How safe are you, really? SME health & safety risks in 2026

Health and safety often looks fine on the surface, but for many small and medium-sized businesses, hidden gaps can easily form. We asked employers and employees at SMEs how confident they felt about their health and safety duties and responsibilities. While confidence was high, the reality showed that key areas were being missed:

• 45% had one or more key health and safety documents out of date.

• 50% still rely on spreadsheets, paper or emails to manage health and safety.

• 42% said health and safety tasks, records or inspections regularly (or occasionally) fall behind. 

• Almost half of employees hadn’t had any refresher health and safety training since onboarding. 

• 50% of employees have never reported a health and safety risk or incident because they didn’t believe they’d ever encountered one.

• Half of remote or hybrid workers hadn’t completed DSE risk assessments, didn’t have the right equipment - or both, and 60% had never (or only once) had their electrical work equipment safety tested

In this free webinar, we’ll explore these insights in more detail, highlight the most common health and safety blind spots in growing businesses, and share simple, practical ways to close the gaps.

We’ll cover:

• The most common hidden health and safety gaps in small businesses

• Expert advice on managing health and safety in an SME as a non-expert

• Why good intentions aren’t enough to stay compliant with health and safety law

• How health and safety duties and responsibilities shift as your business grows

• What can happen when HR and Health and Safety don’t talk to each other

• Practical steps to close the gaps and protect your people