate processes and administrative efforts is still a normalised part of health and safety management. When you acknowledge the decline in imposing health and safety guidance at an operational level and go further towards accepting the illnesses and deaths this is resulting in, you only begin to solve the problem. An ecosystem of risk reduction products is the solution to stopping complacency in its tracks.
Addressing the root causes of Health and Safety failures
Phil Jones, Chief Operating Officer at Vantify, voices his concern at the reversal of robust health and safety practices. When London’s fire commissioner Andy Roe told members of the London Assembly’s Fire Committee in January that a lack of skills and resources meant guidance was not always being complied with regarding the building of high rise buildings, Phil voiced his concern, “It illustrates the continued need to remain vigilant around cost-cutting; managing complex supply chains; navigating design and aesthetic priorities; and challenging a lack of awareness or training of contractors.”
The disconnected news articles like this we read of in national online magazines and print journals illustrate the bigger picture found in research – that we are not doing enough to protect people at an operational level. When we have the benefit of advanced technology and modernised approaches to health and safety, this points to ineffective risk management. Ignorance is not an excuse when lives are on the line and compliance is mandatory, so taking action is the necessary next step. Phil Jones continues, “Encouraging workplace cultures where safety is integrated into daily routines, rather than being treated as an inconvenience, will lead to more positive and proactive outcomes.”
How the Health and Safety Act shaped workplace safety
It was Einstein who said madness is doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result. For too long, health and safety has been viewed as a dreary topic to outsource or file away – literally, until an audit arrives. Facilities managers have a big responsibility and the key to taking action lies in trying a new approach – embracing integration. Put simply, an ecosystem of products that work together to optimise health and safety compliance has multiple benefits.
Building a unified ecosystem for Health and Safety compliance
An ecosystem of unified products is the key to mitigating risk as much as possible. When you have full visibility, you can ensure you cover every aspect of compliance, from risk assessments to supply chain management. Disparate systems naturally leave gaps. When figures are being recorded to show accidents at work are rising year on year, it could be argued that refusing to integrate compliance processes is accepting culpable negligence, with your company reputation at stake. If you do not have visibility over your supply chain, with compliance documentation ready to view at a moment’s notice, can you trust with 100% certainty a supplier is upholding their statutory compliance obligations?
In 2025, in the midst of a health and safety crisis, when the British Safety Council has called it a ‘cause for concern’, your company needs to act quickly to avoid disaster – and action needs to be taken now. That is why our team of highly experienced product and consultancy experts have created a unified ecosystem that have been designed to integrate with each other, helping you to maintain compliance and optimise your processes so you can manage risk, have reports ready for audit inspections, generate actions for contractors to pick up, benefit from a live dashboard to oversee operations, and ultimately keep you running at peak efficiency. Abolishing archaic admin processes not only saves you time, but it also helps you to achieve health and safety compliance in the long-term. To pick and choose between processes only leaves your business open to being another statistic in a health and safety crisis article.
How innovation can combat risk management failures
At Vantify, health and safety compliance is a matter of care as well as expertise, hence our product team designing products that integrate with each other to maximise effectiveness. We acknowledge there are no coincidences regarding the ‘health and safety gone mad’ narrative and there being records of, for example, a £21.6 billion estimated cost of injuries and ill health from current working conditions in 2022/23. And when we have technological solutions available and proof of our product integrations supporting clients to reduce risk and to achieve greater levels of compliance more efficiently, there is no excuse for health and safety failures.
When everything works together, you can spend more time on other equally important things that matter to your business.
Contact us to discuss your health and safety needs. Schedule a consultation, customise your ideal solution, and onboard your team with confidence – all with Vantify by your side.