Health and safety law: what does my employer have to do?

Health and safety law puts the duty to make work safe on your employer. That includes the packing line, the lift from bed to chair and the workload making you ill. You have duties too, but your employer cannot hand its responsibility to you.

Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 explained

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 applies in England, Wales and Scotland. Section 2 requires employers to protect employees’ health, safety and welfare “so far as is reasonably practicable”. This is not an affordability test. The employer must weigh the risk against the money, time and trouble needed to control it. A precaution can be rejected only where that sacrifice would be grossly disproportionate to the risk. A tight budget does not excuse an unsafe job.

What are 5 health and safety responsibilities of employers?

Section 2(2) of the 1974 Act sets out five areas your employer must cover, so far as is reasonably practicable:

1. Safe equipment and systems of work. Machinery must be safe to use, and the way the job is organised must not put you at risk. A missing guard or an unsafe lifting routine is the employer’s problem to fix.
2. Safe handling of materials and substances. Using, handling, storing and transporting them must be safe. That includes the cleaning chemicals you use after customers have gone home.
3. Information, instruction, training and supervision. You must be shown how to do the job safely and told about its risks. Being new, temporary or on a night shift is not a reason to leave you guessing.
4. A safe workplace, including entrances and exits. You need safe access to where you work and a safe way out, not an exit blocked with stock.
5. A safe working environment and welfare facilities. Toilets, drinking water, ventilation and lighting are part of the duty, not optional extras.

These are the five areas in the Act, not the whole of safety law. Risk assessments, free required PPE, consultation and emergency arrangements turn that duty into practical protection, as the sections below explain.

Under section 3, employers must also conduct their business so that non-employees, including contractors, agency staff, customers and passers-by, are not exposed to health and safety risks so far as is reasonably practicable. Under section 9, employees cannot be charged for anything the employer does or provides to meet safety law. If the assessment requires protective boots, the employer must provide suitable boots free. That is different from a dress code requiring ordinary shoes.

What health and safety rights do employees have?

You are entitled to more than a policy on the wall. Your employer must assess and control risks, give you understandable safety information, provide the training and protection you need, and consult you about safety. If you are an agency worker or not an employee, you still have safety rights, but protection against retaliation depends on your status and the action you take.

• Required PPE must be free. This covers employees and limb (b) workers under the PPE rules.
• Employee safety training must be free and in working hours. Your employer cannot make unpaid personal time the price of doing the job safely.
• You must be consulted. That can be through union safety reps, elected representatives or directly, depending on who represents you.
• You have protection for qualifying safety action. In Great Britain, that includes stepping away from serious and imminent danger on the conditions below. Employees also have protection for specified ways of raising concerns and carrying out safety duties.

Can you refuse dangerous work without being punished?

In Great Britain, section 44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 protects employees and other workers against detriment for certain safety action. For leaving or refusing to return to a dangerous workplace, you must reasonably believe the danger is serious and imminent, and it must be danger you could not reasonably be expected to avert. The law also protects appropriate steps to protect yourself or others from danger you reasonably believe is serious and imminent.

A collapsing trench, a suspected gas leak or an immediate threat of violence may meet that test. A general dislike of the job does not. Appropriate steps depend on what you knew and the facilities and advice available at the time. The law does not require you to seek permission before leaving qualifying danger.

Detriment means disadvantage, such as disciplinary action, worse shifts or withheld pay. If your employer imposes it because you took protected action, you can bring a claim without any minimum service. Since 31 May 2021 the serious-and-imminent-danger protections cover other workers as well as employees. If you are an employee dismissed for a protected safety reason, section 100 makes the dismissal automatically unfair, again without qualifying service. Other workers cannot claim unfair dismissal, but ending their engagement may amount to detriment under section 44.

You do not have to prove that someone would have died. You need a reasonable belief in serious and imminent danger.

You need not wait for an emergency to raise a concern. Employees also have protection for specified safety duties and representative activities. Section 44 protects an employee who raises a reasonably believed harmful or potentially harmful work situation by reasonable means where there is no safety representative or committee, or it is not reasonably practicable to use that route. A disclosure about danger may separately qualify for whistleblowing protection, including for other workers, if the legal conditions are met.

What to do if work is unsafe or your shifts are cut

1. Get to safety. Follow evacuation procedures and do not put yourself at risk to collect evidence. Call emergency services where needed.
2. Explain the danger. Tell your manager and safety representative as soon as it is safe. Say what you believe could happen and why. Confirm the concern in writing, even if all you can manage after a shift is a short text or email.
3. Keep a record. Note dates, witnesses, instructions and any punishment or loss of pay. Ask what control will make a return safe. Keep screenshots and copies somewhere you can reach outside work.
4. Use the right reporting route. In Great Britain, check which regulator covers your workplace. HSE deals with many industrial workplaces; local councils enforce safety in many shops, offices and restaurants. In Northern Ireland, contact HSENI or the relevant district council. A union safety rep can raise the issue with management; UNISON represents many care and health workers, Unite workers in hospitality and logistics, USDAW retail workers, and IWGB many delivery workers.
5. Protect your claim deadline. Contact Acas, Citizens Advice, a law centre or your union promptly. If your employer punishes you, ask about Acas early conciliation and the tribunal limit that applies to your case. A regulator investigates safety breaches, not your dismissal or lost wages. Reporting a hazard or raising a grievance does not stop the tribunal clock.

What are employees’ health and safety duties?

If you are an employee, section 7 requires you to:

• Take reasonable care of your own health and safety. Use the protection and safe working methods provided.
• Take reasonable care of other people affected by what you do or fail to do. That includes colleagues working beside you.
• Cooperate with your employer on safety. Follow the machinery isolation procedure, use the harness and report the broken guard.

Your duties do not cancel the employer’s responsibilities. If the equipment, training or staffing makes the safe method impossible, report that problem. Telling you to “be careful” does not control a hazard.

Managing health and safety at work: risk assessments

Under regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, every employer must make a “suitable and sufficient” assessment of risks to employees and others affected by its work. A hazard is something that could cause harm. Risk is the likelihood of that harm and how serious it could be. The assessment must address the work people actually do, including cleaning, maintenance and unusual jobs. For a care worker, that can mean the lift from bed to chair; for a warehouse picker, the load, pace and route through the aisle. The assessment must reflect the shift, not an ideal version of it.

Health and safety risk management means identifying what could hurt you, putting effective controls in place and checking they work. Use the HSE’s five steps to check what your employer has actually done:

1. Find the hazards. Has the assessment covered machinery, chemicals, lifting, driving, heights, screens, workload and violence from the public? Has anyone asked the people doing the job?
2. Work out who could be harmed. It must cover people affected by the work, including contractors and agency workers. Check whether it addresses anyone at particular risk, such as young workers or new and expectant mothers.
3. Choose effective controls. Ask what will change, who will do it and by when. The hierarchy below shows why a warning sign or a pair of gloves may not be enough.
4. Record and act. Five or more employees trigger a duty to record significant findings and groups especially at risk. Your employer must explain the risks and precautions, then put the controls in place.
5. Review what works. The assessment must be reviewed when it may no longer be valid or there is a significant change. An accident, near miss or staff complaint can show that a control has failed.

The five-employee threshold counts employees across the employer’s business. It is not a headcount for one shift. At five or more, the employer needs a written health and safety policy and recorded assessment findings. Below five, those general recording duties do not apply, but the assessment and action are still required. Other laws can require records regardless of size. In England and Wales, since 1 October 2023, responsible persons under the Fire Safety Order must record their fire risk assessment in full and their fire safety arrangements.

Some hazards have their own assessment rules. COSHH covers hazardous substances. Other regulations cover manual handling, display screen equipment, noise, vibration, asbestos, lead and radiation. These can require more than the general assessment, including exposure controls and health surveillance. Regular display-screen users are entitled to an employer-funded eye and eyesight test on request. Employers must also assess risks affecting young people and new and expectant mothers.

Health and safety risk management: controlling hazards

Regulation 4 and Schedule 1 set the “principles of prevention”, including avoiding risks, tackling them at source and adapting work to the individual. The hierarchy of control turns those principles into a useful order of choices.

Remove the hazard where possible, for example by doing work at ground level rather than on a ladder. If you cannot remove it, use a safer material or process. Guards and extraction can control exposure at source. Working arrangements, supervision and training help manage what remains. PPE is the last line of defence, not a reason to leave a preventable hazard in place. The law gives collective protection priority over individual protection; several controls may be needed together.

The Workplace Regulations 1992 require suitable ventilation, lighting, cleanliness and welfare facilities. There is no single statutory minimum or maximum temperature. HSE guidance says indoor workplaces should normally be at least 16°C, or 13°C for work involving rigorous physical effort. These are guidance figures, not a licence to ignore heat or cold outside those examples. See our guide to workplace temperature rules.

Your employer must also arrange adequate and appropriate first-aid equipment, facilities and personnel, and procedures for emergencies. You should know how to raise the alarm, leave safely and get first aid. Safety duties still apply when you work at home or in a hybrid role.

Your rights to free PPE, training and safety information

Under regulation 13, your employer must take your capabilities into account and provide adequate safety training when you are recruited and when new or increased risks arise. Training must be adapted to changes, repeated periodically where appropriate, and provided in working hours. Sending a link is not enough if nobody checks that you can do the job safely. Nor can the employer require you to complete mandatory safety training in unpaid personal time.

The PPE at Work Regulations require suitable protective equipment, maintenance, storage and instruction on use. Since 6 April 2022 these duties also cover limb (b) workers. PPE must fit you and suit the hazard. If the gloves prevent you gripping the tool or the respirator does not fit, tell your employer. Read our guide to free PPE and your rights.

Regulation 10 requires information you can understand about the risks, precautions and emergency procedures. The employer must display the approved health and safety law poster or give employees the approved leaflet. It must also consult staff on safety, through recognised union safety representatives where they represent employees, or directly or through elected representatives for employees not covered by union representatives. Consultation is meant to happen before decisions are settled. If two or more union safety representatives request a safety committee in writing, the employer must establish one within three months.

A limb (b) worker personally performs work for someone who is not a client or customer of their own business, without being an employee. The label in your contract is not decisive. Agency workers may be employees of the agency or other workers; both agency and hirer have safety responsibilities, and relevant information must be provided before the placement starts. See how to work out your status and agency workers’ rights.

Some genuinely self-employed people are exempt from their own section 3 duty if their activity poses no risk to others. Prescribed high-risk activities are not exempt. The exemption does not remove duties an employer owes you when its work affects your safety. See contractors’ safety rights and duties.

Workplace injuries: reporting rights and sick pay

Tell your employer about a work accident and make sure there is an accurate record. RIDDOR in Great Britain requires the responsible person to report defined work-related incidents, not every accident or near miss. Reportable categories include deaths, specified injuries, certain diagnosed occupational diseases and listed dangerous occurrences. An injury that prevents normal duties for more than seven consecutive days is reportable, even if you still attend work. Exclude the accident day but include weekends and rest days. More than three days’ incapacity must be recorded even if it is not reportable; required RIDDOR records must be kept for at least three years.

These deadlines come from HSE’s reporting guidance. Ask your employer which category it considered and whether it filed a report. You normally do not submit the employer’s RIDDOR report yourself, but you can report a concern about a failure to comply. Our injury-reporting guide explains the distinction.

If you qualify for Statutory Sick Pay, since 6 April 2026 it starts on the first qualifying day, with no waiting days or lower earnings limit. It is the lower of £123.25 a week or 80% of average weekly earnings, for up to 28 weeks. Qualifying days are normally the days you would work, not every calendar day. SSP eligibility is separate from employment-rights status, so check it rather than assuming every worker qualifies. Your contract may provide more generous sick pay.

Does health and safety law cover stress and mental health?

HSE estimated 1.9 million workers in Great Britain had work-related ill health in 2024/25, including 964,000 with stress, depression or anxiety. The estimated 40.1 million working days lost covered both work-related ill health and injury. An assessment that ignores workload, bullying or violence misses real hazards. Changing staffing, deadlines or working arrangements may be necessary; a wellbeing app does not deal with an impossible workload.

If work is making you ill, explain the problem and ask for the assessment and controls to be reviewed. See our guides to mental health and safety duties and claims for work-related stress. Sexual harassment also has a separate prevention duty under equality law, in force in Great Britain since 26 October 2024. Our sexual-harassment guide explains that route. If unsafe treatment overlaps with pregnancy discrimination or harassment, the EHRC’s Equality Act guidance explains that separate route; your union, Citizens Advice or a law centre can advise on your case.

SSP, a RIDDOR report and a compensation claim are different things. Employer fault is not required for SSP. A report does not automatically establish liability for damages. If negligence caused your injury or illness, seek advice about a personal-injury claim separately from any tribunal claim about retaliation.

Who enforces health and safety law, and what can they do?

HSE and local authorities enforce workplace safety in Great Britain. Inspectors can investigate, take samples and obtain evidence. An improvement notice requires an employer to put a breach right within a stated period, normally at least 21 days. A prohibition notice stops an activity involving a risk of serious personal injury, immediately if the risk is imminent or from a specified later date. Ask your union or the relevant regulator about an unresolved hazard; you do not have to wait until someone is injured.

Where HSE finds and notifies a material breach in writing, the employer can face a Fee for Intervention of £188 an hour from 1 April 2026. That is cost recovery, not a fine, and can apply without a prosecution. It is the employer’s bill, not compensation for you.

Most GB employers must have employers’ liability insurance from an authorised insurer for at least £5 million, subject to statutory exemptions. Failure to insure can attract a fine of up to £2,500 for each uninsured day. Staff must be able to access the insurance certificate. A failure to display it or produce it to an inspector can attract a £1,000 fine.

Serious safety offences can lead to prosecution, unlimited fines and, for individuals convicted on indictment, up to two years’ imprisonment. The regulator’s action does not recover your sick pay or settle an injury claim. Keep those routes separate.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland uses the same 1974 Act and core GB safety regulations. Prosecutions are handled by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service rather than HSE prosecuting directly. Workplace deaths may also lead to Fatal Accident Inquiries. Fire safety has separate legislation, including the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006; the England-and-Wales recording change above does not apply there. Sections 44 and 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 apply in Scotland.

Northern Ireland has a separate regime under the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 and Management Regulations (NI) 2000. HSENI and district councils enforce it. RIDDOR (NI) 1998 has different reporting rules, so do not use the GB table as an NI checklist. Detriment and dismissal protections sit in the Employment Rights (NI) Order 1996, not sections 44 and 100 of the GB Act. The GB tribunal-limit reform does not change NI deadlines; seek advice from the Labour Relations Agency. See employment law in Northern Ireland.

Which health and safety rights have changed?

1. 31 May 2021Danger protections widened in GB

   Section 44 protection against detriment for action on serious and imminent danger extends to other workers.

2. 6 Apr 2022Free PPE for other workers in GB

   The PPE at Work duties extend to limb (b) workers.

3. 26 Oct 2024Sexual-harassment prevention duty in GB

   Employers must take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment. Where a tribunal finds a breach alongside a successful sexual-harassment claim, it can increase compensation by up to 25%.

4. 6 Apr 2026SSP waiting days removed

   The lower earnings limit is removed too. The weekly amount is the lower of £123.25 or 80% of average weekly earnings. GB whistleblowing law also expressly covers sexual harassment from this date, subject to the qualifying-disclosure rules.

5. 1 Oct 2026Longer GB tribunal claim limits

   Most three-month limits become six months. The relevant date must be on or after 1 October; earlier cases keep the old limit.

The Fair Work Agency was established on 7 April 2026. It is not the workplace safety regulator. HSE, local authorities and their Northern Ireland counterparts retain their safety roles.

Questions people ask about health and safety law

What health and safety laws apply in the UK?

In England, Wales and Scotland, the main law is the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require risk assessments and arrangements to manage risks. Other rules cover hazards such as chemicals and manual handling, and duties such as providing PPE. Northern Ireland has its own Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 and Management Regulations (NI) 2000. The jurisdiction section explains which rules and regulator to use.

Does my employer have to give me a copy of the risk assessment?

Your employer must give you understandable information about the risks and precautions. That is not a universal right to a personal copy of every assessment. Ask to see the findings relevant to your work and what action follows. Safety representatives have additional information and inspection rights. Five or more employees trigger the general duty to record significant findings.

Can I refuse work I think is dangerous?

In Great Britain, you are protected against detriment for leaving or refusing to return to danger you reasonably believe is serious and imminent and could not reasonably be expected to avert. Appropriate steps to protect yourself or others are also protected. Explain the danger as soon as it is safe and keep a record. Employees have automatic unfair-dismissal protection for qualifying safety action; other workers have detriment protection.

Can my employer charge me for PPE or training?

Required PPE must be free to employees and limb (b) workers under the PPE rules. Section 9 also prohibits charging employees for measures required by safety law. Employee safety training must be in working hours. Ordinary uniform costs are a different question; calling protective kit a uniform does not remove the safety duty.

How often must a risk assessment be reviewed?

There is no universal annual review date in regulation 3. The employer must review an assessment if there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid or there has been a significant change. New equipment, changed duties, accidents and near misses may prompt a review. A diary reminder is useful, but it is no reason to wait when the job has become unsafe.

How do I report my employer over safety?

Raise the concern with your manager and safety representative if it is safe to do so. You do not have to wait for an injury before contacting the regulator. Use HSE’s concerns service for workplaces it regulates, or contact the relevant council. In Northern Ireland use HSENI or the district council. HSE does not share your personal details with the business, but the employer may work out who reported it. Keep copies and obtain separate advice about any retaliation and claim deadline.

Sources

1. Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, legislation.gov.uk
2. Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, legislation.gov.uk
3. Steps needed to manage risk, HSE
4. Fire safety responsibilities under section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022, Home Office
5. PPE at work regulations, HSE
6. Temperature in the workplace, HSE
7. Worker involvement and consultation, HSE
8. Employment Rights Act 1996, section 44, legislation.gov.uk
9. Employment Rights Act 1996, section 100, legislation.gov.uk
10. Employment Rights Act 1996, section 124, legislation.gov.uk
11. Protection from Detriment in Health and Safety Cases (Amendment) Order 2021, legislation.gov.uk
12. Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 5 and Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, legislation.gov.uk
13. Types of reportable incidents, HSE
14. When to report an incident, HSE
15. Statutory Sick Pay amounts and eligibility, GOV.UK
16. Key figures for Great Britain 2024/25, HSE
17. Fee for Intervention hourly rate, HSE
18. Employers’ liability insurance, GOV.UK
19. Enforcing authorities and reporting safety concerns, HSE
20. Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978, legislation.gov.uk
21. Employment Rights Act implementation timetable, GOV.UK, updated 25 September 2026
22. Unfair-dismissal commencement and transitional regulations, legislation.gov.uk
23. Non-fatal injuries at work in Great Britain, HSE, updated 7 January 2026
24. HSE Annual Report and Accounts 2024/25: executive summary, HSE
25. HSE is broke, Hazards magazine, issue 171/172, spring 2026
26. Your rights under the Equality Act 2010, Equality and Human Rights Commission