In short, it is both. We take a look at the legislation behind H&S law, its enforcement, and what this may mean for your business.
Health and safety law within the UK is made up of:
Legislation
- An Act of Parliament – the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HaSaWA), accessible here.
- Statutory Instruments (Regulations), see here.
- These can be all encompassing, i.e. the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
- Or can be more specific, like the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2012.
Enforcement
Health and safety law is mostly enforced by the Health and Safety Executive Inspectorate (HSE) or Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) from one of the current 382 local authorities (LAs) around the UK.
Responsibility for enforcement depends on the type of workplace. Allocation is based on the main activity carried on at the premises. Click here to find out which enforcement agency is relevant to your workplace.
All workers should understand that responsible persons – anyone with management responsibility for others, from supervisors and managers to board chairs – have legal duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and related regulations. These laws fall under criminal law, meaning breaches can lead to serious consequences, including imprisonment and increasingly large fines for businesses.
Requirements
Harm does not have to occur for an offence to be committed. An employer is expected to manage risk of harm before an incident can occur, and to prevent any similar incidents from reoccurring if something does happen.
Creating risk assessments is not sufficient by itself. There has to be evidence of due diligence conducted to reduce the risk of harm. For example:
- Meeting any training needs
- Providing safety through supervision until competence is met
- Providing safety via safeguarding equipment and machinery, e.g. through regular maintenance or Safe Systems of Work (SSoW)
- Providing safety by safeguarding people, e.g. through the use of guards, use of LEV, use of PPE
- Providing evidence of due diligence, as it is done:
- Shift handovers
- Safety checklists
- Up-to date risk assessments
- Written up SSoW and procedures
- Detailed training records (for any induction, specific and refresher training).
Non-compliance
Where an employer or person in charge of a site does not comply with the relevant law, then a criminal offence is likely being committed.
- Either verbal / written advice could be issued
- An improvement / prohibition notice could be issued
- A prosecution process could be started
Legislation requires employers to protect workers and others. HSE provides guidance on how to comply with the law via its website, as well as documents which make creating evidence of due diligence easier. As a result, there is nowhere to hide if the law is not being adhered to.
Regulators such as the HSE, Local Authority EHOs, fire officers enforcing the RRFSO 2005, and SIA inspectors enforcing the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 from April 2027 can all prosecute if there is any failure to comply with the law.
As well as penalties issued for non-compliance by court proceedings, if HSE have to help an employer put things right, the employer will be liable for time of the HSE inspectors providing that assistance. This is called the Fee for Intervention, which currently sits at £183.00 per hour, or £30.50 for every billable 10 minutes.
Current penalties
- Unlimited fines
- Since 2015 there has been no cap to the fine that can be handed down for health and safety failings. The largest given in the UK was £6.5 million in 2021.
- Imprisonment
- Individuals can face up to 2 years in prison. A company director was sentenced to 10.5 years for the deaths of 4 people in 2025.
- Enforcement action
- Both HSE and LA EHO’s can issue improvement or prohibition notices. HSE can charge for their help via the FFI scheme, EHO’s cannot.
- Director disqualification
- Disqualification from directorships can be for up to 10 years.
- Reputational damage
- Courts can order businesses to publicise their convictions, which can cause significant damage to a brand.
Civil law
Whilst an affected individual (e.g. an employee) has a duty of care to themselves and others around them, their responsibility is limited to what they know about potential harm on site, knowledge that the employer is often responsible for providing. If the individual seeks compensation, they must do so through a civil court. The previously mentioned enforcing authorities do not apply civil law or deal with civil legal procedures.
How we can help
As part of our Health and Safety service, we audit and provide a report on your business’ management of H&S with actions to take to be compliant with the above.
We also create a management system for your company to help demonstrate how H&S management in your workforce occur and due diligence. This contains:
- A ‘Statement of Intent’ to be signed and dated by the most senior executive of the business and then reviewed regularly.
- A listing of detailed, relevant arrangements. Policies are to be read, understood and applied diligently, and reviewed regularly.
- A document to record who the responsible people within the organisation are, along with what areas they are responsible for.
- A methodology to show when the management system was created, when it is reviewed and if necessarily updated and by whom.
For our H&S clients, these are accessible via our Portal. If you need help navigating these, please get in touch.