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Managing Workplace Health & Safety: Key Updates and Best Practices:

Health and safety in the workplace is a critical priority for businesses, especially in industries where employees face significant risks. Recent data and case studies from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) highlight the importance of proactive measures in protecting workers. Below, we’ve compiled essential guidance and updates to help you ensure a safe working environment.

In this Update:

Stay updated on workplace health & safety with essential guidelines on welfare, asbestos management, gas safety in maternity units, and risks of display wall mounts for children. Learn about legal duties and best practices to protect employees and maintain compliance.

• Workplace health, safety and welfare

• The duty to manage asbestos – are you responsible?

• Guidance to protect those using gas and air safely in maternity units

• Display wall mount risk of serious crushing or impact injury to children:

Workplace health, safety and welfare:

There are a number of legal duties which all businesses must comply with on workplace health, safety and welfare.

Our workplace, health, safety and welfare webpages bring together general guidance for all workplaces to follow.

This includes the law on workplace safety, which covers a wide range of basic health, safety and welfare issues. 

There is also guidance on a variety of topics and legal duties that all businesses should follow, including:

• temperature
• ventilation
• emergency procedures

The duty to manage asbestos – are you responsible?

HSE’s ‘Asbestos – Your Duty’ campaign is aimed at those responsible for managing asbestos in buildings (dutyholders).

The dutyholder could be the building owner, the landlord for the premises, the business owner, or the person or organisation with clear responsibility for the building’s maintenance or repair.

HSE’s duty to manage asbestos in buildings webpages provide dutyholders with a range of resources: 

• download the asbestos management plan template
• download the asbestos register template for your buildings
• watch our duty to manage asbestos video 

Guidance to protect those using gas and air safely in maternity units:

HSE’s recently published guidance is aimed at those in maternity units who are responsible for preventing harm from high levels of exposure to nitrous oxide (gas and air).

This guidance has been developed by HSE together with maternity specialists in the NHS. It is also relevant for professionals working in other parts of the healthcare sector.

Find out more at HSE’s website by reading our:

• guidance: Using nitrous oxide (gas and air) safely in maternity units
• press release: Protecting Britain’s midwives from excessive nitrous oxide exposure

Display wall mount risk of serious crushing or impact injury to children:

The Office of Product Safety Standards (OPSS) has issued a product safety report regarding the Conen Motorised Display Wall Mount (SCETAW 2407-0111).

The product is used to adjust interactive display panels presents a serious risk of injuries as the mount may detach from the wall, causing the equipment to fall forwards. There is a risk of:

• serious crushing or impact injury to children which may arise from the equipment detaching from the wall and falling forward
• serious crushing injury to children between the bottom edge of the display screen and any fixed objects

View the product safety report for the Conen Motorised Display Wall Mount on GOV.UK