Health and safety priorities shift throughout the year. Aligning activity with recognised awareness days and seasonal risks can help organisations plan communications, training and reviews more effectively. Below is a month-by-month guide to key focus areas relevant to UK health and safety professionals.
📅January – New Year Safety Reset
A natural point to review risk assessments and policies, plan annual training and audits, and revisit fire safety arrangements and emergency procedures.
📅February – Mental Health & Skills
Time to Talk Day (UK) An opportunity to encourage open conversations around mental health and psychological safety at work.
National Apprenticeship Week (UK) A timely focus on embedding strong safety culture and competence from the start of careers.
📅March – Occupational Health Risks
World Hearing Day – 3 March. Highlight noise exposure risks and the importance of hearing protection in high-risk environments.
Seasonal focus: slips, trips and falls as sites and workplaces transition out of winter conditions.
📅April – Global Safety Awareness
World Day for Safety and Health at Work – 28 April. A UN-recognised day led by the ILO, ideal for organisation-wide safety messaging, toolbox talks and leadership engagement on risk management.
📅May – Mental Health Awareness
Mental Health Awareness Week (UK) Focus on wellbeing, stress management and the link between mental health, safety culture and performance.
📅June – Health Risks & Outdoor Work
Men’s Health Week (UK) An opportunity to address health risks common in male-dominated sectors.
Seasonal focus: heat stress, hydration, fatigue management and PPE for outdoor and physically demanding work.
📅July – Mid-Year Safety Check
A good point for reviewing incident trends, checking progress against safety objectives and reinforcing leadership visibility and worker engagement.
📅August – Summer Safety
Seasonal risks to manage include: Heat and fatigue, lone working and reduced staffing, and event, visitor and temporary works safety.
📅September – High-Risk Industries & Prevention
Suicide Prevention Month: Relevant across construction, manufacturing and emergency services.
Seasonal focus: preparation for darker evenings and changing weather conditions.
📅October – Workplace Health & Safety Focus
World Mental Health Day – 10 October
National Work Life Week (UK)
European Week for Safety and Health at Work
October is a key month for wellbeing, workload management, and reinforcing safe systems of work.
📅November – Stress & Long-Term Health
Stress Awareness Week (UK)
Movember
A timely focus on workload pressures, burnout, and encouraging early intervention and support.
📅December – Year-End Review
An opportunity to review incident data and trends, evaluate the effectiveness of controls, recognise good safety performance, and plan priorities for the year ahead.
Why this matters
Using the calendar year to structure health and safety activity helps:
For health and safety professionals, planning around these moments can make safety more visible, more consistent, and more effective across the organisation.
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