HSE Business Plan 2026/27: Will Your Business Be Ready for an Inspection?

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published its Business Plan for 2026/27 and one message comes through very clearly: inspectors will continue to focus on traditional safety risks, but occupational health is now firmly centre stage. 

This year HSE plans to carry out 14,000 proactive inspections, targeting sectors and activities where intelligence suggests workers may be exposed to harm. 

For many businesses the question is simple: 

If an inspector arrived tomorrow, would you be confident that your arrangements would stand up to scrutiny? 

Health Inspections Are Increasing

While falls from height, workplace transport, machinery safety and people/plant interface remain key priorities, HSE’s latest plan places a significant emphasis on preventing work-related ill health. 

Planned interventions include: 

• Approximately 5,000 inspections of construction sites focusing on health and safety risks. 

• Around 3,320 inspections relating to noise exposure. 

• Around 1,600 inspections linked to respiratory risks. 

• Additional interventions covering musculoskeletal disorders, isocyanates, radiation and dusty work processes. 

The clear message is that preventing long-term illness is now receiving the same level of regulatory attention as preventing accidents.

Stress Management Is Moving Up The Agenda

One of HSE’s central strategic objectives is to reduce work-related ill health, with a specific focus on mental health and stress. HSE is developing its regulatory approach to work-related stress and intends to continue promoting its Working Minds campaign and Stress Management Standards. 

Many organisations are now familiar with the HSE Stress Indicator Tool, and it remains a useful starting point. 

However, businesses should remember that completing a survey is only part of the process. 

Inspectors are increasingly likely to ask: 

• Have psychosocial hazards been assessed? 

• Were issues identified? 

• What actions were taken? 

• How were employees consulted? 

• How has effectiveness been reviewed? 

In other words, collecting data is important, but the real focus will be on what the organisation did with the results.

Asbestos Remains A Major Priority

HSE continues to describe the management of asbestos as critical and is developing further interventions alongside proposed reforms to the Control of Asbestos Regulations. The regulator also plans to continue targeted inspections and compliance activity. 

If you occupy, manage or maintain premises constructed before 2000, now is a good time to ask: 

Do we know what asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) are present? 

More importantly: 

Can we demonstrate that those materials are being managed effectively? 

An asbestos survey sitting in a drawer is unlikely to satisfy an inspector. Dutyholders should be able to demonstrate that they understand the information, communicate it to anyone liable to disturb ACMs and have a clear management plan in place.

Silica Dust Is Under The Spotlight 

HSE is also continuing work to address silicosis and other respiratory diseases associated with exposure to respirable crystalline silica, particularly where workers are involved in processing engineered stone, concrete, cement and similar products. 

The days when “damping down and wearing a dust mask” were considered enough have long passed. 

Where silica dust is generated, HSE increasingly expects to see: 

• Elimination or substitution considered where possible. 

• Effective engineering controls. 

• Suitable and sufficient extraction or water suppression systems. 

• Face-fit tested respiratory protective equipment. 

• Proper supervision of RPE use. 

• Exposure monitoring where appropriate. 

• Health surveillance programmes where legally required. 

Employers should be prepared to demonstrate not only that controls exist, but that they are being used correctly and remain effective.

Are You Likely To Be Inspected? 

HSE’s plan confirms that inspections will continue to be targeted towards sectors with significant risk, poor historic performance, intelligence-led concerns and evidence of potential non-compliance. 

Businesses involved in construction, manufacturing, engineering, maintenance, refurbishment, demolition, asbestos work and activities involving dust-generating processes should assume they remain firmly within HSE’s field of vision.

Good Health And Safety Is Still Good Business 

The HSE Business Plan does not signal a move away from traditional safety concerns. Falls from height, workplace transport, machinery safety and high-risk construction activities remain priorities. 

What it does signal is a continuing shift toward preventing ill health, particularly where workers may be exposed to stress, asbestos, silica and other respiratory hazards. 

The most successful organisations will be those that can demonstrate not only that they manage immediate safety risks, but also that they are actively protecting the long-term health and wellbeing of their workforce. 

With 14,000 inspections planned this year, the question is not whether HSE will be active. The question is whether your organisation would be ready if inspectors chose to visit tomorrow.