Skills shortages affecting safety at work

Skills shortages risk making workplaces less safe and less productive, with an impact on the national economy, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

In a new report from the RoSPA’s OSH Skills Commission, produced in partnership with Speedy Hire, industry experts highlight key challenges in recruitment, training and retention of competent workers. The report also makes recommendations for how employers and the UK Government can ensure the UK has the healthy and highly-skilled workforce essential for economic growth.

RoSPA’s OSH Skills Commission aims to understand the deeper context behind many of the current concerns being raised by RoSPA members and the wider OSH sector around rapid changes in workplace health and safety. These include fragmented training and skills pathways, deterioring worker health and wellbeing, and current competencies being outpaced by emerging risks such as AI and an ageing workforce.

The newly published report, Protecting workforce competence for safer, healthier workplaces, summarises the findings of five roundtables chaired by Commissioners handpicked for their expertise, and attended by a range of professionals with backgrounds in OSH, HR, OH and operations. During these discussions, the following cross-cutting themes emerged:

1. Job-readiness and early-careers learning
2. Flexibility, life course fit and workforce stability
3. Leadership, management and trust
4. Honest work design and role clarity
5. Human capability with technology and AI

Based on the experiences and evidence gathered for this report, RoSPA’s OSH Skills Commission makes the case for recognising whole workforce competence as a core organisational asset and a precondition for safer, healthier and more productive work. Key priorities include the need to create the conditions where workers can gain meaningful early-career experience, hone judgement through exposure and shadowing senior colleagues, and continue learning throughout their working life.

The consequences of failing to focus on skill development extends beyond safety incidents: skills gaps magnify workload, undermine organisational decision making and weaken psychological safety, introducing avoidable risks, instability and productivity loss. These risks make investing in competence a national economic imperative. Competent workforces are more adaptable and better able to respond to change, qualities that are essential as the UK workforce faces growing pressure associated with technological and demographic shifts.

Crucially, RoSPA’s OSH Skills Commission has identified solutions as well as problems. From early-career development and mentoring to skills passports and succession planning, the report provides practical recommendations for employers, OSH professionals and policymakers that can be implemented to improve safety, support wellbeing and drive sustainable growth.

Baroness Christine Crawley of Edgbaston, RoSPA Vice President and Head Commissioner, said: “The OSH Skills Commission was formed in response to a sector in crisis. Yet however daunting challenges such as widening skill gaps and increasing workloads may seem, the innovative ideas and sense of purpose shared at the roundtables and now presented in this report means I am confident OSH professionals can not only overcome them but transform them into opportunities for improving health and safety in the future. The issues in this report are complex but a simple message emerges – good health and safety is good business.”

Andy Johnson, Group HSSEQ Director, Speedy Hire, commented: “Workforce competence is not just a health and safety issue; it is a business imperative. That’s why we partnered with RoSPA to better understand the challenges affecting workforce capability and identify practical solutions that can benefit organisations across the UK.

“The findings highlight the need for greater investment in skills, learning and knowledge transfer. We hope the report encourages employers, industry and government to work together to build a safer, more resilient and future-ready workforce.”