Your duties as an employer under health and safety law

The law that applies to every employer

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASAWA) is the primary legislation governing workplace health and safety in Great Britain. It applies to all employers, regardless of size or sector, from your first day of trading.

Your local council enforces the law in offices, shops, hotels, restaurants, pubs, leisure premises and care homes. HSE enforces it in factories, farms, building sites, schools, hospitals and similar workplaces.

Your duties to employees

Section 2 of HASAWA sets out your fundamental duty as an employer. You must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all your employees.

This general duty is broken down into five specific areas:

Safe plant and systems of work

You must provide and maintain plant (equipment, machinery, tools) and systems of work that are safe and without risks to health. This includes:

• Ensuring equipment is suitable for its intended purpose
• Regular maintenance and inspection of machinery
• Safe procedures for operating equipment
• Proper training before employees use dangerous equipment

Safe handling of articles and substances

You must make arrangements for safe use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances. This covers:

• Chemicals, cleaning products, and hazardous materials
• Correct storage (temperature, separation, containment)
• Personal protective equipment where needed
• COSHH assessments for hazardous substances

Information, instruction, training and supervision

You must provide employees with the information, training and supervision they need to work safely. This means:

• Induction training for new starters covering workplace hazards
• Specific training for high-risk tasks (machinery, heights, chemicals)
• Refresher training when procedures change
• Supervision appropriate to the level of risk and experience

Safe workplace

If you control the workplace, you must maintain it in a safe condition with safe access and exit routes. This includes:

• Safe flooring, stairs and walkways
• Adequate lighting
• Clear fire exits and escape routes
• Proper housekeeping to prevent slips, trips and falls

Safe working environment and welfare

You must provide a working environment that is safe, healthy and has adequate welfare facilities:

• Adequate ventilation, temperature and lighting
• Sufficient space for workers
• Clean toilets and washing facilities
• Drinking water
• Rest areas and facilities for eating meals

Your duty to protect others

Your duties extend beyond your employees. Section 3 requires you to conduct your business in such a way that people not in your employment are not exposed to risks to their health or safety.

This includes members of the public who may be affected by your work, customers and clients visiting your premises, contractors working at your site, delivery drivers entering your premises, and neighbours who might be affected by noise, fumes or other hazards from your operations.

For example, if you run a construction site, you must protect passers-by from falling debris. If you operate a restaurant, you must ensure customers are not exposed to fire risks or food safety hazards.

Duties for premises controllers

If you have control of non-domestic premises (as owner, landlord or occupier), Section 4 places duties on you to ensure the premises are safe for anyone using them.

This applies even if you are not the employer of everyone working there. For example, a landlord of business premises must maintain common areas, lifts and shared facilities, a property manager must keep access routes and emergency exits safe, and a building owner may be responsible for structural safety and fire precautions.

Where multiple parties share a building, each must cooperate to ensure overall safety.

What "reasonably practicable" means

The Act uses the phrase "so far as is reasonably practicable" throughout. Understanding this term is essential.

It does NOT mean:

• "Whatever we can afford"
• "Whatever is convenient"
• "Industry standard is good enough"

It DOES mean:

You must weigh the risk against the cost, time and trouble of reducing it. However, the law is weighted in favour of safety. You can only decide not to take a precaution if the cost would be grossly disproportionate to the risk.

In practice:

• If there is a significant risk of death or serious injury, cost is almost never a valid reason to avoid a precaution
• You must consider all reasonably available control measures
• The burden of proof is on you to show why a measure was not reasonably practicable
• Industry good practice sets the minimum standard you must meet

Risk assessment and competent help

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require every employer to assess the risks to employees and to anyone else affected by the work. For most small, low-risk businesses this is straightforward:

1. Identify what could cause harm, including health hazards such as manual handling, chemicals and work-related stress.
2. Decide who might be harmed and how, paying attention to young workers, new or expectant mothers and disabled workers.
3. Control the risks: remove the hazard if you can, otherwise reduce the risk, with personal protective equipment as the last measure.
4. Record the significant findings if you employ 5 or more people.
5. Review the controls to check they work, and again when staff, processes, substances or equipment change, or after an accident or near miss.

You must also appoint a competent person to help you meet your duties. That can be you, one or more of your workers, or an outside adviser. They need the skills, knowledge and experience to recognise hazards; formal qualifications are not required. Using an adviser does not transfer your legal duty.

Written health and safety policy

Section 2(3) requires employers to prepare a written health and safety policy. This document must set out:

1. A statement of intent giving your general policy and commitment to health and safety.
2. The organisation: who is responsible for what, by name and role.
3. The arrangements: the practical measures you have in place to manage specific risks.

Every business must have a policy. Once you employ 5 or more people it must be written down. Share the policy, and every change to it, with your employees, and revise it whenever your business changes significantly or after an accident. HSE publishes a free policy template you can adapt.

Consulting with employees

Section 2(6) requires employers to consult with employees on health and safety matters. How you do this depends on whether there are trade union safety representatives:

If trade unions appoint safety representatives:

• You must consult with these representatives
• They have rights to investigate hazards, inspect the workplace, and represent employees to HSE
• If two or more representatives request it, you must establish a safety committee

If there are no trade union representatives:

• You must still consult employees, either directly or through elected representatives
• The Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996 apply

Good consultation helps identify hazards you might miss and improves employee engagement with safety.

Your employees' duties

HASAWA is not one-sided. Sections 7 and 8 place duties on employees too:

Employees must take reasonable care for their own health and safety and that of others affected by what they do, and must cooperate with you so far as necessary for you to comply with the law.

No one may intentionally or recklessly interfere with or misuse anything provided for health and safety. That includes tampering with safety equipment, bypassing guards or disabling alarms.

While employees have duties, the primary responsibility for workplace safety rests with you as the employer. You cannot delegate your legal duty or blame employees for inadequate systems.

First aid, accidents and reporting

Every workplace needs a suitably stocked first aid kit, an appointed person to take charge of first aid arrangements, and information telling employees what those arrangements are. Higher-risk work may need trained first aiders.

Under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) you must report certain incidents to the enforcing authority:

• Deaths, specified injuries such as most fractures and amputations, and dangerous occurrences: notify without delay and send a report within 10 days.
• Injuries that keep a worker off normal duties for more than 7 consecutive days, not counting the day of the accident: report within 15 days.
• Diagnosed reportable occupational diseases: report without delay.

Keep a record of every reportable incident and of any injury that keeps someone off normal duties for more than 3 days. Keep each entry for at least 3 years and store it securely, because it holds personal data.

Insurance and the law poster

You need employers' liability insurance from an insurer authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority as soon as you become an employer. Display the certificate where employees can see it, which can be on your intranet, and show it to an inspector who asks. Failing to display it can lead to a £1,000 fine.

You are exempt if all your employees are close family members, unless your business is a limited company, or if your company's only employee is its owner and they hold at least 50% of the issued shares.

You must also display the HSE health and safety law poster where workers can read it, or give each worker the equivalent leaflet.

Common misunderstandings

Being small reduces your paperwork, not your duties. The law applies from your first employee, whether they work full-time, part-time or casually.

Employing family does not change your health and safety duties. The only family exemption is from employers' liability insurance, and it does not apply to a limited company.

Home working is covered. You have the same responsibilities for people working at home as for anyone else, so include their workstation, equipment and stress in your risk assessment.

You rarely need a consultant. Most small businesses can manage health and safety themselves with their workers' help and HSE's free templates.

Self-employed persons

If you are self-employed, you also have duties under HASAWA:

• You must conduct your undertaking so that you and others are not exposed to health and safety risks
• The Deregulation Act 2015 narrowed this duty for some low-risk self-employed activities
• If your work activity could pose a risk to others, you remain subject to full duties

Prescribed activities where full duties apply include construction, agriculture, work with hazardous substances, and work alongside employees of others.

Getting compliance right from the start

Health and safety compliance does not need to be complicated for most small businesses. Focus on these essentials: