Health and safety (H&S) compliance is a legal responsibility for every UK employer, regardless of size. The law aims to protect you, your employees, and the public from workplace dangers. For most small, low-risk businesses, the necessary steps are straightforward and cost-effective. Following the guidance from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) ensures you fulfill your duty of care without unnecessary complexity.

1. The Three Non-Negotiable Requirements

Health and safety law is based on a few core duties, which must be addressed proactively.

Duty 1: The Risk Assessment

This is the foundation of all your H&S planning. It is a mandatory, continuous process of identifying hazards and determining how to control them.

• The 5 Steps:
  1. Identify Hazards: Walk around your workplace and note anything that could cause harm (e.g., trailing cables, heavy lifting, stress).
  2. Identify Who is at Risk: Think beyond employees to include visitors, contractors, or the public.
  3. Evaluate and Control Risks: Decide how likely harm is and what measures you need to put in place to eliminate the hazard, or at least control the risk to a reasonable level (e.g., tidying cables, providing safe lifting equipment).
  4. Record Findings: If you employ five or more people, you must legally record the significant findings of your assessment in writing. (It is best practice to do this even with fewer than five employees.)
  5. Review and Update: Review the assessment regularly and whenever there are significant changes to your workplace or work activities (e.g., new machinery, new premises).
• HSE Templates: The HSE website provides free templates and example risk assessments for common business types (like offices and shops) to help you get started.

Duty 2: The Health and Safety Policy

This document sets out how you manage H&S within your business, clearly stating roles and responsibilities.

• When It’s Mandatory: If you employ five or more people, you must have a written policy.
• What It Covers:
  • The overall statement of your commitment.
  • The Responsibilities of specific people (who does what).
  • The Arrangements for implementing the policy (your procedures).
• Action: Appoint a Competent Person (which can be the business owner in a low-risk SME) to take the lead on H&S matters.

Duty 3: Providing Information and Training

You must ensure all employees are aware of the risks and trained on how to work safely.

• Induction: Provide clear H&S instructions as part of every new employee’s induction (reinforcing points made in [Hiring and Managing Staff in the UK]).
• Poster: You must display the HSE’s official Health and Safety Law poster in a prominent place or provide employees with the equivalent leaflet.

2. Mandatory Records and Welfare

Reporting Incidents (RIDDOR)

You are legally required to report certain serious work-related injuries, diseases, or dangerous occurrences (near-misses) to the HSE under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR). The HSE RIDDOR portal provides clear guidance on which incidents must be reported.

Welfare Facilities

As an employer, you must provide adequate welfare facilities for all staff, including:

• Toilets and washbasins (with soap and a method for drying hands).
• Clean, accessible drinking water.
• Somewhere to rest and eat meals.
• Adequate ventilation, lighting, and reasonable working temperatures.

First Aid

You must make arrangements to ensure employees receive immediate attention if they are injured or taken ill at work. At a minimum, this requires having a stocked first-aid box and an appointed person to take charge of first-aid arrangements.

3. External Support and The Big Picture

• Mandatory Insurance: As we covered in [Insurance Essentials for Local Businesses], you must have Employers’ Liability (EL) Insurance as soon as you hire any staff.
• HSE Support: The independent national regulator is the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Their website provides all the official guidance you need, ensuring your approach is proportionate to your business size and risk level.

Our advice: Don’t view H&S as paperwork. View it as a practical, continuous process of looking after your team (as covered in [Mental Health & Wellbeing in the Workplace]) and protecting your business. Start by completing a simple risk assessment today using the free templates provided by the HSE.