Health and Safety Executive (UK)

Research Problem

How can innovations in data science (e.g., data mining), analytics (e.g., disease modelling), and measurement technology (e.g., sensors, wearables) be used and integrated to enhance understanding of the relationships between occupation, exposure to hazards, the effectiveness of control measures and work-related ill health?

Research Problem

What are the longer-term trends in flexible, hybrid and home working and what are the positive and negative impacts on workforce safety? What are the impacts of potential inequalities across sectors and groups of workers?

Research Problem

What evidence is required to best understand who is responsible and accountable for workplace safety, and what are the outcomes in an increasingly complex landscape, especially for those with multiple employment?

Research Problem

What are the main health and safety challenges related to maintenance and repair of ageing low carbon energy infrastructure, such as offshore wind turbines?

Research Problem

What evidence is needed to ensure that technological advancements serve to maintain or improve existing levels of safety and health and do not present additional risks (either immediate or latent)?

Research Problem

What lessons might translate from the management of ageing assets in the major hazards sector to help dutyholders build and maintain safe buildings, addressing aspects such as human factors, safety management systems and fire and structural safety?

Research Problem

Is there opportunity to transfer knowledge into and across the diverse construction and building safety sectors to build competence levels aided by appropriate benchmark standards?

Research Problem

How can BSR most effectively baseline and evaluate industry competence levels and also evaluate regulatory competence, including performance with other regulatory interdependencies e.g. the regulatory resource of Building Control Bodies?

Research Problem

What effect does violence and aggression in the workplace have on the health of workers, particularly in terms of causing and aggravating common mental ill health problems such as work-related stress, anxiety and depression and what controls can be put in place to reduce these risks?

Research Problem

Are there alternative approaches that build on our regulatory models, which will encourage innovation and further minimise chemical use and regulatory burdens?

Research Problem

How can existing (and ongoing) data sets be linked to provide richer data tounderstand the relationship between exposure to hazards, the effectiveness ofcontrol measures and work-related ill health?

Research Problem

Does work-related ill health have any impacts and consequences for individuals and society, including human costs, costs of ill health and impacts upon productivity and employment?

Research Problem

How will the changes in working practices following the COVID-19 pandemic, such as increased hybrid and homeworking, escalation in the gig economy, and changes in the demographics of the work force affect work-related ill health?

Research Problem

As individuals may have health conditions that interact with exposures in the workplace, what needs to be undertaken to develop understanding of what work- related ill health then looks like in workplaces and support employers in tackling this in a more holistic way?

Research Problem

How can it be ensured that our regulatory approach accommodates future trends in new technologies and health and environmental hazards?

Research Problem

In the future, who will decide on the responsibility for 'risk' in a workplace that is becoming increasingly complex?

Research Problem

How should evidence be utilised to determine the significant changes in the work environment (including new technologies, new materials, changes in work practices and changes in the workforce) that will have an impact on the risks to health and safety? How do these changing risks interact and how can they be mitigated?

Research Problem

How is data and evidence used to identify and evaluate interventions that have appropriate and targeted impact on the health and safety system in the short, medium and long term?