Health and Safety for Businesses

Getting health and safety essentials right is one of the simplest ways to protect your people – and protect your business from avoidable fines, claims and compliance issues. But if you’re new to the UK market, knowing what you need to have in place isn’t always clear.

Goodwille makes this easy. With three clear health and safety package options, you can put the right foundations in place from day one covering your legal obligations, responsibilities and the policies your business needs.

Let’s walk through the essentials every business needs to operate responsibly.

What Are the Basics of Health and Safety for Businesses?

The basics of health and safety come down to understanding your duties, managing everyday risks and supporting good occupational health.

Why Health and Safety Matters

Your people are your business. When you understand the essentials, you:

• Reduce the chance of accidents
• Avoid costly downtime
• Build trust with your team
• Strengthen your reputation
• Stay compliant with UK law

Legal Obligations for UK Businesses

Businesses operating in the UK must take sensible, proportionate steps to protect their people. Below is a simple overview of the core health and safety legislation every employer should understand.

The Health and Safety at Work Act

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 is the foundation of UK workplace safety law. Its central message is straightforward: every employer must ensure, ‘as far as is reasonably practicable’, the health, safety and welfare of their employees.

The Act requires employers to:

• Provide safe equipment and ways of working
• Store and handle materials safely
• Provide clear information, training and supervision
• Maintain a safe working environment

Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations

These regulations build directly on the Health and Safety at Work Act. If the Act explains what employers must achieve, the Management Regulations explain how to put this into practice day to day.

They require you to take a more structured approach by:

1. Identifying workplace hazards
2. Assessing the risks
3. Taking action to control or reduce those risks

Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations

These regulations focus on the conditions employees experience day to day. They expand on the Health and Safety at Work Act and set standards for:

• Ventilation, temperature and lighting
• Cleanliness and maintenance
• Workstation setup and access routes
• Facilities such as toilets, rest areas and drinking water

The aim is simple: to ensure people have a safe, healthy environment in which to work.

Who is Responsible for Workplace Health and Safety?

In the UK, employers carry the main legal responsibility for keeping people safe, but health and safety still depends on shared effort. Employers must set the right policies, systems and controls, and employees must take reasonable care for their own safety.

Directors sit at the top of this structure. They hold the ultimate responsibility and can be liable if something goes wrong, even if day to day tasks are delegated to internal teams or a health and safety practitioner. For many of our clients, Directors are based abroad, which makes it even more important to have confidence that UK requirements are met and that the organisation is operating safely and compliantly.

What is a Health and Safety Policy?

A health and safety policy is essentially your roadmap. It explains your overall approach to health and safety, how risks will be managed, and who is responsible for what.

If you have five or more employees, the policy must be written down. If you have fewer than five, it doesn’t have to be, but documenting it is still recommended.

This threshold applies to every employer, regardless of industry. That said, some sectors operate in higher-risk environments, which means you may need a formal health and safety policy from day one, even with a small team. This helps demonstrate compliance and gives clear guidance on how risks will be managed from the start.

Regardless of size, every business is legally required to have a health and safety policy under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Writing a Health and Safety Policy

A complete health and safety policy has three essential parts. At Goodwille, we provide a bespoke policy tailored to your business requirements and guide clients through each stage to ensure the policy is clear, compliant and genuinely useful for day-to-day operations.

As the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) clarifies, your policy should include:

Statement of Intent

This sets out your overall commitment to health and safety, including your aims and the standards you intend to uphold. It should be signed by the employer or most senior person in the business and reviewed regularly to show leadership takes health and safety seriously.

Responsibilities for Health and Safety

This section explains who is responsible for what, from senior management to supervisors and employees. Clear responsibilities help everyone understand their role.

Arrangements for Managing Health and Safety

This is where you describe the practical steps your business takes to manage risks. It includes the procedures, training, equipment, systems and controls you use to keep your workplace safe.

How Often Should You Review Your Health and Safety Policy?

Your health and safety policy should be reviewed at least once a year to make sure it still reflects how your business operates. As part of our support, Goodwille conducts annual audits to check your policy, processes and documentation are still accurate and compliant.

What is a Risk Assessment?

A risk assessment is a simple process that helps you identify hazards, understand the level of risk and decide how to control it. Most businesses use a form to guide them through each step.

Identifying and Controlling Risks

To identify risks, we assess how your people work, how equipment is used, what substances are handled, the safety of existing work practices and the general condition of your premises.

The HSE recommends asking two simple questions to control the risks:

• Can we remove the hazard completely?
• If not, how can we control it so harm is unlikely?

If extra controls are needed, this might involve redesigning a task, changing equipment or materials, adding clearer procedures or providing appropriate protective equipment.

Reporting Workplace Accidents and Illnesses

Every business needs a clear process for recording and reporting accidents. If you employ more than 10 people, you must keep an accident book. This is where you log any injury that happens at work, so you have an accurate record if you ever need it. We set this up for you and make sure it’s managed correctly, so you always have the right records in place.

You also have specific reporting duties under RIDDOR, and Goodwille ensures your processes meet the required standards. Not every incident needs to be reported, but a RIDDOR report is required when:

• The accident is work related, and:
• It results in a serious injury, such as a fracture, loss of consciousness, permanent damage or an injury that requires hospital treatment.

Health and Safety Awareness Training

Every person in your business needs some form of health and safety training, including you.
For employers, this means understanding your legal duties and how to communicate and consult with your team. For employees and self-employed workers, it’s about knowing how to follow procedures and work safely day to day.

Consulting Your Workers About Health and Safety

Consulting your team is one of the simplest ways to create a safer, more productive workplace. When people feel heard and involved, they take more ownership for working safely.

It’s also a legal requirement. You must consult employees (or their representatives) whenever a decision could affect their health and safety, which includes:

• Bringing in new equipment or changing how work is done
• Choosing your competent person, which is the individual with the skills and knowledge to help you meet your legal duties
• Explaining the risks in their work and how you’re controlling them
• Planning health and safety training
• Introducing new technology and understanding how it impacts safety

Shared office spaces

Many overseas companies operate from a coworking or serviced office. In these environments, the building operator is responsible for the common areas, but you still hold clear duties. You must:

• Understand the building’s health and safety arrangements
• Carry out your own risk assessments for the work your employees do
• Communicate any risks that relate to your business activities
• Keep your policies and procedures up to date

You can rely on the operator for structural and common-area safety, but you remain responsible for your people and how they work within that space.

Home-based workers

Home working is now a standard arrangement for many of our clients. The same legal duties apply, meaning you must assess risks in the home environment. This often includes:

• Workstation set-up
• Display Screen Equipment (DSE) assessments
• Work-related stress
• Manual handling
• Lone working arrangements

Goodwille provides DSE assessments as part of our support, which helps you meet legal obligations and avoid common ergonomic issues.

Road-based sales staff

Employees who spend most of their time travelling also fall under your health and safety responsibilities. You must assess and manage:

• Driving risks
• Fatigue management
• Lone working
• Use of mobile devices while travelling
• Manual handling for samples or equipment

Clear policies, realistic schedules and regular check-ins help reduce risk for mobile teams.

Fire Safety Basics for Businesses

Fire safety is something every business needs to stay on top of. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, you must appoint a responsible person to manage it. This is someone, like our specialists at Goodwille, who will make sure your workplace has the right measures in place to keep people safe.

Their main job is to carry out a fire risk assessment and keep it up to date. This involves looking at what could start a fire, what could fuel it and who might be affected. Once you understand the risks, you can put sensible precautions in place.

This usually means having:

• Clear escape routes
• Working alarms
• Suitable fire extinguishers
• Good signage and easy-to-follow procedures

How Health and Safety Impacts Your Business Insurance

Good health and safety isn’t just about compliance, it directly affects your corporate insurance. Insurers want to see that you manage risks properly, and this can influence your cover, your claims and the premiums you pay.

For instance, your employers’ liability insurance protects you if someone is injured at work, but insurers expect your policies, risk assessments and training to be up to date.

Gain Full Confidence In Your Business’s Health and Safety

Feeling the pressure to stay compliant? Not sure if your policies, risk assessments or training truly meet UK requirements?

With over 20 years’ experience supporting businesses of all sizes in the UK, Goodwille removes that pressure. Explore our health and safety service packages to find the one that fits your business:

• Package 1 – FoundationA strong foundation for any business. You’ll receive a bespoke Health & Safety policy, DSE assessment documentation and access to essential training courses, giving you the core compliance building blocks every employer needs.
• Package 2 – StandardIdeal for low–moderate risk environments with 5+ employees. Alongside everything in Package 1, you get an on-site audit, a full risk assessment, a named competent person and all required workplace items. It’s a complete, ready-to-go setup that meets your key obligations.
• Package 3 – EnhancedFor businesses in moderate–high risk settings, this package provides continuous hands-on support. You’ll receive multi-site audits, a full fire assessment and active management of policies and legislation, ensuring higher-risk environments stay safe without adding pressure to your team.

Goodwille. Good for business.

Find out how we can help you.

Frequently Asked Questions

We’ve answered some of the most common questions on health and safety in the UK below.

Do Different Types of Business Pose Different Risks?

Different workplaces carry different types of risks, and your risk assessment should reflect the environment you operate in. For example:

• Office environments: Typically lower-risk, with hazards such as poor workstation setup, slips and trips, electrical equipment and work-related stress.
• Construction and trades: Higher-risk settings involving work at height, machinery, tools, vehicles and hazardous materials.
• Retail and hospitality: Risks linked to manual handling, slips and spills, busy customer areas, hot surfaces and stock storage.

Is Health and Safety Different for Small Businesses vs Larger Organisations?

Yes, managing health and safety is different for small businesses and larger organisations. Whilst all businesses have legal duites, small businesses often need simple, practical measures that are easy to implement and maintain. Larger organisations may require more detailed documentation, structured reporting and specialist oversight.