WOBO recognises the activities of the UK Health and Safety Executive and their potential use within the global setting
a) Review of lifting equipment and pressure systems regulations – call for evidence
HSE has launched a Call for Evidence (CfE) to review both the:
- Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER)
- Pressure Systems Safety Regulations (PSSR)
As part of HSE’s wider response to the government’s plans to support growth through the Regulation Action Plan (RAP), the objective of the CfE is to establish a comprehensive evidence base to inform viable opportunities for simplifying and streamlining regulatory processes.
We are inviting input from industry stakeholders, professional bodies, and organisations with relevant experience and expertise.
There are 2 separate CfE’s. Follow the links to find out more and participate:
The closing date for comments is 11 November 2025.
b) Call for industry expertise to scope new concept tools – Industry expertise is needed to scope a new concept tool that could help organisations get more value from their health and safety data.
Share your thoughts on what would make tools like this genuinely useful in practice.
Construction risk tool
To integrate data across complex construction projects to provide a complete picture of health and safety risks, and what to do about them.
Occupational health and safety data audit tool
Typically for high hazard industries to get a snapshot of current risks along with analysis and a roadmap for improvement using a red, amber, green scoring system.
This work is supported by the Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT). The survey takes around 5 minutes to complete, all responses will remain confidential, and results will be shared in aggregate.
c)Recent HSE enforcement activity
Work at height – Tower scaffolds
Sign fitting company and director fined after fatal fall from scaffolding further guidance and information: Tower scaffolds
Work at height – Roof work
- Builder given suspended sentence after roof worker fell to his death
- Two companies fined after worker falls through fragile rooflight
- further guidance and information: Roof work
Structural stability
- Builder sentenced after house collapse injures 3 workers
- further guidance and information: Structural stability during alteration, demolition and dismantling
Demolition
- Contractor told to carry out unpaid work after ignoring HSE action
- further guidance and information: Demolition
Traffic management on site
- Construction company fined £1 million following death of employee
- further guidance and information: Traffic management on site
d) Support our asbestos campaigns
Help raise awareness that asbestos didn’t disappear when it was banned in the UK and what tradespeople and those responsible for buildings should be doing to stay safe.
Download the campaign toolkits and resources to share with your networks.
Asbestos – Your Duty campaign
To raise awareness of the legal duty to manage asbestos in non-domestic buildings and how it should be done:
- download and share the Asbestos – Your Duty campaign toolkit and social media content
- watch and share the duty to manage buildings webinar
- listen and share our duty to manage asbestos in buildings podcast
- visit our campaign website
Asbestos and You campaign
To raise awareness of how workers in skilled construction and building trades can stay safe on the job by avoiding the disturbance of fibres and when to involve asbestos professionals:
- watch and share our video: Be asbestos aware – an introduction for workers
e ) Piloted operational changes accelerate Gateway 2 sign-offs
We have released a building control Gateway 2 update to 1 October 2025, demonstrating initial positive impacts on application processes for new high-rise residential buildings.
The update comes amidst a steady rising pace of decisions, with determinations reaching an all-time high of 209 across all application types during August.
As of 1 October 2025, 544 Gateway 2 decisions were made. This is a 111% increase compared to the 257 decisions made between January and March.
We’ve also created a specialist Innovation Unit that has seen the majority of its new build applications dealt with by or before our 12-week target.
Charlie Pugsley, Chief Executive Officer of BSR, said: “The regulator has been learning from the last two years, has listened to industry feedback and acted decisively through these substantial operational changes we are piloting, which have shown immediate, positive results.
“However, we recognise there are ongoing challenges including national skills shortages, and we are committed to use agile problem-solving to work constructively with the wider sector and industry applicants.” See the Gateway 2 update to 1 October 2025
f)Gateway Three: Ensuring high-rise buildings are safe to occupy
We have published an article on “Gateway Three” – the final and most critical checkpoint of the Building Safety Act 2022.
At this gateway developers must demonstrate that a building complies with all the relevant parts of building regulations and is ready for residents to occupy.
On paper, a high-rise building (HRB) may appear to comply with the regulations. But only by scrutinising the as-built evidence can we be certain residents living in these buildings will be properly protected. Find out more about Gateway Three.
g)Building safety guidance: useful links brought together
We have published a resource page with a set of links to existing building safety guidance and resources on our Making Buildings Safer site.
The guidance covers the full lifecycle of HRBs, covering procedures such as:
- managing building control approval applications
- implementing change control during construction
- applying for completion certificates
Guidance also covers the duties of Accountable Persons in HRBs, as well as the professional codes, frameworks and standards for building control inspectors and approvers. The page will be kept up to date as new guidance and resources are published. Access the building safety guidance.
h)Consultation: give your views on industry competence management
The Industry Competence Committee (ICC) is seeking industry feedback on its new guidance document, “Setting Expectations for Competence Management”.
ICC’s guidance outlines the committee’s expectations and principles for how organisations should manage competence of their workforce, particularly those involved in design, building work and managing HRBs.
The consultation is open until Thursday 6 November. Feedback will help ensure the principles are clear, understandable and assist industry development.