Workplace Health Protection Body Expresses Disappointment in Mayfield Review

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05 November 2025 | Updated 06 November 2025

A review into the UK’s “economic inactivity crisis” due to ill-health has failed to address workplace hazards adequately, says the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

The Mayfield Review, also known as The Keep Britain Working Review, is an attempt to address worsening employment figures due to ill-health and barriers faced by disabled people.  According to the report, over 1 in 5 working-age people are out of work and not looking for work.

The report encourages managers to play their part in supporting the general health of workers and rehabilitating people who would previously have been deemed not fit for work. However, the importance of a healthy working environment is “entirely absent from the report" according to the British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS).

Health and Safety Executive figures show that 1.7 million people have their health made worse by poor management of the workplace. “It’s right to say that we need to humanise workplaces, but we must be serious about it,” said BOHS President, Adrian Parris. 

“Workplaces themselves need to be designed around the protection of human health. It appears that the report sees health more as an issue of management and motivation.”

“A friendly chat and a referral to occupational health is not going to stop someone from damaging their back, from suffering progressive hearing loss or prevent them from being exposed to a substance that will cause cancer in later life.”

The review recommends the creation of a “Healthy Working Standard” framework, but doesn’t specify if this would replace existing occupational health and safety management systems such as ISO45001 and ISO45003.

Picture: a photograph of a printed work attendance report and a pen.  Image Credit: Adobe Stock

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 05 November 2025

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