Health & Safety Policy UK: Employer Guide (2026)

Overview

A health and safety policy is a written statement of how your business manages the wellbeing of people at work. It isn't just a tick-box exercise for regulators. It's a working document that tells your team, your contractors, and anyone visiting your premises how safety is handled and what standards you expect.

Most policies contain three connected parts. The first is a statement of intent, which is a short declaration signed by the most senior person in the business, setting out the general approach to health and safety. The second sets out responsibilities, naming who looks after what: the business owner, managers, named safety representatives, and employees themselves.

The third section covers arrangements, meaning the practical steps and procedures you use to control risks, train staff, report incidents, and review how things are working. Together, these three parts turn general good intentions into something staff can actually follow.

Key steps

1. Assess the risks in your workplace. Walk through each area of your business and identify what could cause harm. This covers physical hazards like machinery, slips and manual handling, as well as less obvious ones such as stress, lone working, or exposure to hazardous substances. Record what you find so nothing is left to memory.
2. Decide on sensible controls. For each risk you've identified, work out what you can reasonably do to remove or reduce it. That might mean guarding equipment, changing how a task is done, providing protective equipment, or training people differently. Focus on the higher risks first and be realistic about what is practical for your size of business.
3. Write the policy in plain English. Draft your statement of intent, your list of responsibilities, and your arrangements for controlling risks. Keep the language straightforward so that everyone in the business can read it and understand what it asks of them. Technical jargon tends to make policies sit unread in a drawer.
4. Share it with your workforce. A policy only works if the people it covers actually know it exists. Give staff a copy, go through it during inductions for new starters, and display the main points somewhere visible. Make space for questions, because the people doing the work often spot gaps that managers miss.
5. Review and update regularly. Health and safety isn't a set-and-forget task. Review your policy when you change premises, bring in new equipment, take on more staff, or after any incident or near miss. An annual review is a sensible minimum for most businesses, with quicker updates when circumstances change.

Common questions