HSE’s role on 100% hydrogen heating
Updated 24 March 2026
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The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Great Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. HSE’s mission is to protect people and places.
In line with its 10-year strategy, HSE is working to enable industries to innovate safely to prevent major incidents, supporting the move towards net zero, recognising that many of these technologies present challenges that businesses and society are less familiar with. As part of the UK government’s net zero targets to tackle climate change, HSE has applied its expert knowledge and capability to assess evidence on the safe distribution and use of 100% hydrogen heating.
HSE’s role within 100% hydrogen heating has been twofold:
- to guide the development of and review an appropriate evidence base to enable HSE to reach an authoritative view on the safety of using 100% hydrogen for heating
- to maintain regulatory oversight of hydrogen trials to ensure dutyholders have appropriate arrangements to manage the risks
How HSE assesses safety
For existing major hazards including gas safety, HSE assures safety against a mature regulatory framework. HSE advised the Gas Distribution Networks that they should apply this framework to their evidence demonstration as a basis for compliance with health and safety law. At the heart of this framework and the British health and safety system is the concept of reducing risk to a level that is ‘As Low as Reasonably Practicable’ or ALARP for short.
Determining what is reasonably practicable involves weighing a risk against the trouble, time and money needed to control it, meaning that control measures should be proportionate to the risk. This principle applies to the current gas system and will be applied to any potential use of hydrogen for heating, including trials.
Trial specific evidence
HSE has reviewed the safety evidence for the H100 trial in Fife, provided by SGN.
HSE will maintain its role as the independent regulator for workplace health and safety and will regulate the trial in line with that role, including having the ability to take enforcement action, if necessary, to ensure compliance with health and safety law.
Further information on how HSE regulates high hazard industries is available on the HSE website.
Broader safety evidence on hydrogen heating
Alongside site-specific evidence generated and assessed for the H100 trial, evidence has also been produced to support the demonstration of safety for a potential wider roll out of hydrogen heating. This evidence covers a much broader range of scenarios and potential end uses than those included in any trial area.
HSE has now completed its review of this evidence and submitted its assessment to DESNZ: