Health and Safety in the Workplace UK: What Employers and Employees Need to Know

What Is Health and Safety Law in the UK?

UK workplace health and safety is built on one main law: the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, commonly known as HASAWA. This Act sets out the general duties for employers, employees, and anyone else affected by work activities. 

Other regulations sit underneath HASAWA and add detail on specific risks. These are called statutory instruments, and they cover areas like risk assessment, display screen equipment, and personal protective equipment. 

The Health and Safety Executive, known as HSE, is the government body responsible for enforcing this law across Great Britain. HSE can inspect workplaces, issue improvement notices, and prosecute employers who fail to meet their duties. 

What Are an Employer's Legal Duties?

Employers carry the main legal responsibility for health and safety at work. Under HASAWA, an employer must protect the health, safety, and welfare of employees and anyone else who might be affected by the business, as far as is reasonably practicable. 

What Does "Reasonably Practicable" Mean?

This is a specific legal test, not a general phrase. It means an employer must weigh the risk against the time, cost, and effort needed to reduce it, and take action where the risk clearly outweighs that cost. 

What Must Employers Provide?

Employers must carry out risk assessments and take steps to remove or reduce the risks they find. They must also give staff proper information, instruction, training, and supervision so people can do their jobs safely. 

Employers must appoint at least one competent person to oversee health and safety day to day. They must also provide personal protective equipment free of charge when it is needed, and this duty now covers all workers, including casual, agency, and zero-hours staff, following updates to the PPE Regulations in 2022. 

What Are an Employee's Legal Duties?

Employees are not passive under this law. HASAWA places two main duties on every worker. 

The first duty is to take reasonable care of their own health and safety, and that of anyone else who might be affected by what they do at work. The second duty is to cooperate with their employer, so that the employer can meet its own legal obligations. 

In practice, this means following training, using equipment correctly, wearing PPE when required, and never misusing safety equipment such as fire extinguishers or alarms. Employees must also report hazards, near misses, and unsafe practices promptly, so small problems do not turn into serious accidents. 

What Are the Key Supporting Regulations?

Several regulations sit alongside HASAWA and cover specific workplace risks. Knowing the right name for each one matters, since they apply in different situations. 

Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999

Known as the Management Regs, this places a duty on employers to carry out risk assessments and manage the risks they identify. It also requires employers to appoint a competent person and to provide staff with proper information and training. 

Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992

This covers the physical work environment. It requires employers to keep the workplace safe, provide adequate lighting, ventilation, and temperature control, and supply welfare facilities such as toilets and drinking water. 

RIDDOR 2013

RIDDOR stands for the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations. It requires employers to report certain injuries, diseases, and dangerous incidents to HSE. 

HSE opened a consultation on the biggest overhaul of RIDDOR in over a decade, running until 30 June 2026. The proposals would expand the list of reportable occupational diseases from six to nineteen, adding conditions linked to asbestos, silica exposure, and noise-induced hearing loss. 

Fire Safety and the Responsible Person

Fire safety works slightly differently. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order, the employer becomes the "Responsible Person" and must carry out a fire risk assessment, even if they appoint someone else to help manage it day to day. 

How Has Mental Health Become Part of Health and Safety Law?

Mental health is no longer treated as a separate wellbeing topic. HSE now expects psychosocial risks, such as stress, excessive workload, and burnout, to be assessed and managed in the same way as any physical hazard, under the existing Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. 

Nearly 964,000 workers reported stress, depression, or anxiety in 2024/25, out of around 1.9 million total work-related ill health cases that year. HSE has confirmed it will take enforcement action where an employer fails to manage work-related stress, particularly where there are warning signs such as repeated staff absences or ignored concerns. 

This shift means a stress risk assessment is now a legal expectation, not a nice-to-have. Employers with five or more staff must also keep a written record of significant findings from these assessments. 

What Has Changed in Health and Safety Law for 2026?

A few concrete changes came into effect this year, and most current guides on this topic have not caught up with them. 

HSE increased its cost recovery rates from 1 April 2026. The Fee for Intervention rate, which businesses pay when HSE finds a material breach during an inspection, rose from £183 to £188 per hour. 

The Building Safety Regulator became a fully independent body, separate from HSE, on 27 January 2026. This affects landlords and building operators managing high-risk or multi-occupancy buildings, since oversight now sits with a standalone regulator rather than inside HSE. 

HSE also updated its Workplace Exposure Limits guidance in 2026, tightening the limit for respirable crystalline silica. This affects construction, stone masonry, and manufacturing businesses in particular, since it lowers the amount of dust exposure considered acceptable. 

Who Enforces Health and Safety Law in the UK?

Two main bodies enforce workplace health and safety: HSE and local authorities. Which one applies to a business depends on the sector, the work activity, and the type of hazard involved. 

HSE focuses its resources on the most serious risks and the sectors with the worst safety records. It offers free guidance to help employers manage risk correctly, alongside its enforcement role. 

If an employer breaches health and safety law, they can face both criminal and civil consequences. Criminal law can lead to fines or prosecution brought by the state, while civil law allows an injured person to seek compensation directly through a claim. 

How Should Employers Set Up a Health and Safety Policy?

Every business is legally required to have a health and safety policy. This policy should explain how the business manages health and safety, and name the people responsible for different areas of it. 

Employers should share this policy across the whole organisation and use it as the basis for training. They should also consult employees or their representatives when developing or reviewing the policy, since staff are often best placed to spot real workplace risks. 

Where two or more safety representatives request it in writing, an employer must set up a health and safety committee within three months. This gives staff a formal channel to raise concerns and shape how safety is managed. 

For anyone building foundational safety knowledge in a specific sector, TrainifyHUB's construction site safety awareness course and PPE safety awareness course both cover the practical side of the duties outlined in this guide.