Make UK is warning manufacturers that they risk facing substantial fines and even potential shutdowns through a failure to address key workplace health issues.

The warning comes as the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is now focusing far more pro-actively on workplace health as part of routine inspections. This is in response to a new ten year strategy to reduce workplace ill-health which has escalated significantly in recent years.

According to the latest HSE data published last month, 1.9 million workers were suffering work-related ill-health in 2024/25, an increase of 200,000 from the same point last year. Almost all this increase was down to stress, depression & anxiety which increased from 776,000 to 964,000 cases.

The increase in workplace health related issues amounts to over 30 million working days lost, costing the UK approximately £14bn bn a year. Figures also show that in 2024 HSE completed 246 criminal prosecutions with a total fine value of £33 million, of which half was related to workplace health.

The new HSE strategy focuses on six key areas: manual handling; display screen equipment, COSHH, noise, mental health & stress. As a result, all HSE inspections are now focusing as much on health as on safety with inspectors routinely asking businesses what hazards they are addressing, what controls companies have in place and what processes are in place to ensure these controls are working.

According to Make UK, unlike safety where the risks are more obvious and immediate and therefore easier to address, understanding the impacts on health is typically less obvious, harder to assess and, most importantly, can show itself years’ later meaning that employers can be at risk of prosecution in the future.

Make UK is committed to improving health outcomes in UK workplaces & continues to support it’s members by offering expert advice, exemplar templates and even state of the art software solutions aimed at tackling this issue. Help for employers can be accessed via the link below.

healthy workplaces | Make UK

Commenting, Chris Newson, Director of Environment, Health & Safety at Make UK, said:

“This is a welcome move from HSE to place workplace health on the same footing as safety in terms of importance given the alarming increase in workplace health issues. Manufacturers need to be aware of this dramatic new focus on enforcement by HSE and ensure they are addressing health as part of their routine controls for safety in the workplace."

"This will come up more and more when inspections take place and companies need to ensure they have sufficient processes in place to maintain workplace health and controls to ensure these processes are working. Failure to do this will leave them at risk of potential prosecution and, in extreme circumstances, shutdowns until the issue is resolved.”