Reflecting on the 37th National Hazards Conference, Philip Liptrot from Thompsons Solicitors argues that rigorous reporting, backed by an organised workforce, is the foundation of prevention, enforcement and justice.

The 37th National Hazards Conference was an important opportunity to bring together safety representatives, trade union activists and campaigners confronting a rapidly changing world of work.  

From violence and aggression to deadly asbestos and silica; extreme heat to a lack of enforcement; one thread ran through every discussion: workers are safest when they are organised and informed, andunion health and safety representatives are central to making that happen. 

Old hazards, new pressures 

Workers are facing myriad hazards. Asbestos continues to kill, while silicosis is devastating a younger generation. Violence and aggression are rising across many sectors. Climate change is exposing workers to dangerous heat. Alongside these physical hazards sit excessive workloads, insecure work and psychosocial harm. AI-driven work programmes can also create new pressures, particularly where automated systems set the pace or volume of work.  

The workshop on violence at work emphasised that risk assessments must be more than a tick box exercise and employers should consult with workers and union reps. And if someone is injured, provide them with support and focus on learning lessons to prevent future incidents rather than somehow blame the employee.  

Another workshop discussed how health and safety can be a powerful organising tool. Knowing the rights set out in the Brown Book is important; using those rights collectively, to recruit, organise and empower workers, is how legal protections are turned into real industrial strength.  And how workplaces are made safer.  

The same lesson emerged from discussions on heat-induced illness, asbestos, silicosis and enforcement.  

The resource-starved HSE cannot be relied upon to hold employers accountable.   

Employers and insurers rarely volunteer evidence of failure. The people who see unsafe work first are workers themselves, and their safety representatives. 

That is why stronger employment rights, harassment protections and any updated Employment Rights Act  must reinforce, not sideline, safety at work.   

Civil claims are another vital means of holding negligent employers to account. Not only will the insurer have to pay for medical treatment, rehabilitation and loss of earnings as well as compensation  for the pain and suffering, the threat of an increased premium and greater oversight by an insurer are sometimes the only things that make an employer take steps to improve safety. 

Evidence is power 

Every incident, near miss, and exposure to a harmful substance should be recorded and reported to the employer and the health and safety representative so that any collective issues can be identified.  Minute them at Health and Safety Committee meetings.   

Risks should be recorded in properly updated risk assessments, not left as corridor conversations that can later be forgotten or denied. 

Exposure to asbestos and silica should be entered on union registers as vital evidence if symptoms later develop but more importantly to evidence dangers to health and safety.  

And symptoms which might be related to work must be reported promptly to GPs, occupational health, employers and union representatives.  

Where the legal threshold is met, the employer must submit a RIDDOR report. Where it fails to do so, or where a serious risk remains, workers and representatives can raise concerns directly with the Health and Safety Executive. 

One isolated warning may be dismissed. A documented pattern is harder to bury.  

From individual harm to collective action 

An injured member should be put in touch with the union’s legal service helpline without delay. Reports, emails, risk assessments and safety committee minutes can be crucial evidence to prove that an injury or disease was foreseeable and preventable.  

They can help secure compensation for the individual and expose a wider failure affecting the whole workforce thereby making it safer. 

Reports from different workplaces can reveal patterns hidden by fragmented employment, under-reporting and inaccurate official statistics. This can shape bargaining, organising, and campaigning.  

Reporting can support demands for more inspectors, stronger RIDDOR rules, better protection against violence and harassment, and a regulator with the resources and confidence to enforce the law. 

The recent RIDDOR consultation shows what is at stake. A reporting regime that excludes major sources of modern workplace harm cannot provide the full picture needed for prevention. Under-reporting does not mean less harm; it means less scrutiny, fewer investigations and weaker accountability. 

Make danger visible 

Workers should not have to become their own enforcement agency. But while inspection and enforcement remain inadequate, organised workers are the strongest line of defence. Safety representatives can make danger visible, establish what the employer knew and build the collective pressure needed to force change. 

So the message from the Hazards conference is to record the near misses and concerns, collect the evidence and organise around it.  

Report it. Record it. Organise around it.