HSE Strategy 2022-2032: What the Ten Year Plan Means for the UK Construction Industry 2026 Onwards

In 2022, the Health and Safety Executive published its ten year strategy, Protecting People and Places: HSE strategy 2022 to 2032.

This document sets the regulatory direction of travel for the next decade, and it is already shaping how the HSE allocates its resources, conducts inspections, and engages with industry.

If you have been following regulatory updates, you might have read the strategy and wondered whether it imposes new legal duties on your construction firm overnight.

Let’s be clear on this. The strategy is not new legislation

The strategy is not new legislation. It is a roadmap for the HSE’s own activities, priorities, and culture. It tells you what the regulator will be looking at, where it will focus its efforts, and how it expects businesses to behave.

For the UK construction industry, the signals are clear and significant. The HSE is expanding its role, sharpening its focus on mental health and net zero. Companies that understand these priorities and act on them will be better positioned for inspections, tenders, and long-term business resilience.

In this blog, I want to look at the key elements of the HSE Strategy 2022-2032 and what they mean specifically for the UK construction sector.

What Is the HSE Strategy 2022-2032?

The strategy sets out the HSE’s mission, vision, and strategic objectives for the ten-year period from 2022 to 2032. It reflects an organisation whose role is expanding beyond traditional worker protection to include public safety assurance, chemical regulation post Brexit, and supporting the transition to net zero.

The five strategic objectives are:

1. Reduce work-related ill health

With a specific focus on mental health and stress.

2. Increase and maintain trust

To ensure people feel safe where they live, work, and in their environment.

3. Enable industry to innovate safely

By supporting the move towards net zero.

4. Maintain Great Britain’s record

As one of the safest countries to work in the world

Underpinning these objectives are six core characteristics that define how the HSE intends to operate: relevant, fair and just, people focused, collaborative, financially viable, and accessible.

The fundamental principle running throughout the strategy is that those who create risk must take responsibility for controlling it. Those who fail to do so will be held to account and bear the cost.

What This Means for the UK Construction Industry

For construction firms, several elements of the strategy have direct and practical implications.

1. Mental Health Becomes a Regulatory Priority

The strategy is explicit: work-related ill health is increasing, and the most commonly reported causes are stress, depression, or anxiety. The HSE has committed to using its collective resource to focus on this problem, delivering interventions that make a real difference.

For construction firms, this is a significant signal. The industry has historically struggled with mental health, with high rates of suicide and stress related absence. The HSE expects businesses to treat psychological risks with the same seriousness as physical safety risks.

What this means in practice:

• You need to assess and control psychosocial risks just as you would physical ones

• Stress, workload pressure, and job insecurity must be considered in your risk assessments

• You should have clear support pathways for workers experiencing mental health issues

• A culture that encourages open discussion about mental health is no longer optional – it is a regulatory expectation

Firms that have already started to address mental health proactively will be ahead of the curve. Those that have not will need to act.

2. Net Zero Brings New Risks and New Opportunities

The strategy recognises that transitioning to a carbon-neutral economy will introduce innovative technologies and processes that present new risks. The HSE has committed to making sure that health and safety legislation does not prevent innovation and progress, while also helping businesses understand both known and unknown risks.

For construction, this has several dimensions:

• Greener building technologies

New insulation materials, low-carbon concrete, and alternative building methods

• Battery storage systems

Large-scale batteries on sites and within completed buildings

• Hydrogen

The HSE has identified the safety implications of using hydrogen for decarbonisation as an early priority

• New construction methods

Off-site manufacturing and modular building, which change the nature of site-based risks

The HSE will apply its expert knowledge to help businesses manage these risks. Construction firms must ensure that their risk assessment processes are flexible enough to capture unfamiliar hazards. If you are adopting new materials or methods, you need to consider the health and safety implications early and ideally at the design stage.

3. Those Who Create Risk Must Manage It

The strategy reiterates the fundamental principle of health and safety law: those who create risks are best placed to manage them.

The HSE expects that most businesses have the necessary skills, knowledge, and experience to manage safety risk for themselves. The maturity of business and their increased understanding of safety risks means that the HSE can look to regulate in different ways.

For construction firms, this means you cannot simply rely on the HSE to tell you what to do. You are expected to take ownership of risk management across your projects, your supply chain, and your workforce. This applies to safety, health, and increasingly environmental considerations.

The days of waiting for a regulator to point out a problem are over. The HSE expects you to know your risks and manage them effectively.

5. The HSE Will Target Poor Performers

The strategy commits the HSE to challenging businesses with the poorest health and safety records and using its full range of enforcement approaches against those who do not comply with the law or who put people at risk by cutting corners for profit.

This means that if your construction firm has a poor safety record, you are more likely to face inspection, enforcement action, and prosecution.

The HSE will use data and intelligence to direct its resources towards the highest-risk activities and the poorest performers.

Conversely,

Companies that can demonstrate robust risk management, a strong safety culture, and proactive engagement with health issues are less likely to attract regulatory attention and if they are inspected, they are more likely to be found compliant.

6. Collaboration and Partnership Are Expected

The HSE recognises how important it is to work with others to achieve shared objectives. It intends to identify the things it is best doing on its own, doing in collaboration with others, and letting others do alone with its support.

For construction firms, this means the HSE expects you to work with your supply chain, your clients, and your workforce to manage risk collectively. It also means that industry bodies, trade associations, and professional institutions have a role to play in raising standards.

Firms that engage with their supply chain to ensure subcontractors are competent and managing their own risks will be viewed favourably.

Those that turn a blind eye to poor practice in their supply chain may find themselves on the receiving end of enforcement action.

Practical Steps to Prepare Your Construction Firm

The HSE Strategy 2022-2032 is a roadmap for the next decade. Here are some practical steps you can take now to align your construction firm with the regulatory direction of travel:

1. Review Your Approach to Mental Health

Ensure that your risk assessments cover psychosocial risks, stress, and mental health. Consider whether you have appropriate controls in place, whether your workers are aware of the support available, and whether your leadership is visibly committed to mental health. This is not just about having a policy – it is about demonstrating action.

2. Identify Emerging Risks from Net Zero

Review your risk assessments to ensure they capture emerging risks from new technologies, new materials, and new working methods. If you are using hydrogen, battery storage, or new low-carbon materials, make sure you have assessed the health and safety implications properly.

5. Strengthen Your Supply Chain Oversight

The HSE expects you to ensure that your supply chain is managing its own risks. Review how you select, monitor, and manage subcontractors. Are they competent? Do they have good safety records? Do they manage mental health and emerging risks effectively?

5. Prepare for a More Collaborative Regulatory Relationship

The HSE strategy emphasises collaboration and working in partnership. Engage proactively with the HSE and the Building Safety Regulator. Seek guidance where you need it. Demonstrate that you are a responsible operator, not one that the regulator needs to chase.

6. Use Your Existing Processes to Monitor Progress

Review your health and safety performance regularly. Use your internal audits, site inspections, and management reviews to assess whether you are addressing the priorities set out in the HSE strategy. If you are not, ask yourself why and take corrective action.

Final Thoughts

The HSE Strategy 2022-2032 is not a new set of legal duties. It is a regulatory roadmap that tells you where the HSE is heading over the next decade.

For the UK construction industry, the signals are unmistakable: mental health is a priority, net zero brings new risks that must be managed, and the principle that those who create risk must manage it remains absolute.

The strategy also makes clear that the HSE will use its enforcement powers against poor performers. Firms that cut corners, ignore mental health, or fail to manage emerging risks will face consequences. Conversely, firms that take a proactive, responsible approach to health and safety will find themselves better positioned for contracts, client relationships, and regulatory assurance.

The ten-year strategy gives you time to prepare but the HSE has already begun to implement it and I would encourage you to review your approach against these strategic priorities now, not later.

If you require further assistance with any of the topics raised in this post, please get in touch:

Yorkshire Health and Safety