Avoiding Costly HSE Fines: How to Ensure Compliance in 2025

Insights from the HSE Webinar Recording

In today's increasingly stringent regulatory environment, the cost of failing to comply with health and safety regulations has never been higher. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is intensifying inspections, and where an issue is discovered that requires investigation, the HSE has the power to apply Fee for Intervention (FFI) charges of £183 per hour. Businesses across all sectors face mounting pressure to ensure they are compliant. But avoiding fines is just one part of the picture.

Health and safety compliance is about more than satisfying a legal obligation; it's about protecting your people, safeguarding your business reputation, and demonstrating diligence in your duty of care. That was the central message in a recent webinar hosted by Ctrl Hub and featuring John Heslop, Principal Inspector at the HSE.

This article breaks down what to expect during an inspection, which areas are of particular concern for the HSE in 2025, and how digital tools like Ctrl Hub can support simple and effective compliance.

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What to Expect During an HSE Inspection in 2025

The first thing to understand is that HSE visits are usually unannounced. This is an intentional strategy aimed at seeing how health and safety procedures operate in real time.

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"The majority of inspections we do, you won't get any notification. The first thing you'll know is when somebody turns up" – John Heslop

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Unless you operate in highly specific sectors such as foundries or cooling towers that require advanced logistical arrangements, you should assume an inspector could arrive at any time. The familiar yellow hard hat and high-vis jacket will usually be the only warning you get.

Once on site, inspectors will ask for the person responsible for health and safety. They'll conduct a walk-through of your premises or construction site and assess your working practices, risk areas, and control systems. Importantly, they will also want to review supporting documentation.

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"We’ll ask you about where you identify the key areas of risk and how we manage that, and we’ll have a look at how that’s managed in practice" – John Heslop

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Having your policies, procedures, risk assessments, etc, properly up to date and accessible is your basic starting point on any inspection.  Are you prepared?

Documentation becomes especially critical if an incident is later reported under RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations). Inspectors will want to understand what systems were in place before the event and whether proper controls were being monitored.

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HSE's Focus Areas for 2025: A Shift Toward Health

In 2022, the HSE launched a 10-year strategy with a strong emphasis on occupational health, not just safety. This marks a shift from high-visibility hazards like falls from height to more long-term, chronic health conditions caused by workplace exposure.

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"We are now very much putting a key focus on health. There were 138 workers killed in a work activity in that year… but the same year, we estimate there were 12,000 deaths attributable to lung disease from previous work-related exposure." – John Heslop

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This quote alone underlines the gravity of the HSE’s new priorities. Here are the key focus areas inspectors will be zoning in on during 2025 site visits:
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1. Dust and Respiratory Hazards

Exposure to asbestos, silica, and wood dust is now under heavy scrutiny.

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"You might breathe in some respiratory dust… 15 years down the line, you find you’ve contracted a lung disease." – John Heslop

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Businesses must be able to demonstrate robust control measures, risk assessments, and active health surveillance protocols, particularly in construction, woodworking, and manufacturing.

2. Manual Handling

While lifting heavy objects is an obvious risk, HSE is especially concerned with repetitive movements, twisting, and awkward postures, particularly in factory or production settings like breweries.

3. Noise

Noise assessments are another hot topic. If your site includes noisy operations, expect to be asked about your risk assessments and how you're enforcing hearing protection and noise control measures.

4. Health Surveillance

This is the monitoring side of risk management. It's not enough to be aware of hazards; you must document how your workers' health is tracked over time.

5. HAVS (Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome)

One of the most common enforcement areas in recent years, HAVS is irreversible but preventable.

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"Once HAVS has kicked in, there’s no getting rid of it. We estimate two million people at risk… in foundries, heavy fabrication, and construction." – John Heslop

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Platforms like Ctrl Hub help mitigate this risk by allowing operatives to log their equipment use daily. With all vibration magnitude values stored and tracked, it becomes easy to calculate and flag overexposure in real time.

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Understanding Fee for Intervention (FFI)

Fee for Intervention is the HSE's cost recovery scheme, and it can be a rude awakening for unprepared businesses. The fee applies when an inspector identifies a "material breach" of health and safety law.

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"The rate has just changed to £183 per hour or part thereof... If [a breach] is found, the visit becomes chargeable... all follow-up work becomes chargeable as well." – John Heslop

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A "material breach" is any issue serious enough to require written follow-up. This could result in:

• Notification of Contravention
  
• Improvement Notice with deadlines for rectification
  
• Prohibition Notice for activities posing immediate danger
  
• Prosecution, even without an incident, is based solely on risk
  

Verbal advice for minor issues is not chargeable. However, once the threshold for a written breach is crossed, the meter is running at £183/hour.

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Real-World Examples: Fines from the Last 6 Months

John Heslop highlighted recent prosecutions that illustrate the consequences of failing to comply. Each of these occurred within the last six months:

• £60,000 fine for a council that failed to act after identifying HAVS risks as early as 2005
  
• £4,000 fine for a company repeatedly cited for poor dust control
  
• £18,000 fines each for a company and its director who knowingly overlooked serious risks

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"These are all from within the last six months. In every case, we proved that there was a practical measure that could have been taken, but wasn’t." – John Heslop

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Beyond the fines themselves, affected businesses also had to cover FFI charges and implement corrective measures at their own expense.

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How to Stay Compliant in 2025

Avoiding fines isn’t about guesswork, it’s about systems. John Heslop outlined clear, actionable steps for staying ahead:

Conduct Risk Assessments

These remain the foundation of health and safety. Get them right, and you have a framework to build on.

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"If you get the risk assessment right, the rest should fit in fairly straightforward." – John Heslop

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Train and Document

All employees should be trained, made aware of hazards, and signed off. But verbal training isn’t enough. You need to prove it.

Maintain Equipment Logs

Whether it’s scaffolding, power tools, or respiratory systems, equipment should be maintained, logged, and ready for inspection.

Implement Health Surveillance

Especially where workers are exposed to dust, noise, or vibration. Tracking over time is essential for protecting employees and proving compliance.

Use a Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) Approach

This simple model helps create a culture of continuous improvement:

• Plan: Identify and assess risks
  
• Do: Implement controls and training
  
• Check: Monitor effectiveness
  
• Act: Refine processes based on findings‍

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How Ctrl Hub Makes Compliance Easier

When inspectors arrive, the last thing you want is to be rifling through filing cabinets or asking staff to track down missing paperwork. That’s where Ctrl Hub provides a clear advantage.

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"The amount of time we’ve had to say, 'Email that over when you find it'… it just lengthens everything." – John Heslop

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Ctrl Hub offers a cloud-based platform where all your health and safety records are centrally stored and accessible. From risk assessments and equipment checks to training logs and HAVS tracking, everything is documented, searchable, and audit-ready.

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"If you’re able to sit us down with a tablet or a screen and say, 'Tell me what you want'… it demonstrates commitment to health and safety." – John Heslop

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Final Thoughts: Don’t Wait for the Knock

The HSE’s new approach in 2025 is clear: surprise visits, health-focused assessments, and real financial penalties for inaction. But rather than reacting with fear, smart businesses can respond with preparation.

By investing in proper systems, digital platforms, and a culture of compliance, you don’t just reduce your risk of fines, you protect your people, your reputation, and your future.

Ready to see how Ctrl Hub can help you become inspection-ready?

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Watch the full HSE webinar

‍Download the slides