World Humanitarian Day 2025: Solidarity starts here – and safety must follow

Posted on September 29, 2025

World Humanitarian Day, celebrated a couple of months ago, was a day to honour those who dedicate their lives to helping others, and a chance to shine a light on the risks they face while doing so.

This year’s theme, “Strengthening global solidarity and empowering local communities,” reminds us that humanitarianism isn’t just about compassion, it’s about protection. And in the UK, that means recognising the health and safety challenges faced by frontline workers, volunteers, and community responders.

From emergency shelter teams to mental health outreach workers, humanitarian efforts in the UK are often carried out under immense pressure, with limited resources and rising risks. These include workplace violence and harassment in social care and crisis response roles; exposure to hazardous environments, such as flood zones or derelict buildings; mental health strain and burnout, especially among unpaid volunteers; lack of formal training or PPE for grassroots responders.

These are not just operational issues, they’re health and safety failures. And to my mind they must be addressed with the same rigour we apply to construction sites or industrial workplaces.

The case for stronger safeguards

If we truly value humanitarian work, we must ensure robust risk assessments for community-led initiatives; ensure access to mental health support for aid workers and volunteers; provide training and protective equipment for those responding to local emergencies; enforce safeguarding protocols in all humanitarian settings, paid or unpaid.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has made great strides in regulating traditional workplaces, but humanitarian environments often fall through the cracks. It’s time to close that gap.

UK Health & Safety culture: leading by example

The UK’s health and safety culture is widely recognised as world-leading – not just for its regulatory backbone, but for its evolving emphasis on psychological safety, proactive leadership, and innovation.

This year, as I have written about before, marks the 50th anniversary of the HSE, a milestone that reflects decades of progress. From pioneering risk-based regulation to developing behavioural safety frameworks, the HSE has helped embed safety culture across sectors -including those with humanitarian dimensions.

Recent studies from the British Safety Council show that 81% of UK workers now view mental well-being as integral to workplace safety. This shift is especially relevant to humanitarian roles, where emotional resilience and trauma-informed care are essential. Employers are increasingly integrating HR and H&S functions to create holistic support systems.

Building safety reform

Post-Grenfell reforms have reshaped fire safety and building management across the UK. Stricter oversight of cladding, mandatory qualifications for fire safety duty holders, and the rise of offsite construction are reducing high-risk activities and improving safety outcomes -lessons that apply directly to community infrastructure and emergency shelter projects.

As green industries grow, so does the need for safety innovation. Wind turbine and solar panel installation now require specialised protocols, and sustainability goals are being linked to employee well-being. The UK is exploring legislation that ties environmental responsibility to health and safety outcomes, a vital step for humanitarian efforts that aim to be both ethical and sustainable.

The NHS is pioneering a Safety-II approach, which focuses on learning from everyday work – not just errors. Compassionate leadership, inclusive team dynamics, and psychological safety are becoming standard practice. These principles are increasingly adopted in social care and humanitarian outreach, where adaptability and trust are critical.

A moment of remembrance and a call to rethink

Let’s also remember the humanitarian workers who’ve lost their lives in 2025 – over 260 and counting. Their sacrifice is a stark reminder that compassion is not without cost.

But remembrance alone isn’t enough. If we want to build a culture of humanitarianism that lasts, we must embed safety into its very foundation. That means rethinking how we fund, train, and protect those who serve, whether abroad or in our own communities.

Humanitarianism without safety is unsustainable, so also commit not only to helping others, but also to safeguarding those who do the helping.