Health and Safety Policy Template (UK) — Free Download

A health and safety policy is the foundation document of your compliance system. This page gives you a ready-to-adapt framework, a worked small-business scenario, a version-control block, and a pre-submission checklist — built directly from UK law and HSE guidance so you can customise it with confidence.

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What a health and safety policy template is — and what it is not

A health and safety policy is a written declaration of how your business manages health and safety: who is responsible, for what, and how those responsibilities are carried out day-to-day. It is a living management document, not a tick-box exercise.

It is not a risk assessment. A risk assessment documents specific hazards, who may be harmed, and the controls you have put in place for a particular activity or workplace. Your policy sets the framework within which those assessments sit. Confusing the two is one of the most common compliance errors small businesses make — and it leaves gaps in both documents.

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The legal requirement: when your policy must be written down

Legal trigger — know your threshold

• Fewer than 5 employees: The law says every business must have a policy for managing health and safety, but you do not have to write it down — though it is useful to do so. (HSE — Health and safety policy)
• 5 or more employees: You must write your policy down. (HSE — Health and safety policy)
• All businesses, regardless of size: You must share the policy, and any changes to it, with your employees. (HSE — Health and safety policy)

The duty to communicate changes is often overlooked. If you update your arrangements after buying new equipment or changing a work process, the revised policy must be shared with your workforce — not just filed away.

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The three parts every UK health and safety policy must contain

HSE guidance identifies three parts that a health and safety policy should have. Every compliant written policy needs all three.

Part	What it does	Who acts on it
Statement of Intent	Sets out your general commitment to health and safety and your overall goals	Signed by the most senior person (owner, MD, director)
Organisation	Names who is responsible for health and safety at every level — from the owner down to individual workers	Every named person in the chart
Arrangements	Describes the specific systems and procedures you use to manage significant risks day-to-day	Everyone whose role appears in the procedures

Each part is mandatory for a written policy. A document that contains only a general commitment statement — common with copy-pasted internet templates — is incomplete.

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How the arrangements section maps to the HSE five-step risk management process

Your arrangements section is where the policy connects to your live obligations under Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3, which requires every employer to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of risks to employees and others affected by their work.

HSE guidance describes risk management as a five-step process: identify hazards → assess the risks → control the risks → record your findings → review the controls. (HSE — Risk assessment: steps needed to manage risk)

The table below shows how each step should have a corresponding arrangements entry in your policy:

HSE Risk Management Step	What your arrangements section should say
1. Identify hazards	Who carries out workplace inspections, how often, and what they look at — including how people work, equipment use, substances, work practices, and the general state of premises (HSE)
2. Assess the risks	Who is responsible for completing risk assessments; whether the employer does this or appoints a competent person (HSE)
3. Control the risks	How control measures are selected and implemented; the hierarchy used
4. Record findings	Where records are kept and who maintains them
5. Review the controls	What triggers a review — including changes to staff, process, substances, or equipment, and after accidents or near-misses (HSE)

A generic downloaded template cannot complete this table for you. Regulation 3 requires the assessment — and by extension, the arrangements that describe how you manage it — to reflect your actual workplace hazards. A policy that lists placeholder controls for hazards you do not have is not a suitable and sufficient response to that duty.

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Worked example: Brightline Electrical Ltd (fictionalised — for illustration only)

⚠ This scenario is entirely fictionalised. It is provided to show how the three policy parts work in practice. It must not be used as a real policy. Review and adapt any template to your specific site, tasks, and workforce.

Business: Brightline Electrical Ltd — 12 employees (owner, 1 site supervisor, 1 first-aider/operative, 9 electricians/apprentices). Domestic and light commercial installations.

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Part 1 — Statement of Intent (signed extract)

"Brightline Electrical Ltd is committed to ensuring, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of all employees and others who may be affected by our work. We will identify hazards, assess risks, put controls in place, record our findings, and review those controls regularly. This policy will be communicated to all employees and reviewed at least annually or when significant changes occur.

Signed: J. Brightmore (Owner/Director) — Version 1.2 — 14 June 2025"

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Part 2 — Organisation (named duties chart)

Role	Named individual	Key H&S responsibilities
Owner / Director	J. Brightmore	Overall accountability; signs and reviews policy; allocates resources
Site Supervisor	K. Patel	Day-to-day site safety; toolbox talks; reporting incidents to J. Brightmore
First-Aider	D. Singh	Maintains first-aid kit; administers first aid; records incidents in accident book
All employees	All	Follow safe systems of work; report hazards and near-misses to K. Patel

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Part 3 — Arrangements table (extract)

Risk management step	Brightline arrangement
Identify hazards	K. Patel inspects each new site before work starts. Checks: how work will be carried out, tools and equipment condition, any substances (e.g. cable lubricants), existing electrical infrastructure, and general site state
Assess risks	J. Brightmore or K. Patel completes a risk assessment for each new job type. A competent person is appointed for any specialist assessment outside their competence
Control risks	Hierarchy applied: eliminate > substitute > engineering controls > PPE. Controls documented before work begins
Record findings	Risk assessments stored in the company H&S folder (cloud + site copy). Accident book held by D. Singh
Review controls	K. Patel reviews after any incident, near-miss, change in job scope, or new equipment. Formal annual review by J. Brightmore each January

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How to customise the RamsDocs template without creating a compliance gap

Replacing placeholder text with real names and actual hazards is not optional — it is the legal substance of the exercise. Follow these steps:

1. Start with your hazard inventory. Walk your workplace (or a typical site) before writing the arrangements section. Think about how people work, how equipment is used, substances in use, unsafe practices that exist, and the state of your premises. (HSE — Risk assessment: steps needed to manage risk) Only write arrangements for hazards that actually apply to your business.
2. Name real people. Every role in the organisation section must be a named individual or a clearly defined job title held by a real person. "The manager" is not sufficient.
3. Link arrangements to assessments. Each arrangement should reference or sit alongside a completed risk assessment. The policy says how you manage risks; the risk assessment documents what those risks are and what you are doing about them.
4. Do not over-claim. If you do not have a formal permit-to-work system, do not say you do. Arrangements that do not reflect practice create compliance gaps and undermine your position if an incident occurs.
5. Get a competent person to review. HSE guidance confirms that employers can carry out risk management themselves or appoint a competent person to help. (HSE — Risk assessment: steps needed to manage risk) The same principle applies to drafting the policy that governs it.

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Version control and review: how often to update

Use this version-control block on the cover page of every policy:

Field	Enter detail
Document title	Health and Safety Policy — [Business name]
Version number	e.g. 1.0, 1.1, 2.0
Date of this version	DD/MM/YYYY
Reviewed by	Name and role
Next scheduled review	DD/MM/YYYY
Summary of changes	Brief description of what changed and why

Scheduled review: At minimum, review your policy annually. Best practice is to set a fixed calendar date so it does not slip.

Unscheduled review triggers (act on any of these):

• A key named person in the organisation section leaves or changes role
• New equipment, substances, or processes are introduced
• A workplace accident or near-miss occurs
• Your assessment review under regulation 3 identifies new or changed risks — specifically where there is reason to suspect the assessment is no longer valid or there has been a significant change in the matters to which it relates (Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, reg 3(3))
• You take on new types of work not covered by existing arrangements

When changes are made, you must share the updated policy with your employees. (HSE — Health and safety policy)

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Pre-submission checklist: three parts completed?

Tick each box before signing the policy:

Part 1 — Statement of Intent

• Confirms the business's commitment to managing health and safety
• Signed and dated by the most senior person
• Version number and review date visible

Part 2 — Organisation

• Names a specific individual with overall accountability
• Identifies every role with H&S responsibilities
• Covers employees, supervisors, and any appointed competent persons
• Has been communicated to all named individuals

Part 3 — Arrangements

• Covers all five HSE risk management steps
• References how hazards are identified across your actual work activities
• Describes who carries out and records risk assessments
• Describes how controls are implemented and by whom
• Describes what triggers a review of controls
• Reflects actual hazards — not placeholder text

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Frequently asked questions

Does my business legally need a written health and safety policy? Every business must have a policy for managing health and safety. If you have five or more employees, it must be written down. Fewer than five, and the law does not require a written document — but having one is still useful practice. (HSE — Health and safety policy)

What must a health and safety policy actually contain? HSE guidance describes three parts: a Statement of Intent setting out your commitment; an Organisation section naming who is responsible for what; and an Arrangements section describing the systems and procedures you use to manage risks. All three are needed in a written policy.

Who is responsible for health and safety in a small business? The employer holds overall legal responsibility and must sign the statement of intent. Day-to-day duties can be delegated to named individuals — a supervisor, a first-aider, a safety rep — but those people must be identified by name in the organisation section and must understand what is expected of them.

How often should a health and safety policy be reviewed and updated? At minimum annually. In addition, review whenever a named person changes, new equipment or substances are introduced, an incident occurs, or your risk assessment identifies changes that affect how risks are managed.

Can I use a free template or do I need a consultant? You can start with a template — but you must replace all placeholder text with your actual hazards, real named individuals, and genuine control measures. HSE guidance confirms you can carry out risk management yourself or appoint a competent person to help. (HSE — Risk assessment: steps needed to manage risk) A template that still contains generic placeholder text when you sign it does not meet the requirement under regulation 3 for a suitable and sufficient assessment of your risks.

What about sole traders and self-employed people? Under regulation 3, a relevant self-employed person must also make a suitable and sufficient assessment of risks to their own health and safety and to others affected by their work. A written policy is good practice and may be required by clients or principal contractors regardless of your headcount.

What if my business operates across multiple sites? One overarching policy can cover multiple sites, but the arrangements section must address any site-specific hazards. Named roles in the organisation section should make clear who holds responsibility at each location.

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How does a health and safety policy template relate to CDM 2015 obligations on construction projects? Your company health and safety policy is the overarching document that site-specific CDM paperwork must align with. Under CDM 2015, the principal contractor (or sole contractor) must prepare and maintain a construction phase plan that sets out health and safety arrangements and site rules for the duration of the project — your policy's Organisation and Arrangements sections provide the management framework that feeds directly into that plan. RAMS produced for specific activities should also be consistent with the commitments made in your policy; a mismatch between the two is a red flag during any audit or inspection.

Does the construction phase plan replace the company health and safety policy on site? No — they serve different purposes and both must exist. The construction phase plan, as required under CDM 2015, is a project-specific document focused on managing and monitoring health and safety throughout that particular build; your company health and safety policy sets the employer-level framework within which all projects operate. Site inductions and toolbox talks should reinforce both documents, and every site worker must be made aware of the site rules set out in the construction phase plan. (hse.gov.uk/construction/safetytopics/site-rules-induction.htm)

Download the RamsDocs health and safety policy template

The RamsDocs template includes:

• Pre-mapped three-part structure — Statement of Intent, Organisation, and Arrangements, each with completion guidance
• Arrangements table cross-referenced to all five HSE risk management steps
• Named-role organisation chart with example duty descriptions
• Version-control cover block (document title, version, review date, reviewed by, next review date, change summary)
• Pre-submission checklist to verify all three parts before signing
• Editable Word format — replace placeholder text with your business details

[Download the free template →]

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Disclaimer: The RamsDocs health and safety policy template is a starting point designed to reduce drafting time and support compliance readiness. It is not a substitute for site-specific review by a competent person. Before signing and issuing any health and safety policy, it must be reviewed and adapted to reflect the actual hazards, risks, people, and working arrangements of your specific business. No template can guarantee regulatory compliance — that depends on the accuracy and completeness of the information you put into it.