From Reactive to Proactive: How UK Workplaces Are Rethinking Health, Safety and Security

Robert Pomohaci-Ashcroft

Innovation Scout

Across UK workplaces, the traditional model of health and safety, waiting for incidents and then responding, is being replaced. The new focus is on proactive strategies that anticipate risks and prevent harm before it happens.

The scale of the challenge is significant. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the total cost of workplace injury and new cases of ill health reached £20.7 billion in 2022/23. The British Retail Consortium also reports £1.8 billion in annual losses from theft across the retail sector. Lost working days from accidents, stress and ill health continue to weigh heavily on productivity.

Forward-looking organisations are already making changes.

They are:

• Learning from everyday operations and near-misses, not just major incidents
• Using advanced surveillance and analytics to reduce blind spots and flag unsafe behaviours
• Replacing outdated manual access controls with dynamic, automated systems
• Integrating physical and cyber security as automation, robotics, and cloud-based platforms become central to operations
• This shift is not simply about compliance. It is about resilience, culture and reputation,  ensuring organisations are safer, more secure, and more trusted by their employees, customers and investors.

For large UK organisations, moving from reactive to proactive is becoming a competitive edge. Smarter systems reduce fines, disruptions and reputational damage. A cultural shift from “tick-box compliance” to continuous learning builds trust and resilience. And by unifying fragmented legacy systems into intelligent platforms, enterprises unlock real-time visibility and actionable insight. It is safer, ESG-aligned, and commercially sound.

This also creates new opportunities for innovation. Enterprises are actively seeking solutions that are scalable, data-driven and cost-effective, which opens the door for startups. Demand is growing for AI-powered monitoring, predictive safety analytics, and non-invasive security tools. Agile startups can outpace legacy providers by being more flexible and by embedding proactive safety into the wider fabric of operational resilience.

The opportunity is clear: to deliver measurable ROI while shaping the next generation of safer, smarter workplaces.

The Standouts

From AI safety platforms to robot cybersecurity, here are some of the startups rethinking how workplaces protect people, assets and operations:

Surveily – Poland-based AI platform turning ordinary CCTV into a proactive safety system. Works with 95% of digital cameras to spot unsafe behaviour, PPE violations and hazards in real time. Delivers GDPR-compliant anonymisation, dashboards and reporting – making safety monitoring smarter, faster and scalable across multiple sites.
Intenseye – New York and Istanbul startup with 45+ AI modules tracking PPE, ergonomics, vehicle movements and near-misses. Integrates with existing cameras to deliver real-time alerts and compliance dashboards. Backed by $64M in funding, it’s already trusted by Fortune 500 companies to cut incidents and boost visibility.
Thruvision – UK innovator in non-invasive security screening. Its thermal imaging tech detects concealed items without manual searches, offering a more effective and respectful alternative to bag checks. Deployed across retail, logistics and aviation, it’s changing how organisations deter internal theft and protect assets.
Alias Robotics – Spanish pioneer in robot cybersecurity. Creator of the Robot Immune System (RIS), a certified software protecting robots against malware and cyber threats. Offers penetration testing, threat modelling and certifications, helping enterprises secure the next wave of robotics and automation.

We’d like to hear from you!

If you are a startup building or providing Health, Safety and Security proactive solutions, we would love to hear from you! Reach out to robert@lmarks.com or simran@lmarks.com.