Quick answer
A health and safety policy explains the business’s approach, who is responsible and how safety will be managed in practice. In Great Britain, a policy must be written down when there are five or more employees. Build it around actual arrangements, share it with staff and review it when the business changes.
A policy should make responsibilities easier to follow
A policy is useful when a worker or manager can use it to find out who makes a decision and what arrangements apply. A generic statement about caring for safety gives little help if it does not explain the business’s methods.
HSE’s policy guidance says every business must have a policy, with a written policy required at five or more employees. Smaller employers still need to manage safety, and writing the policy can help. For Northern Ireland, HSENI’s policy guidance confirms its own requirements and structure.
Write the policy in three connected parts
HSE recommends intent, responsibilities and arrangements. Use plain language and the names or positions people recognise.
| Part | Purpose | Practical question |
|---|---|---|
| Statement of intent | The approach and aims the employer commits to. | What will the business provide, maintain and improve? |
| Responsibilities | Who has a particular role and decision authority. | Who arranges checks, training, repairs and follow-up? |
| Arrangements | How the aims are put into practice. | What methods, resources and checks support safe work? |
The employer or most senior person should sign the statement and review it regularly. Set out how staff will receive the policy and changes, including people working different shifts.
Use the business’s real activities to write the arrangements
- List the main activities. Include less-routine work such as deliveries, cleaning and maintenance.
- Identify existing controls. Use the risk assessments and safe methods already operating.
- Assign the decisions. Name the person who authorises work, resources and corrective action, with absence cover.
- Explain communication. Show how workers receive instructions and report concerns.
- Describe checks. State how problems, changes and completed actions are reviewed.
Keep the policy connected to more detailed documents rather than copying every task instruction into it. A risk assessment identifies hazards and controls for particular work; the policy explains how the business organises and sustains those arrangements.
Worked example: a small warehouse policy extract
Hypothetical example. A warehouse with eight employees is writing its policy. The extract below shows how a broad commitment becomes something people can act on; it is not a complete policy for another site.
| Commitment | Responsibility | Arrangement and check |
|---|---|---|
| Maintain usable access routes | Shift lead checks routes; manager authorises changes and repairs. | Agree storage locations, check during the shift and record obstructions and action. |
| Support safe task performance | Manager arranges instruction; supervisor checks understanding. | Identify task training before a role changes, demonstrate the method and follow up gaps. |
| Respond to defects | Workers report; a named manager decides the safe response. | Use an agreed defect process, absence cover and confirmation that action is complete. |
Check the extract by asking staff who they would contact and watching a normal shift. If nobody can apply the arrangement, revise the wording or the underlying system.
Share, check and revise the policy
HSE requires the policy and changes to be shared with employees. Make it accessible in the way the workforce needs, and explain the parts affecting each person. Merely placing a file in a folder does not show understanding.
Review whether named people, work activities and practical arrangements remain current. A new process, change of manager or recurring problem can reveal a need to update the policy and linked instructions. HSE’s competent-person guidance explains how relevant help can support the employer while responsibility remains with the employer.
- A copied policy: remove activities the business does not perform and add those it actually does.
- A written-policy exemption treated as a safety exemption: fewer staff does not remove the need to control risk.
- Names without authority: give people the resources and escalation route needed for their role.
- A document mistaken for a complete system: check that its arrangements operate during work.
Next steps
- Draft the three parts using the actual activities and responsibilities.
- Check decision authority, resources and absence cover.
- Share the relevant information with workers and check understanding.
- Agree how review and changes will be communicated.
Use HSE’s policy-writing guidance — Provides the official three-part structure and links to its example and template.
Relevant next resource
Level 3 Health & Safety in the Workplace
The verified Level 3 workplace course supports managers learning about responsibilities, risk management, training and corrective action; the policy must still be tailored to the business.
From £43.50 GBP
Available
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