Consultant Q&A: Sector safety challenges and solutions for 2026

As Q1 winds down, 2026 continues to challenge UK businesses. Political unrest, economic instability, and landmark employment law reforms are forcing difficult financial decisions - and putting every investment under scrutiny.

While it's tempting to secure immediate savings, scaling back health and safety activities can significantly ramp up costs in the longer term. Cutting corners on compliance can lower productivity, increase absence rates, and trigger safety incidents, penalties, and prosecutions.

To balance costs and compliance, we asked our consultants to share their sector's most pressing safety priorities - and provide business-focused solutions to address them.

Builders Merchants - Ian Dunsford and Ian Hatherly

Challenge: Non-trade customers

As skills shortages impact the building trade, merchants are increasingly attracting DIYers and retail customers. Unlike trade customers who know the risks of a busy yard, these individuals can wander into vehicle loading areas or warehouses, drastically increasing the risk of vehicle-pedestrian collisions.

Solutions:

- Ask safety partners and in-house marketing colleagues to produce signage drawing customers to trade counters - and away from warehouses.
- Train staff to be more vigilant and ask relevant 'customer care' questions.
- Introduce yard safety enhancements to reduce risk.
- Use clear, colour-coded floor markings and physical barriers to create 'safe areas'.

Challenge: Wood dust exposure and welfare facilities

Local authorities are moving beyond safety to scrutinise long-term health effects - such as respiratory illnesses and dermatitis - pushing merchants to find practical ways to enforce dust extraction, PPE use, and clean welfare facilities.

Solutions:

- Invest in local exhaust ventilation, in addition to the use of face masks.
- Use simple measures to help keep welfare areas clean (through cleaning companies or staff ownership).
- Recognise that a 'safe' branch is a competitive advantage that attracts safer customers and more professional staff in a difficult market.

Schools and Nurseries - Caroline Lee and Hannah Salt

Challenge: Cost of safety checks

Faced with increasingly tight budgets, schools struggle to fund essential safety checks alongside other critical priorities.

Solutions:

- Streamline reviews by grouping risk assessments by area - for example, outdoor play.
- Replace yearly safety induction days with bite-sized staff safety briefings.
- Task caretakers to run select checks using a simple software system.
- Seek competent advice to avoid being sold unnecessary checks.

Challenge: Behaviour management and mental health support

Schools face rising pressure to support staff mental health while addressing challenging behaviour - including incidents of violence and aggression directed at teachers and other team members.

Solutions:

- Boost collaboration across schools where they are sharing information across academies.
- Link safeguarding with safety, introducing positive handling training for staff to manage behaviour safely, de-escalate conflict, prevent injuries, and protect children with medical conditions.
- Ask for independent reviews of your processes to benchmark best practices.

Challenge: Allergens and food safety

Inconsistency is a key concern for schools and nurseries. Safe allergy management requires clear, robust procedures that can be applied across multiple settings. Similarly, individual schools and nurseries maintaining their own food safety management systems can lead to quality issues and gaps in record-keeping.

Solutions:

- Work with a single provider to offer consistent and ongoing staff training.
- Create a regular schedule of external and internal audits for procedures and systems.
- Develop company-wide HACCP documentation to ensure consistency across all settings.
- Ensure paperwork reflects all food handling and preparation activities.

Manufacturing - Ian Hatherly

Challenge: MWFs and machinery safety

Older machinery is increasingly being brought back into service, often needing retrospective guarding to meet modern safety standards. At the same time, effective mist extraction and filtration systems are key to tackling metalworking fluid (MWF) risks and ensuring COSHH compliance.

Solutions:

- Provide targeted health and safety training to increase awareness and accountability.
- Carry out thorough risk assessments in key areas, to ensure machine guarding and MWF controls are suitable and sufficient.
- Introduce simple near-miss reporting tools, such as QR code systems, to help employees log and report hazards.

Garden Centres - Caroline Lee and Ian Hatherly

Challenge: Food safety and allergens

With many centre cafés offering more complex food offerings, sites need stronger food safety procedures and additional training, particularly around allergen management.

Solutions:

- Ensure clear food safety policies and HACCP systems are in place and consistently followed across café operations.
- Use digital systems to streamline safety checks, record-keeping, and inspections, lightening the admin load while improving consistency.

Challenge: Event-related risks

Seasonal revenue streams such as Easter events and Christmas grottos introduce risks associated with work at height, temporary structures, and busy visitor environments.

Solutions:

- Provide regular employee training through e-learning and face-to-face toolbox talks, particularly ahead of seasonal events and operational changes.
- Introduce manual handling training and practical controls to reduce the risk of injury when moving heavier products and displays.
- Carry out risk assessments for seasonal attractions and event setups, including work at height, crowd management, temporary structures, and upcoming Martyn's Law requirements.

Hospitality - Ian Hatherly

Challenge: Stretched budgets and inexperienced teams

Staffing challenges and cost pressures have increased the likelihood of accidents, cross-contamination, and site maintenance issues.

Solutions:

- Use digital systems to conduct regular inspections and spot emerging issues, such as pest ingress.
- Reinforce allergen awareness through reminders, procedures, and periodic testing, including the use of mystery shoppers to identify improvement points.
- Strengthen food safety knowledge through regular refresher training.

Solve your sector's key safety concerns

Opus's safety specialists understand your industry's unique risk profile, spotlighting common compliance issues and inspectors' top target areas.

To discuss cost-effective safety solutions - including standalone assessments and long-term partnerships - get in touch with the team on 0330 043 4015 or email hello@opus-safety.co.uk.