Seven Health & Safety Legislative and Regulatory Developments Employers Should Be Watching
Health and safety legislation continues to evolve as governments respond to emerging risks, regulatory pressures and changing expectations around workplace protection. Over recent weeks, a number of significant developments have emerged across several jurisdictions, ranging from major reforms of occupational safety legislation to new approaches to heat exposure, electrical safety, building safety and chemical regulation.
Not all of the developments covered below represent legislation that has already come into force. Some are enacted reforms awaiting implementation, proposed regulatory changes, or government programmes that indicate where occupational health and safety regulation is heading. For employers operating internationally, these developments are worth monitoring because regulatory approaches adopted in one jurisdiction can often influence wider industry expectations.
1. New Zealand – Major Overhaul of Health & Safety Legislation
Health and Safety at Work Amendment Act 2026
Royal Assent: 9 July 2026
Main provisions take effect: 1 April 2027
New Zealand has enacted a significant reform of its health and safety legislation through the Health and Safety at Work Amendment Act 2026. The legislation introduces a stronger focus on “critical risks” – risks capable of causing death, serious injury, serious illness, occupational disease or other serious harm. The stated intention is to encourage businesses to prioritise the risks with the greatest potential consequences rather than treating every workplace risk as requiring the same level of regulatory attention.
The reforms also seek to provide clearer expectations for businesses and strengthen the role of Approved Codes of Practice. The changes are particularly relevant to smaller businesses, with the legislation introducing a framework that gives greater emphasis to critical risks and proportionality. Most of the substantive changes are scheduled to come into force on 1 April 2027, giving businesses time to understand the new requirements and adjust their systems.
Why this matters
The New Zealand reforms are particularly interesting because they reflect an increasingly common debate in health and safety: should organisations concentrate their greatest resources on the risks capable of causing catastrophic harm, rather than attempting to manage every conceivable risk to the same degree?
This is also an important development in the context of work at height. World Safety News has previously examined concerns surrounding proposals to introduce a three-metre threshold for certain work-at-height requirements. The final reforms therefore warrant continued monitoring to understand how the critical-risk approach will operate in practice.
2. Queensland, Australia – New Electrical Safety Regulation
Electrical Safety Regulation 2026
Commencement: 1 September 2026
Queensland is replacing its existing Electrical Safety Regulation 2013 with a new Electrical Safety Regulation 2026, which comes into effect on 1 September 2026. WorkSafe Queensland states that the new regulation does not introduce new policy or regulatory obligations, but instead restructures and clarifies the existing requirements to make them easier to navigate, understand and apply alongside the Electrical Safety Act 2002.
The change follows the statutory review of the existing regulation. Although employers should not expect a fundamental change to Queensland’s electrical-safety framework, the replacement regulation provides an opportunity for businesses to review their existing procedures and ensure that internal references, systems and compliance documentation remain aligned with the new legislation.
Why this matters
Regulatory changes do not always mean new obligations. Rewriting and restructuring legislation can nevertheless be important because employers, supervisors and safety professionals need to understand where existing requirements have moved and how they are expressed in the replacement regulation.
3. California, United States – Proposed Changes to Heat Illness Regulations
Cal/OSHA Heat Illness Prevention Standards
Latest draft: 14 August 2026
Consultation deadline: 21 September 2026
California is continuing work on revisions to its workplace heat-illness regulations. On 14 August, Cal/OSHA published a further revised draft standard covering both outdoor and indoor heat-illness prevention requirements and invited interested parties to submit comments by 21 September 2026.
The proposed changes are being developed under California’s Assembly Bill 2243 and seek to revise and align the state’s existing heat-illness requirements. They do not represent legislation that has already come into force; rather, they are part of an ongoing regulatory process. California already has extensive heat protections, including requirements relating to water, shade, cool-down areas, rest breaks, training and heat-illness prevention planning.
Why this matters
Heat exposure is becoming an increasingly important occupational safety issue internationally. California’s approach is therefore worth watching beyond the state’s borders, particularly as governments consider how workplace regulation should respond to increasingly frequent periods of extreme heat.
The development also demonstrates how regulators are increasingly considering indoor as well as outdoor heat exposure, recognising that warehouses, manufacturing facilities and other enclosed workplaces can present significant thermal risks.
4. United States – OSHA Continues Major Regulatory Programme
Key areas: Heat, emergency response, tree care and hazard communication
The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) continues to progress several major areas of regulatory activity. Its current regulatory programme includes proposed rules concerning heat injury and illness prevention, emergency response and tree-care operations, alongside ongoing work concerning hazard communication.
At the same time, OSHA is pursuing a number of deregulatory initiatives, including proposed amendments affecting requirements within the respiratory protection standard. Public hearings are taking place during August on some of these proposals.
This creates an interesting regulatory picture. The US is simultaneously considering stronger or more specific requirements for emerging and high-risk hazards while reviewing other requirements with the intention of reducing regulatory burden.
Why this matters
The direction of US OSHA regulation is particularly important for multinational organisations because OSHA standards frequently influence corporate safety expectations well beyond the United States.
The development also raises a broader question for safety professionals: how can regulators reduce unnecessary administrative requirements without weakening controls around genuinely critical risks?
That question is increasingly relevant internationally and mirrors some of the themes emerging from the New Zealand reforms.
5. United Kingdom – Building Safety Levy to Take Effect
Building Safety Levy
Commencement: 1 October 2026
Jurisdiction: England
The UK’s Building Safety Levy is scheduled to come into effect on 1 October 2026. The levy will apply to relevant residential developments in England, subject to specified exemptions, with funds being used to support the remediation of building-safety defects.
The levy represents another component of the UK’s continuing response to the building-safety failures exposed by the Grenfell Tower fire. It will apply to relevant building-control applications submitted from 1 October and is intended to ensure that the development industry contributes towards addressing building-safety defects.
The introduction remains contentious within the construction sector. Housebuilders have recently called for a further delay, arguing that the additional cost could affect the viability of some developments. The Government continues to support implementation of the levy.
Why this matters
Although the levy is not a conventional workplace health and safety regulation, it forms part of one of the UK’s most significant building-safety reforms in decades.
For developers, contractors and other organisations involved in residential construction, it represents another financial and regulatory consideration arising from the UK’s post-Grenfell building-safety framework.
6. United Kingdom – Government Pushes for a More Agile Chemicals Regulatory System
Government programme: HSE Regulation Action Plan 2026–27
The UK Government has identified the development of a more agile chemicals regulatory system as one of its priorities for the Health and Safety Executive during 2026–27. Under the Government’s Regulation Action Plan, HSE is expected to develop changes to the regulatory framework through a statutory instrument during the current financial year.
The programme forms part of a wider government objective to make regulation more responsive while maintaining appropriate protections. The HSE’s work includes areas of chemicals regulation and is intended to provide a framework that can respond more effectively to developments in industry and technology.
This should not be interpreted as a completed change to UK chemical-safety law. Rather, it represents a government policy direction and planned regulatory reform that businesses involved in chemical manufacture, import, storage or use should monitor.
Why this matters
Chemical regulation can be complex, particularly for businesses operating across multiple jurisdictions. Any move towards a more agile regulatory framework could have implications for how chemical hazards are assessed, controlled and communicated.
Given the number of significant chemical and gas-related workplace incidents being reported internationally, this is an area where regulatory effectiveness remains particularly important.
7. India – Occupational Safety Framework Continues to Develop
Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020
India’s major reform of occupational safety legislation continues to develop through the implementation of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020 and associated Central Rules.
The Code represents a major consolidation of India’s previous occupational safety legislation, bringing multiple laws into a single framework intended to simplify compliance and provide greater consistency across industries and jurisdictions. The Central Rules were notified in May 2026, forming part of the continuing implementation of India’s wider labour-code reforms.
The reforms cover a broad range of issues including occupational safety and health, working conditions, welfare arrangements, contract labour and other employment-related requirements. State-level rules and implementation remain important because responsibilities can differ depending on which government is the appropriate authority for a particular establishment.
Why this matters
India’s labour-code reforms are among the most significant changes to the country’s employment and occupational-safety framework in decades. For companies operating across India, the transition from multiple historic laws towards a consolidated framework could have substantial compliance implications.
The reforms are also particularly relevant to international businesses because India has one of the world’s largest and most diverse industrial workforces.
What Do These Changes Tell Us About the Direction of Health & Safety Regulation?
Although these seven developments come from very different jurisdictions, several common themes emerge.
1. Greater focus on critical risk
New Zealand’s reforms are perhaps the clearest example of governments attempting to concentrate regulatory effort on hazards capable of producing catastrophic outcomes. The same concept can be seen indirectly in regulatory discussions elsewhere.
2. Heat is becoming a mainstream occupational safety issue
California’s continuing work on heat regulations, combined with OSHA’s federal heat rulemaking, demonstrates that heat exposure is moving increasingly towards the centre of occupational safety policy in the United States.
3. Regulators are trying to balance protection with regulatory burden
Both New Zealand and the United States are wrestling with the same fundamental question: how can regulation remain effective without creating unnecessary administrative requirements?
That is potentially one of the defining occupational-safety policy debates of the coming decade.
4. Building safety remains a major government priority
The UK’s Building Safety Levy demonstrates that the regulatory consequences of major disasters can continue for many years. The focus has shifted from the immediate causes of Grenfell towards funding remediation, strengthening accountability and changing how buildings are designed, constructed and maintained.
5. Chemical and industrial hazards remain firmly on the regulatory agenda
The UK’s planned chemicals reforms demonstrate that governments continue to view chemical regulation as an area requiring both strong protection and greater regulatory flexibility.
What Should Employers Be Doing?
For employers operating in these jurisdictions, the most important point is that not every announcement represents an immediate new legal requirement.
Businesses should distinguish between:
- legislation already in force;
- legislation that has been enacted but has a future commencement date;
- proposed regulations;
- consultations;
- government policy announcements; and
- longer-term regulatory programmes.
The appropriate response will therefore depend on the jurisdiction and the specific development.
However, organisations with international operations should consider maintaining a regulatory horizon-scanning process so that forthcoming changes can be identified early rather than discovered when a new requirement has already taken effect.
World Safety News – Legislative Update
Health and safety legislation is rarely static. Governments are continually adjusting regulatory frameworks in response to changing technology, emerging hazards, major incidents and concerns about the effectiveness or proportionality of existing requirements.
For safety professionals, the challenge is not simply knowing what the law says today. It is understanding where regulation is heading and what that may mean for the way organisations manage risk tomorrow.
World Safety News will continue to monitor significant legislative and regulatory developments internationally, including new laws, consultations, enforcement priorities and changes to established safety requirements.
This article is provided for general information and does not constitute legal, regulatory or professional advice. Legislative and regulatory requirements vary between jurisdictions and may change. Organisations should consult the relevant government agency, regulator or qualified professional to determine the requirements applicable to their specific circumstances.
