Health & Safety Policy template
A health and safety policy is the written statement of how your organisation manages health and safety: what you are committed to (the statement of intent), who is responsible for delivering it (the organisation), and the practical arrangements that make it happen day to day. It is the top-level document every other safety procedure hangs off.
If you employ five or more people, the law requires this policy to be in writing. The operational value is bigger than the legal box: a good policy tells a new manager exactly who owns first aid, fire, risk assessments, and accident reporting — so safety doesn't depend on one long-serving person's memory.
This template gives you the full three-part structure: a signable statement of intent, a responsibilities map from the owner down to every employee, and arrangements sections covering risk assessment, emergencies, accidents, training, and records.
Full text, ready to adapt.
Highlighted fields are placeholders — replace them with your organisation's specifics. A starting point, not legal advice.
Health & Safety Policy
Policy · Health & Safety
1. Purpose and scope
This policy sets out how {{org.name}} manages the health, safety and welfare of its employees and of anyone else affected by our work, including contractors, visitors, and members of the public. It applies to all our activities at [site(s)/locations] and to staff working off-site or from home.
It has three parts: our statement of intent, the responsibilities that deliver it, and our practical arrangements. Detailed procedures (fire evacuation, accident reporting, risk assessment) sit beneath this policy and are referenced where relevant.
2. Statement of intent
{{org.name}} is committed to preventing injury and ill health caused by our work, to complying with the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and all other legislation that applies to us, and to providing the resources, information, training and supervision needed to keep people safe. We will assess the risks our work creates, control them so far as is reasonably practicable, consult our staff, and improve our performance year on year.
Signed: [name], [most senior role, e.g. Managing Director]. Date: [date]. This statement is reviewed and re-signed at least annually.
3. Responsibilities
- Overall responsibility: [name], [most senior role] — accountable for this policy, for resourcing it, and for its annual review.
- Day-to-day management: [name/role, e.g. Operations Manager] — keeps risk assessments current, coordinates accident investigation, and checks that the arrangements below are actually followed on the floor.
- Managers and supervisors: apply this policy in their teams, deliver safety induction to new starters, and stop any task they believe is unsafe.
- First aiders and fire marshals: [names/roles] — carry out the duties set out in our first aid arrangements and fire evacuation procedure.
- All employees: take reasonable care of themselves and others, follow training and instructions, use equipment as trained, and report hazards, accidents and near misses without delay.
4. Arrangements: risk assessment
We identify hazards and assess risks before work starts, whenever something changes materially, and after any accident or near miss. Assessments follow our risk assessment procedure, are written down, and are briefed to everyone affected before the work goes ahead. Significant findings and the controls we rely on are recorded in [system/location].
Each assessment has a named owner and a review date. Where an assessment and day-to-day practice disagree, the work stops until one of them is corrected.
5. Arrangements: day-to-day safety
- First aid: kits are located at [locations]; trained first aiders are listed on the notice at [location]. Kits are checked and restocked by [role] at [frequency].
- Fire and emergencies: escape routes, the assembly point and marshal duties are set out in our fire evacuation procedure; drills and alarm tests are carried out and logged.
- Accidents and near misses: reported the same shift via [accident book/system], investigated under our accident and incident reporting procedure, and reported to the HSE under RIDDOR where the law requires it.
- Work equipment: maintained in line with manufacturer instructions; defects are reported to [role] and defective equipment is taken out of use immediately.
- Hazardous substances: inventoried, assessed under the COSHH Regulations 2002, and stored and used in line with their safety data sheets.
- Welfare: we provide adequate toilets, washing facilities, drinking water and rest arrangements for everyone on site.
6. Consultation and communication
We consult staff on matters that affect their health and safety — directly at team meetings held [frequency], and through [safety representative / staff forum, if any]. Anyone can raise a safety concern with any manager at any time and will get an answer, not a shrug.
This policy, current risk assessments and emergency procedures are available to all staff at [location/system], and health and safety is a standing agenda item at [meeting].
7. Training and competence
Every new starter receives a health and safety induction on day one covering this policy, emergency procedures, accident reporting, and the specific risks of their own role. Role-specific training ([e.g. manual handling, food hygiene, work at height]) is completed before the person does the task unsupervised, with refreshers at [frequency].
Training is recorded in [system], with completion dates and refresher due dates, and gaps are reviewed by [role] at [frequency].
8. Records
We keep this policy and its review history, risk assessments, training records, accident and near-miss reports, equipment maintenance logs, and drill and alarm test logs in [system/location], retained for [period]. These records are the evidence an inspector, insurer or court will ask for — an arrangement we cannot evidence is treated as an arrangement we do not have.
9. Review
This policy is reviewed [frequency, e.g. annually], and sooner after any serious accident or near miss, any enforcement contact, or any material change to our premises, headcount or activities. Owner: [name/role]. Next review due: [date].
How to adapt this template.
Have your most senior person read and sign the statement of intent personally — an unsigned policy tells staff nobody owns it.
Name real people, with deputies, for every responsibility in section 3; a job title only works if the post is never vacant.
Edit the arrangements to match what you actually do, and delete anything you can't evidence — a policy that overclaims is worse than one that is modest and true.
Cross-reference your real procedures (fire evacuation, accident reporting, risk assessment) by name so staff can find the detail from this one document.
Test it on a new starter: if they can't tell you who to report a hazard to after reading it, rewrite the responsibilities section.
Diarise the annual review and re-signing before you publish, and brief the whole team, not just new joiners.
Turn this template into trained, proven behaviour
A policy in a drawer proves nothing. In TrainedTeam this template becomes assigned training with knowledge checks, e-signature acknowledgments, version history, and an audit-ready record of who completed what, when.
Health & Safety Policy template FAQs
Is a written health and safety policy a legal requirement in the UK?
Yes, once you employ five or more people — the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires the policy to be written down at that point. With fewer than five employees the duty to manage health and safety still applies in full; you simply aren't required to write the policy, though a short written one is the easiest way to evidence compliance.
Who should sign the health and safety policy?
The most senior person in the organisation — typically the owner, managing director or chief executive. The signature matters because it fixes accountability at the top: health and safety law holds the employer responsible, and the statement of intent is where the employer says so in writing.
What are the three parts of a health and safety policy?
The statement of intent (what you commit to), the organisation (who is responsible for what), and the arrangements (how you actually manage risks day to day). This structure comes from HSE guidance and is what inspectors expect to see.
How often should a health and safety policy be reviewed?
There is no fixed statutory interval — the duty is to keep it current. Annual review and re-signing is the standard practice, with an immediate review after any serious incident, enforcement contact, or material change to premises, activities or headcount.
What's the difference between a health and safety policy and a risk assessment?
The policy is the top-level statement of how you manage health and safety across the whole business — commitments, responsibilities and arrangements. A risk assessment analyses one activity or area: its hazards, who could be harmed, and the controls. The policy says risk assessments will be done and by whom; the assessments carry the detail.
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