Health and Safety in 2026

Happy New Year from all of us at Hurst Setter and Associates. We hope you enjoyed a well‑deserved break and are returning refreshed and ready for a productive year ahead.

As construction activities resume following the Christmas and New Year period, it is essential that all personnel return to site both physically prepared and mentally focused on maintaining high standards of safety and performance.

Following any period of downtime, a degree of complacency or reduced situational awareness can occur. In the early weeks of January, health and safety leadership on site should therefore emphasise a structured restart, ensuring that all operatives and supervisors are fully briefed and that safe working practices are firmly re‑established.

Key areas of focus should include:

Site re‑inspection: Confirm that all access routes, scaffolding, excavation areas, and welfare facilities are in good condition and free from weather‑related damage.

Plant any equipment checks: Verify that pre‑use inspections are completed, batteries and safety systems are functioning correctly, and maintenance records are up to date.

Documentation review: Ensure that RAMS, permits, and site‑specific risk assessments reflect current conditions, particularly those arising from adverse weather or revised work sequencing.

Briefings and communication: Conduct return‑to‑work inductions or toolbox talks to refresh awareness of site rules, emergency procedures, and operational priorities.

This period also presents an opportunity to reinforce wider wellbeing messages. Cold weather, post‑holiday fatigue, and the adjustment back to early starts can all affect concentration levels. Encouraging open communication and providing appropriate welfare support helps maintain both safety and productivity.

A consistent and proactive approach to the New Year restart will help reduce risk, prevent incidents, and set a positive standard for the months ahead. By embedding diligence from the outset, teams can ensure that 2026 begins as it should – safely, efficiently, and with a renewed commitment to best practice.

HSE Construction Safety Update – January 2026

Enforcement and Inspection Focus

Recent prosecutions show HSE maintaining a strong focus on basic site standards, planning and supervision. A construction firm, Matrod Frampton Limited, was fined £100,000 plus costs after a newly built blockwork wall collapsed into an excavation in Poole, leaving a 69‑year‑old steel‑fixer with life‑changing injuries; there was no temporary works design, no appointed temporary works coordinator and no suitable access or rescue arrangements for the deep excavation.

In a separate case, Stockport Development Limited was fined £45,000 plus surcharge and costs after repeated failures on multiple sites, including missing edge protection, damaged fencing, obstructed walkways, inadequate welfare and no effective fire precautions, despite four previous HSE enforcement actions between 2021 and 2023.​

Falls from height continue to feature heavily in recent sentencing, with companies and individual directors receiving substantial fines and suspended prison sentences where work at height was poorly planned or left unprotected. These cases underline HSE’s expectation that principal contractors must plan, manage and monitor work so that foreseeable risks – including temporary works stability and fall prevention – are fully controlled at all times.

Building Safety and Regulatory Change

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is preparing to operate as an independent body from January 2026, moving out of HSE to sit directly under the housing department, as part of wider reforms following the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. The new structure is intended to sharpen focus on high‑risk residential buildings, speed up gateway approvals and strengthen oversight of fire and structural safety across buildings above 11 metres in height.​

Developers and duty holders should anticipate tighter expectations around competence, safety case documentation and the quality of building safety information passed to residents and managing agents. Alongside this, further reforms to construction product regulation and building control are being progressed, with the government signalling that enforcement will increase where life‑safety defects and non‑compliance are identified.

Health Risks and Long‑Term Harm

Although immediate injury risks dominate the headlines, HSE continues to emphasise long‑term health risks in construction, including respiratory disease, noise‑induced hearing loss and musculoskeletal disorders. Recent inspection initiatives linked to the “Dust Kills” campaign have highlighted inconsistent use of local exhaust ventilation, poor selection and face‑fit of RPE, and weak health surveillance arrangements on some sites.​

Statistics released in 2025 show that construction remains one of the highest‑risk sectors for work‑related fatalities and serious ill‑health, with falls from height and struck‑by incidents leading causes of death, and dust exposure a major contributor to chronic lung disease. HSE guidance continues to stress the need for proportionate but robust controls across the full hierarchy, from design and planning through to on‑site supervision and worker engagement.

 

Priority Actions for January

• Review temporary works arrangements on all live projects, confirming that designs, checks, and roles (TWC/TWS) are clearly defined and documented for retaining walls, propping, scaffolds, formwork and other critical elements.​
• Re‑check work at height planning after the holiday break, including edge protection, access systems, fragile surface controls and supervision, with particular focus on small refurb and domestic projects.​
• Ensure higher‑risk residential schemes are prepared for the evolving building safety regime, with up‑to‑date fire and structural safety information, competence records and gateway documentation.​
• Audit health risk controls for dust, noise and manual handling, confirming that LEV, RPE, health surveillance and training meet current expectations and are fully in place as work ramps up in the New Year.​

Hurst Setter & Associates can assist with audits, temporary works governance, work at height reviews and training to help ensure your projects are aligned with HSE’s current priorities going into 2026.

 

Work at Height and Temporary Works

Getting the Fundamentals Right in 2026

Work at height and temporary works remain two of the most critical – and frequently misunderstood – risk areas on construction sites. HSE guidance is clear: falls from height are still a leading cause of fatalities, and poorly planned temporary works continue to feature in serious incidents and prosecutions. A safe and disciplined start to 2026 is an ideal opportunity for clients, principal contractors and site teams to reset expectations and get the basics right.

Temporary Works – Lessons from Recent Cases

Temporary works are the structures and systems that make the main build possible – for example, excavations, propping, falsework, scaffolds, hoardings and temporary retaining walls. HSE emphasises that these must be designed, planned and managed with the same rigour as permanent works, with clear procedures in place under CDM and BS 5975. Core expectations include a formal temporary works procedure, a design brief, a temporary works register, competent designers and independent design checks where appropriate.

 

A recent prosecution highlights the consequences of getting this wrong. At a site in Poole, a newly built blockwork wall collapsed into a deep excavation, leaving a steel‑fixer with life‑changing injuries; there was no temporary works design, no appointed Temporary Works Coordinator (TWC) and no safe access or rescue plan. HSE made clear that the absence of a temporary works protocol in a well‑established company was a serious management failure and imposed a £100,000 fine plus costs.

Practical priorities for January include:

• Confirming that a competent Temporary Works Coordinator is formally appointed with authority to stop work if arrangements are inadequate.
• Ensuring all temporary works (including “minor” items such as small retaining walls, edge protection or propping) are captured on a temporary works register with clear status and checks.
• ​Re‑checking that any walls, excavations, scaffolds or supports installed before the break are stable, inspected and certified before re‑loading or re‑using them.

Work at Height – Applying the Hierarchy

HSE’s Work at Height guidance and the Work at Height Regulations 2005 require duty holders to apply a clear hierarchy: avoid, prevent, then mitigate falls. This means:​

• Avoiding work at height wherever possible, for example by designing in solutions that allow work from ground level or using extending tools.​
• Preventing falls where height cannot be avoided, using safe working platforms, edge protection, scaffolds, MEWPs and guardrails.​
• Mitigating the distance and consequences of any fall that remains, such as nets, airbags or correctly used harness systems with suitable anchorage and rescue plans.

Key Actions for Site Teams in January

HSE stresses that all work at height must be properly planned and organised, with competent persons, suitable equipment, and regular inspection and maintenance of ladders, scaffolds and personal fall protection. Many recent prosecutions involve basic failings: missing guardrails, unprotected skylight openings, work on fragile roofs without nets or staging, and reliance on unsecured ladders where better access was reasonably practicable.

Integrating Temporary Works and Work at Height

In practice, temporary works and work at height are often closely linked – for example, scaffolds, edge protection, formwork and temporary platforms all require both structural integrity and fall prevention. HSE expects principal contractors to plan, manage and monitor these activities as part of an integrated temporary works and work at height strategy, not as separate issues. This includes:

• Designing temporary works to incorporate safe access, working platforms and edge protection from the outset, rather than bolting on fall protection later.​
• Ensuring that changes on site (phasing, loadings, weather effects, sub‑contractor alterations) are fed back into the temporary works design and re‑checked where necessary.​
• Aligning inspection regimes so that structural checks (e.g. for scaffolds, retaining walls or formwork) are combined with work at height inspections for guardrails, boards, ladders and harness systems.

 

To align with HSE expectations at the start of 2026, construction businesses should:

• Review temporary works procedures – confirm that a TWC is appointed, a current register is in place, and design briefs and checks are documented for all relevant items.​
• Re‑assess higher‑risk areas – excavations, retaining walls, façade retention, scaffolds and propping installed before the holidays should be inspected and, where needed, re‑certified before use.​
• Apply the work at height hierarchy – challenge work methods that rely on ladders or improvised platforms where safer equipment or design solutions are reasonably practicable.​
• Reinforce competence and supervision – verify that those planning and supervising work at height and temporary works are competent, briefed on current procedures and supported with adequate resources.​
• Refresh toolbox talks – deliver short, focused briefings on temporary works basics, correct use of access equipment, fragile surfaces and rescue planning.

By treating temporary works and work at height as core elements of project planning – rather than add‑ons – construction businesses can significantly reduce the risk of serious injury and enforcement action in 2026. HSE’s recent cases underline that robust design, competent coordination and disciplined site control are non‑negotiable.