Health and Safety Policy Template (UK): What It Must Cover and When You Need One

A health and safety policy is the written document that sets out how a business will protect the people who work in it. It states the employer's commitment, names who is responsible for what, and records the practical arrangements — training, equipment checks, emergency procedures — that turn commitment into daily practice.

Before downloading a health and safety policy template, UK employers should know the duty behind it. Section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 provides that, “except in such cases as may be prescribed”, it is the duty of every employer to “prepare and as often as may be appropriate revise a written statement” of their general policy, and to bring that statement and any revision of it to the notice of all of their employees. The prescribed exception is the five-employee rule below.

The five-employee rule is counted per undertaking

The clearest trigger is headcount. The Employers' Health and Safety Policy Statements (Exception) Regulations 1975 except an employer who employs, in the statute's words, “less than five employees” from the written-statement duty — and they do so “as respects that undertaking”, so the count is taken per undertaking rather than across everything a person owns. The Health and Safety Executive puts the same point plainly: “If you have five or more employees, you must write your policy down.”

Below five employees the exception removes only the writing-down requirement. The underlying duty in section 2(1) — to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all your employees — carries no headcount threshold at all, and applies from the first hire.

Why businesses write one before the law requires it

Most businesses find they want the document earlier than that. These reasons are commercial rather than legal — none of them is a statutory duty:

Tendering — clients and public bodies routinely ask for your policy before awarding contracts.
Engaging contractors — a builder or freelancer coming onto your premises may ask to see it. If you use outside help regularly, pair it with a written contractor and freelancer agreement.
Insurance — insurers commonly ask for a written policy when quoting or handling a claim.
After an incident or inspection — the worst moment to discover you have nothing in writing.

What a health and safety policy should cover

HSE guidance structures the policy in three parts; a usable template follows the same shape:

Statement of intent — your general policy on health and safety at work, including your commitment to managing it and your aims. HSE guidance is that the employer or most senior person in the company should sign it and review it regularly: accountability starts at the top.
Responsibilities — the names, positions and roles of the people in your business with specific responsibility for health and safety: overall responsibility, day-to-day supervision, first aid, fire safety, training and incident recording. Every duty in the document should land on an identifiable person.
Arrangements — the practical detail showing how you will achieve those aims: how risks are assessed, how staff are inducted and trained, how accidents and near misses are reported and investigated, first aid provision, fire and evacuation procedure, equipment maintenance, safe handling of any hazardous substances, and lone or remote working where relevant. This section carries the whole document — it is what an inspector, insurer or client will read against what actually happens on your floor.
Communication and review — the Act requires the statement and every revision to be brought to the notice of all employees, and revised “as often as may be appropriate”. Record where the policy is kept, how staff are told, and what triggers a review.

Common mistakes

Treating it as a certificate. A document filed and never operated is a written record of procedures you are not following — in an investigation, that gap is what gets examined.
Naming ghosts. Assigning duties to job titles that no longer exist, or to staff who left years ago, defeats the point of the responsibilities section.
Never revising it. The Act's standard is “as often as may be appropriate” — new premises, equipment or activities and any incident are all appropriate moments.
Keeping it in a drawer. The duty is to bring the statement, and every revision, to the notice of all employees. An unread policy fails the duty however well drafted.
Confusing it with risk assessments. The policy is the framework; risk assessments are separate, hazard-by-hazard exercises that the arrangements section should describe. They carry their own written rule: regulation 3(6) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires an employer who employs five or more employees to record the significant findings of the assessment, and any group of employees it identifies as being especially at risk. Same number, different document — writing the policy does not discharge it. For the assessment itself, see our risk assessment template.

England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

The 1974 Act applies across Great Britain, so the position in Scotland matches England and Wales: same Act, same section 2(3) duty, same five-employee exception. (Section 84(2) keeps Part III of the Act out of Scotland, but the general duties in section 2 sit in Part I and apply there in full.)

Northern Ireland is different. The Act does not extend there, apart from a narrow regulation-making carve-out (section 84(1)).

Northern Ireland has its own legislation for both duties covered by these two pages, and they come from different instruments. The written-policy duty comes from Article 4(3) of the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978, in wording identical to section 2(3) of the 1974 Act — but the exception to that duty is set by separate Northern Ireland regulations, the Employers' Health and Safety Policy Statements (Exceptions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1980, so check the threshold there rather than assuming the Great Britain figure carries across. The risk-assessment duty comes from regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000, which states the duty and the five-or-more recording rule in the same terms as the Great Britain Regulations. That is why these pages state the Northern Ireland recording figure for risk assessments but do not state a Northern Ireland threshold for the written policy.

For Northern Ireland use, references to the 1974 Act should be replaced with the 1978 Order throughout — our template is drafted with England and Wales in mind.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a written health and safety policy if I have fewer than five employees?

Not under the 1975 Exception Regulations, which except an employer employing fewer than five employees, as respects that undertaking, from the written-statement duty. The duty to protect employees still applies in full, and many small employers write a policy anyway because clients and insurers ask.

Does a health and safety policy have to be signed?

Section 2(3) says nothing about a signature. HSE guidance, though, is that the employer or most senior person in the company should sign the policy and review it regularly.

How often should a health and safety policy be reviewed?

There is no fixed interval: the Act requires revision “as often as may be appropriate” — in practice, after any change in staff, premises, equipment or activities, and after any incident.

Do my employees have to see the policy?

Yes. Section 2(3) requires you to bring the written statement, and every revision, to the notice of all of your employees. Induction, noticeboard or shared drive is fine, but it must reach them.

Statutory references on this page were checked against primary sources (legislation.gov.uk, GOV.UK, HSE, ICO and Acas) on 8 August 2026. Our templates themselves are not solicitor-drafted — see the note below.

This page is legal information, not legal advice.

Dogetlawyer is a Legal-Technology platform, not a law firm.

Our templates are not solicitor-drafted and have not been checked against primary sources. They are starting points to adapt, not finished documents.

This page describes the law of England and Wales unless it says otherwise. For anything significant, consider taking advice from a qualified professional.

Download the template

The Health and Safety Policy template is one of around 114 free UK legal templates on Dogetlawyer. Browse every title on the A–Z index of UK legal templates without an account; downloading the editable document requires a free registration, not payment. If the policy is part of taking on your first staff, the UK employment contract template usually travels with it.