About Safety Groups UK
Safety Groups UK is registered charity no. 1048425, established in 1947 and an embedded part of the UK health and safety system. We're recognised by the HSE as a participating partner, sit on the Construction Dust Partnership, and take part in the HSE's AGM and Board meetings - coordinating a nationwide network of local voluntary Occupational Health and Safety Groups covering a wide range of industries, including a specialist group for the charity sector.
Learn, Network, Grow
Three words sum up what SGUK and our local groups are here to do: help members of local groups, and the wider workplace community, learn about risks and risk solutions in an encouraging environment, network with supportive people who share their interests, and grow their abilities and experience.
Learn
We promote awareness, knowledge and understanding of work-related health and safety risks and how to manage them - bringing people together to hear important messages and share experiences, concerns and solutions.
Network
Our network carries strategic ideas through to the ground floor, going beyond awareness to build real understanding - improving the odds of effective action back in members' own organisations.
Grow
Local groups are a seed bed where people with limited health and safety experience can engage, learn and build confidence - often inspiring a bigger role in health and safety, sometimes a whole career.
While the core membership of local groups includes health and safety professionals and specialists, their distinctive role is to educate and support non-specialists who carry health and safety responsibilities alongside their wider job - directors and partners of small firms, general managers, HR managers, engineers, contractors and suppliers - helping reduce the toll of deaths, life-changing injuries and illness caused by work activities. In doing so, SGUK also supports the interests of organisations like NEBOSH, IIRSM and IOSH, providing a steady stream of people who want to achieve more in the world of health and safety.
Share and encourage
SGUK gives space, support and encouragement for health and safety projects to grow - including our ongoing UK campaign, Health Risks at Work, which runs both as an overarching health campaign and as initiatives focused on specific risks. The campaign's current focus is mental health: an SGUK group in Scotland produced a short film portraying the signs of mental ill health and the need for people in the workplace to support those affected, now a key part of how we promote awareness and encourage action.
Our SGUK Awards recognise achievement, celebrate it at an annual ceremony, and share success with our network and the wider health and safety community - encouraging good practice in the form of innovation and education, and promoting it widely for the benefit of everyone in the field.