Health & Safety Basics Check

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places a legal duty on every employer — regardless of size — to protect the health, safety and welfare of employees and anyone else affected by their work, including customers and visitors. Businesses with five or more employees must also have a written health and safety policy. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) can issue improvement or prohibition notices, and prosecute businesses (and in some cases directors personally) for serious failures, with fines that scale with turnover and can reach into the millions for the most serious cases.

For most small businesses, the core requirements are manageable: a basic risk assessment for your workplace and activities, employers’ liability insurance (a legal requirement for almost all employers), a first aid provision appropriate to your workplace, and clear information for staff about risks and procedures. The HSE’s own data shows that lack of basic risk assessment — not exotic hazards — is behind a large share of enforcement action against small businesses.

This check reviews your basic health and safety arrangements against HSE requirements and highlights the most common gaps for small businesses.