Health and Safety Weekly Round-Up: RIDDOR Reform, UK REACH SVHCs and Record Enforcement

This week in health and safety

It has been a busy stretch for UK and European regulators. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has a clutch of open consultations running at once, the Building Safety Regulator has become a standalone body, and the latest enforcement and injury figures give specifiers a clear picture of where attention is landing. This round-up sets out the latest updates for installers and specifiers working in commercial perimeter security and active safety, and flags where the practical implications sit.

RIDDOR reform consultation now open

HSE is consulting on proposals to reform the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR). The proposals aim to streamline reporting, expand the scope of reportable occupational diseases, clarify definitions, and broaden diagnostic authority beyond doctors so that other qualified professionals can confirm certain conditions. The intent is to reduce administrative burden while improving the quality of ill-health data.

For duty holders, the direction of travel is towards better data capture rather than lighter obligations. If your sites already log near-misses and incidents through an auditable system, the changes should be manageable. Sites relying on paper or ad hoc records may want to review their processes before any reformed regime takes effect.

First post-Brexit UK REACH SVHC proposals

HSE has launched its first post-Brexit public consultation on Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs) under UK REACH. The substances sit in the Registry of Intentions, with continued attention on alignment between the UK REACH and EU REACH candidate lists. This is a notable step, marking the first new SVHC proposals the UK has put forward since leaving the EU regime.

Separately, HSE is consulting on amendments to the Control of Lead at Work Regulations (CLAW). The proposals would lower blood-lead action levels for workers, with adjusted monitoring requirements. Anyone working with leaded materials, including some legacy construction and demolition contexts, should track this closely.

Building Safety Regulator goes standalone

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is moving to a standalone arm's-length body, separating it from the HSE structure. European developments run in parallel: regulatory commentary points to continued activity on the 2023 Asbestos at Work Directive, with implications for training, control measures and case studies relevant to construction and maintenance work.

Enforcement and injury figures

The HSE Annual Report and Accounts for 2024/25 set out a clear enforcement picture. Specifiers reading the numbers should note both the volume of activity and where it is concentrated, namely construction, manufacturing and waste.

• Construction

  Sector with the highest concentration of enforcement activity

• Manufacturing

  Second focus sector for HSE attention in 2024/25

• Waste

  Third priority sector flagged in the annual report

Recent prosecutions reported through the HSE media centre target falls from height, vehicle-pedestrian collisions and major hazard leaks. The pattern in the latest figures suggests long-term risk reduction has slowed, which is a useful talking point when justifying investment in additional controls.

AI, product recalls and the wider European picture

HSE has set out its regulatory approach to artificial intelligence. It identifies risks such as deskilling and positions computer-vision systems as a tool within existing frameworks rather than a replacement for them. The work points to vision-based hazard monitoring as a credible application when embedded in recognised risk standards.

On the product side, European recall activity reached record highs, according to Sedgwick, driven in part by the EU's General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR). GPSR introduces harmonised recall templates and obligations, with food, beverage and automotive sectors prominent. UK suppliers placing products on the EU market should factor the new templates into their conformity processes.

Where active safety fits

HSE's framing of AI as a complement to traditional controls maps directly onto how active safety platforms should be specified. The ISO 12100 risk hierarchy and the principle of reducing risk to a level as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) remain the reference points. Vision AI belongs above training, procedures and physical guards as an additional layer, not in place of them.

Dynamic Safety's SAiFI platform is built around this positioning. SAiFI Edge delivers real-time vision AI on an offline-first architecture, with per-camera configuration of models, zones, rules and schedules so behaviour reflects how a site actually runs rather than a generic model. The platform documentation benchmarks against the EU AI Act high-risk requirements, ISO governance and risk standards, and UK GDPR, using anonymised, non-face-recognition vision to keep the distinction between safety and surveillance clear.

• •Modular design scales from one or two cameras to multi-zone systems with shared audit trails, supporting incremental installation without hardware replacement.
• •Configuration-driven rules reduce false positives and warning fatigue compared with fixed, generic systems.
• •Offline-first edge compute avoids cloud dependency outages and keeps data flows local.
• •Recent UK automotive deployments use overhead detection and projected stop signs to cut vehicle-pedestrian interactions in line with ALARP.

On the horizon

With several consultations closing over the coming weeks, this is a good window to submit responses and review site processes against the proposed changes. Tracking the RIDDOR, UK REACH and lead regulation consultations now will leave duty holders better placed once any reformed requirements take effect.