Guide
Health and safety in shared workplaces
Your legal duties under MHSWR 1999 Regulations 11-12 when sharing a workplace with other employers. Covers cooperation, coordination, information sharing, and host employer duties to visiting workers.
When these duties apply
If you share your workplace with other employers, Regulations 11 and 12 of MHSWR 1999 impose specific duties to cooperate, coordinate, and share information. These duties are increasingly relevant as co-working spaces, shared offices, multi-tenanted buildings, and complex contractor arrangements become more common.
Regulation 11 applies whenever two or more employers share a workplace - whether a permanent arrangement (shared office) or temporary (contractors on your site).
Regulation 12 applies specifically when employees from an external employer work in your undertaking - the host employer duty.
The three duties under Regulation 11
1. Cooperate
Each employer sharing the workplace must cooperate with the others so far as is necessary to enable all parties to comply with health and safety law. This means:
- Attending and contributing to coordination meetings
- Responding to reasonable requests for information about your activities
- Participating in joint emergency planning and drills
- Being willing to adapt your arrangements when they affect other occupiers
2. Coordinate
Each employer must take reasonable steps to coordinate their health and safety measures with those of other employers. This ensures that:
- Control measures do not conflict or create gaps
- Emergency procedures are compatible across all occupiers
- Maintenance and cleaning arrangements do not create hazards for others
- Shared facilities (stairs, lifts, loading bays) are managed safely
3. Inform
Each employer must inform other employers of risks arising from their own activities that could affect the other employers' employees. For example:
- If your work generates fumes, noise, or dust that could reach shared areas
- If you use hazardous substances that could leak or spill
- If your delivery vehicles use shared access routes
- If your work creates temporary hazards (wet floors, obstructed exits)
Practical arrangements for shared workplaces
- Coordination meetings
- Hold regular meetings with other occupiers to discuss shared health and safety issues, review incidents, and plan maintenance or building work
- Shared site rules
- Agree common safety rules for shared areas including parking, loading, waste disposal, smoking areas, and visitor management
- Joint emergency procedures
- Develop compatible or joint evacuation procedures, ensure alarms are audible throughout, and coordinate assembly points and roll calls
- Shared risk assessments
- Conduct joint assessments for common areas such as stairwells, lifts, car parks, kitchens, and reception areas
- Contractor management
- If you engage contractors, ensure they receive adequate information about your workplace risks before work begins
- Building management
- Clarify the landlord or managing agent's responsibilities for common areas, fire systems, and building maintenance
-
Identify all employers sharing your workplace
Map out who else occupies or works in your premises, including other tenants, contractors, cleaners, security, and maintenance providers.
-
Establish communication channels
Set up regular coordination meetings or a shared communication system for health and safety matters. Exchange key contact details.
-
Share relevant risk information
Provide other employers with information about risks from your activities that could affect their workers. Ask them to do the same.
-
Coordinate emergency procedures
Ensure all occupiers have compatible emergency procedures. Test with joint evacuation drills at least annually.
-
Brief contractors and visitors
Provide site-specific induction for anyone working in your premises from an external employer, covering risks and safety arrangements.
-
Document arrangements
Keep records of coordination meetings, shared risk assessments, information exchanges, and joint emergency plans.