RS has released its 2025 Health & Safety report ‘Improving the Standard’.
The report is based on findings from a survey that aimed to gain a snapshot of the Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) profession and explore its challenges and priorities.
The survey was completed by 545 respondents working in health and safety (H&S) roles in the UK and Ireland. They came from a variety of sectors including manufacturing – covering markets from food and beverage, automotive and pharmaceuticals through to industrial machinery, plastics and chemicals – energy and utilities, public services, logistics and retail, among others. It is the third annual survey of its kind conducted by RS.
2025’s survey findings cover three key areas for H&S professionals: the management of EHS, business strategy and compliance, and factors affecting the future of health and safety in the next 12 months.
Report highlights include:
- Confidence in the ability of EHS teams to keep staff safe and do their jobs effectively is waning, with metrics falling to their lowest in three years. However, this growing unease is not yet impacting confidence in the ability to protect end-users, which has remained stable at 88 per cent (down from 89%), showing EHS professionals are doing all they can to ensure people are safe at work
- There is also a reduction in confidence in organisations’ business capabilities, with 75 per cent of health and safety professionals citing they are confident or very confident they can protect employees from physical harm, and select the correct personal protective equipment (PPE) for them. These are lower than last year’s figures of 81 per cent and 80 per cent respectively
- Despite mental health being a growing area of concern for many organisations, this year’s figures indicate companies aren’t giving it the attention it warrants. Confidence in provision in this area has fallen from 55 per cent last year to 53 per cent this year. Additionally, 73 per cent have a strategy for mental health support, which is down slightly from 75 per cent a year ago
- Almost half of PPE end-users (48%) view their organisation as high maturity. This reflects a higher level of confidence than EHS professionals themselves have: 51 per cent ranked their maturity as medium (down on last year’s 54%) and the number of them citing low maturity has increased from seven per cent to 11 per cent
- The company strategy priorities remain the same as a year ago, with accident prevention topping the list at 37 per cent. This is followed by systems (22%, up from 17% a year ago) and cultural change at 13 per cent, down from 16 per cent
- It’s widely recognised that KPIs play an important role in compliance measurement, but the report highlighted a downwards trend. More than seven in 10 record their all-accident rate – down slightly from 73 per cent last year – and 61 per cent measure near-miss rate, down more significantly from 67 per cent
- Training and development are still seen as the most impactful on compliance by 69 per cent of those surveyed, followed by workplace culture at 65 per cent
- The next biggest risk to an organisation’s compliance was cited as limitations in skills or expertise within the EHS function: more than half (53%) mentioned this and it has increased year on year since the 2023 RS health and safety report
- When asked about what factors could help improve the company’s H&S compliance in the coming 12 months, 28 per cent cited staff retention, up from 25 per cent in 2024 and 15 per cent in 2023
- Sustainability remains a high priority area for many businesses, but the survey highlighted a drop in willingness to pay more for a sustainable product, from 78 per cent last year to 60 per cent of health and safety professional this year
- Despite a growing awareness of women’s PPE options (and two thirds of respondents claiming up to 40 per cent of PPE wearers in their organisation are women) only one per cent cited women-specific PPE as an important factor when sourcing
- A large majority (85%) believe more needs to be done to ensure PPE is suitable for women in terms of better fit, size and suitability. Encouragingly, more than half (54%) say they have seen an improvement in product range and 49 per cent in product suitability for women, in the last year
- Sub-standard or counterfeit products are still a worry: 34 per cent of respondents are concerned about this, a slight fall from 37 per cent a year ago
In addition to the 545 survey respondents, RS also conducted separate research among 196 customers who are all users of PPE. This highlighted that when it comes to PPE suitability, 11 per cent of respondents said ill-fitting PPE had made them feel unsafe or unprotected in the workplace. And a significant 30 per cent said it had made them uncomfortable, with 13 per cent saying they’ve had to modify it to fit.
Raj Patel, managing director of RS in the UK and Ireland, said: “We’re delighted to have secured a good representative sample and a broad mix of organisation size, to create this comprehensive snapshot of the state of health and safety across a wide range of industries.
“Like many other functions trying to operate in an uncertain market, environmental, health and safety (EHS) professionals are facing an increasing number of challenges to their day-to-day practice. Some key areas like mental wellbeing still have significant room for improvement, with the figures showing a notable difference in capabilities when it comes to physical and mental health.”
Sustainability remains a high agenda issue for many organisations. Yet although EHS teams will be expected to do their bit as part of wider company initiatives, budget pressures are having an impact on purchasing decisions. However, more sustainable PPE often isn’t more expensive, particularly when the lifetime costs are considered.
Greg Sharp, head of product & supplier management for the UK&I at RS, said: “If it’s a product with more expensive materials that is going to last three or four times longer, then the increased cost could very quickly be recouped.”
The survey respondents comprised more than a quarter (26%) women, and 70 per cent were aged over 47 or over, making for an older demographic than in previous years. A third (35%) describe themselves as “experienced professionals” and 30 per cent as “senior-level management”. There was a broad mix of organisation size, with 23 per cent working for small businesses (1-49 employees); 28 per cent for medium-sized firms (50-249 employees) and 48 per cent for larger businesses.
The RS ‘Improving the Standard’ report can be downloaded in full by visiting https://uk.rs-online.com/web/content/m/hs-industry-report
