Health and Safety Executive

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the national regulator for workplace health and safety in Great Britain, operating under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Employers have a legal duty to protect the health, safety, and welfare of employees and others affected by their work, supported by a written health and safety policy (required where 5 or more employees are employed). The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) require employers to notify the HSE of fatalities, specified injuries (e.g. fractures other than fingers/toes), over-7-day incapacitations, and certain dangerous occurrences. The HSE can issue improvement and prohibition notices, investigate incidents, and prosecute — with unlimited fines and up to 2 years' imprisonment for some offences. Workers who suffer injury due to employer negligence can claim compensation through the civil courts; employers must hold Employers' Liability Insurance of at least £5 million.

What it means in practice. The duty on an employer is to do what is reasonably practicable, which means weighing the risk against the time, cost, and trouble of controlling it. The mechanism for that judgement is the risk assessment: identify the hazards, decide who might be harmed and how, put controls in place, record the significant findings if you employ five or more people, and review it when things change. Workers have duties too — to take reasonable care of themselves and others and to co-operate with the measures put in place — but the primary responsibility cannot be delegated to staff.

A worked example. A small joinery workshop has no extraction on its saws and no risk assessment for wood dust. An employee develops occupational asthma and is off work for months. The employer must report the diagnosis under RIDDOR. An HSE inspector visits and serves an improvement notice requiring extraction and health surveillance within a set period. Separately, the employee brings a civil claim for personal injury, which the employer's compulsory employers' liability insurance responds to. Enforcement and compensation are two distinct tracks running from the same failure.

Common pitfalls. Buying a generic risk assessment template and never adapting it to the actual workplace is the most common failing, and inspectors spot it immediately. Employers also under-report: RIDDOR duties are triggered by specified injuries, over-seven-day absences, certain diagnosed diseases, and dangerous occurrences, and late reporting is itself an offence. Finally, mental health and stress are covered by the same general duty — an employer who ignores a known workload or bullying problem is not meeting it.

How it relates to other terms. Compulsory cover is described under employers' liability insurance. Where an injury or illness amounts to a disability, the employer also owes reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010. Dismissing someone for raising a genuine safety concern is automatically unfair and may be a protected disclosure, and Acas can help where the issue becomes a workplace dispute rather than a regulatory one.

What to do next. Employers should start with our health and safety guide and produce a written risk assessment and policy. Check your cover using employers' liability insurance, and if you occupy premises read fire safety duties, which are enforced separately by the fire authority.