APS board member, Peter Taylor, reflects on possible tensions between more regulation and tightened budgets.
The health and safety profession has seen its profile and status raised in the past 10 years through a series of events that have helped reframe our clipboard-wielding stereotype.
CDM 2015 forced the CDM coordinator ethos into the design team. The Grenfell Tower tragedy brought both public and political scrutiny on the industry’s safety standards.
Covid struck the world and strict controls onsite showed standards of site welfare can be vastly improved when properly motivated. 2022 heralded the Building Safety Act and the amended building regulations in 2023.
2024 gave us the new BS 8670 standards to help show what is competence under the building regulations.
This year we should see the result of the 2025 statutory five-year review of the CDM Regulations, with the latest report still awaited, but rumoured to not include more than an update to guidance.
Now 2026 brings us the consultation on the proposed single regulator; statutory regulation for fire engineers, supported by an independent body responsible for regulation, registration and standards; mandatory accreditation to certify the competence of fire risk assessors; and a licensing system for principal contractors on higher-risk buildings. And there is talk of regulations of other professions in the industry at a later point.
With all the focus on more regulation, standards and competence, it might be easy is to think the safety profession is secure in its position. But don’t be fooled.
The economy has been consistently flat, and construction has stalled with a lack of housebuilding, with the BSR and new regulations being blamed by many for the delays.
This economic climate sees the return of old adversities to health and safety. Political pressure to cut red tape and tighten budgets (not just the government’s) mean savings are needed. It’s likely that safety will be driven by the cost of minimum requirements as opposed to aiming for exemplar practice.
It is 2026 onwards where those soft skills in communication, teamwork, adaptability and problem-solving will be needed and not just reliance on quoting regulations. However, I remain optimistic as we have been here before.
