Skills shortages are making workplaces less safe and less productive, with knock-on effects for the wider economy, a new report has warned.
The report, Protecting Workforce Competence for Safer, Healthier Workplaces, was produced by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) OSH Skills Commission in partnership with Speedy Hire.
It draws on insights from occupational safety and health (OSH) professionals to identify key challenges in recruitment, training and retention of competent workers.
The commission was established to examine concerns raised by RoSPA members and the wider OSH sector about fragmented training and skills pathways, deteriorating worker health and wellbeing, and existing competencies being outpaced by emerging risks such as AI and an ageing workforce.
The findings summarise five roundtables chaired by commissioners with expertise across OSH, HR, occupational health and operations. The discussions identified five cross-cutting themes: job-readiness and early-careers learning; flexibility, life course fit and workforce stability; leadership, management and trust; honest work design and role clarity; and human capability alongside technology and AI.
The report argues that whole workforce competence should be recognised as a core organisational asset and a precondition for safer, healthier and more productive work. It calls for employers to create conditions where workers can gain meaningful early-career experience, develop judgement through exposure and shadowing senior colleagues, and continue learning throughout their working life.
According to the commission, skills gaps magnify workload, undermine organisational decision-making and weaken psychological safety – introducing avoidable risk, instability and productivity loss. It states that investing in workforce competence should be treated as a national economic imperative, since adaptable, competent workforces are better placed to respond to technological and demographic change.
The report also sets out recommendations for employers, OSH professionals and policymakers, covering early-career development and mentoring, skills passports and succession planning.
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 at Speedy Hire, said: “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 the government to work together to build a safer, more resilient and future-ready workforce.”
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