Britain’s national health and safety regulator celebrated its 50th Anniversary on 1 January, half a century after its official launch on the first day of 1975.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) was established to enforce workplace health and safety legislation in the UK.
It followed the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which itself turned 50 on 31 July 2024.
As Britain’s regulator for workplace health and safety, HSE has played a key role in helping to bring down numbers of people killed or injured at work in the UK over the past half century.
Mike Robinson, Chief Executive at British Safety Council, praised the important role that HSE has played in helping reduce the number of work-related deaths and injuries since its creation.
He said: “[It] should be recognised for its hard work in upholding the principles of the ground-breaking Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
"However, while we celebrate this impressive achievement, we must acknowledge that there is still much work to do.
"In 2023/24, 138 people were still killed in the workplace, a rise on the previous year, and injuries were also up.
"Reversing this will require HSE to be given the resources it needs to ensure that there is no rowing back on the progress that has been made since the 1970s."