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What this means for your business

19 obligations

17 penalties

17 can imprison

74 guides

Enforced by: HSE, ONR, ORR
Applies to: United Kingdom
On this page: 19 compliance obligations, 74 practical guides across 3 topics

Read full text on legislation.gov.uk

What you must do

19 compliance obligations under this legislation — 17 can result in imprisonment.

Appointments 1

You must name one or more competent people who can help you meet your health‑and‑safety legal duties. Make sure they can work together, have enough time and resources for the job, and receive the information they need to keep your workers safe. This does not apply if you are a sole self‑employed trader who is competent himself, or a partnership where a competent partner is already in place.

Employer s.7 HSE Applies to any employer (i.e. a business with employees) that is not …

Risk assessment 2

If you have women of child‑bearing age and the work they do could harm the mother or her baby, you must carry out a specific risk assessment. If the assessment shows a risk that cannot be removed by other legal duties, you should reasonably change the employee’s duties or hours, and if that is not possible you must suspend her until the risk is gone.

Employer s.16 HSE Your workforce includes women of child‑bearing age and the job may pose …

You must produce a suitable and sufficient risk assessment of any health and safety hazards that affect your employees and anyone else who could be harmed by your work. The assessment must be kept up‑to‑date, especially if you employ a young person or if anything changes significantly, and if you have five or more staff you also need to record the key findings and note any groups at particular risk. This helps you identify the measures you need to put in place to stay compliant.

Employer s.3 HSE When you employ staff (including young persons); if you have five or …

Management duties 11

If you use an agency worker who is pregnant or expecting, you must change her working conditions or hours to eliminate any identified health‑risk, provided that change is reasonable and would remove the risk. If you cannot reasonably make such a change, you must promptly tell the agency so they stop sending that worker to you.

Employer Alteration of working conditions in respect of new HSE A pregnant or expectant agency worker is exposed to a workplace risk …

You must make sure that any external services you need for first‑aid, emergency medical care or rescue work are set up and available. This means putting in place contracts, agreements or written procedures with the relevant providers so they can be called on quickly if an incident occurs.

Employer s.9 HSE

When you put any health‑and‑safety steps in place – for example new procedures, equipment or protective devices – you must base them on the set of prevention principles listed in Schedule 1 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. In practice this means checking those principles before you design or adopt any safety measure and keeping a record that you have done so.

Employer s.4 HSE When implementing any preventive or protective measures

If your business shares a workplace with another employer (or self‑employed person), you must work together to help each other meet health‑and‑safety duties. This means aligning your safety measures with theirs and telling them about any risks your work creates for their staff.

Employer s.11 HSE When you share a workplace with another employer or self‑employed person (temporarily …

If you employ a pregnant or new mother, you must keep the legal health‑and‑safety duties that protect her (Regulations 16, 16A, 17 and 17A) in full force. You cannot put any clause in a contract that tries to limit or waive liability for breaching those duties, and any breach can be sued by the mother. In practice this means reviewing employment and service contracts and making sure your workplace complies with the maternity‑related safety duties.

Employer s.22 HSE when you have a pregnant, new or expectant mother employed, or when …

As an employer you must put in place appropriate arrangements to plan, organise, control, monitor and review the preventive and protective measures for health and safety at work. The arrangements should be suitable for the nature and size of your business. If you have five or more employees you also need to keep a written record of those arrangements.

Employer s.5 HSE If you employ five or more employees you must keep a written …

If an agency worker who is a new or expectant mother is doing night shifts and a doctor or midwife issues a certificate saying she must not work those night periods, you must tell the temporary work agency straight away. The agency must then stop supplying that worker for the night work identified in the certificate.

Employer Certificate from registered medical practitioner i HSE A new or expectant mother agency worker is scheduled for night work …

If you employ anyone under 18, you must keep them safe from hazards that arise because they lack experience or maturity. This means you must not put them in work that is too physically or psychologically demanding, or that involves toxic substances, radiation, extreme temperatures, noise, vibration or other risks they may not recognise, unless they are properly trained, supervised and the risk is reduced as far as reasonably practicable.

Employer s.19 HSE When you employ a young person (under 18) in your business

You must arrange health monitoring for any staff where the risks identified in your workplace risk assessments mean it is needed. The surveillance should be suitable to the specific hazards each employee faces. This helps detect early signs of work‑related ill health and meets your legal duties.

Employer s.6 HSE When a risk assessment identifies health risks that require monitoring

You must put in place clear steps to follow when there is a serious or imminent danger at work, name enough competent people to run any evacuation, and make sure anyone who needs to enter a restricted area has received proper health‑and‑safety instruction. In practice this means writing emergency plans, appointing trained staff and keeping training records.

Employer s.8 HSE

If a woman who is pregnant or has recently had a baby works at night and a doctor or midwife issues a certificate saying she must not do night work for health or safety reasons, you must stop her from working during the period shown on the certificate. This suspension must continue for as long as the certificate says is necessary.

Employer s.17 HSE A new or expectant mother works at night and a registered medical …

Other requirements 1

Your staff must only operate any machine, tool, substance or safety device that you have supplied in the way they were trained and instructed to do so. If they see anything that looks like an immediate danger or a weakness in your safety arrangements, they must tell you or the person responsible for health and safety straight away. This helps you keep the workplace safe and shows you are meeting legal duties.

Employee s.14 HSE

Training 4

You must give every employee clear, understandable information about the risks identified in the risk assessment, the steps taken to prevent or protect against those risks, the emergency procedures and who to contact for safety issues, as well as any risks that have been formally notified to you. If you are hiring a child, you must also give the same information to the child's parent before the child starts work. This helps staff and parents understand hazards and know who to turn to for help.

Employer s.10 HSE When employing any staff (and before employing a child, to the child's …

If you take on staff who are actually employed by another company or you hire a self‑employed contractor, you must give the other employer (or the contractor) clear information about any health‑ and safety risks in your workplace and what you are doing to control them. You also need to supply instructions on evacuation procedures so everyone knows who to follow in an emergency.

Employer s.12 HSE when employees of an outside employer or a self‑employed person are working …

If you hire anyone on a fixed‑term contract or use an agency to supply staff, you must give them clear information about any special skills they need and any health‑surveillance they’re entitled to, before they start work. You also need to make sure any agency you use passes the same information on to its employees.

Employer s.15 HSE when you employ temporary or agency workers (fixed‑term contracts or workers supplied …

You must check that each worker has the health‑and‑safety skills needed before you assign them a task. Then give them the right training when they start work and again whenever new risks appear – for example when they move to a new role, use new equipment, or a new technology or system of work is introduced. Training should be refreshed periodically and must take place during normal working hours.

Employer s.13 HSE When hiring, transferring, changing responsibilities, or introducing new equipment, technology or work …