What is the Health And Safety At Work Act? Everything you need to know

Updated January 2025

The Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) is a vital piece of legislation that sets out health and safety regulations in UK workplaces. It applies to all workplaces, from factories and construction sites to offices and shops.

The HSWA places a duty of care on employers to ensure employee health and safety. This includes specific responsibilities to assess and manage risks in their working environment. It also identifies employee responsibilities to cooperate with regulations and follow established safety arrangements.

While everyone is aware of the need for health and safety in the workplace, the HSWA can be a daunting piece of legislation for businesses. With the Act being over 120 pages long, it’s unlikely that many employers have the time or energy to read it all.

That’s where Veriforce CHAS comes in.

We’ve put together everything you need to know about the Health and Safety at Work Act. It covers everything from the purpose and history of the Act to employer and employee responsibilities and the enforcement mechanisms in place. Our guide makes it simple for you to learn about the HSWA and ensure you’re informed about health and safety law in the UK.

The HSWA aims to protect the health, safety and welfare of people at work and members of the public who may be affected by work activities. The Act also delivers legal compliance, business benefits, and promotes employee well-being.

Key aims of the Act include:

1. Setting general principles: Establish principles that employers, employees and self-employed individuals should follow to ensure workplace safety.
2. Risk management: Ensure employers assess and manage risks to the health and safety of employees and others.
3. Framework for regulations: Provide a framework for developing health and safety regulations, codes of practice and guidance.
4. Enforcement mechanisms: Outline systems for inspections, investigations and enforcement actions.
5. Compensation for injuries: Provide a system for compensating individuals injured or made ill by workplace activities.
6. Fostering a safety culture: Encourage a workplace culture focused on health and safety.

The legislation aims to help organisations and businesses understand and implement measures to create a safe and healthy work environment for themselves, their staff, and the general public. It also ensures compliance, improves business efficiency, and protects employee well-being.

Employer Responsibilities

• Health and safety policy: Create a clear policy for more than five employees and communicate it to all staff.
• Risk assessments: Conduct risk assessments to identify hazards and implement control measures.
• Safe environment: Provide and maintain a safe working environment for all employees.
• Safe equipment: Ensure all machinery, tools, and equipment are safe to use and properly maintained.
• Safe handling of substances: Ensure all hazardous substances are stored, handled, and used safely.
• Training: Deliver information, instruction, and training so employees can work safely.
• First aid: Make arrangements for first aid facilities and trained personnel to respond to incidents.
• Welfare: Provide appropriate welfare facilities to support the health and well-being of employees.
• Supervision: Monitor employees’ work practices to ensure compliance with health and safety procedures.

Employee responsibilities 

• Cooperation: Follow health and safety procedures and work with your employer to maintain a safe workplace.
• Use equipment properly: Operate machinery and tools safely according to training and guidance.
• Follow training and instructions: Adhere to instructions and training provided by your employer.
• Maintain tidiness: Keep your work area clean and free from hazards.
• Take care: Take reasonable care for your own safety and for the safety of others.
• Report hazards: Alert your employer to any unsafe conditions, equipment defects, or incidents.

While health and safety is part of everyday life for businesses and organisations today, it’s not always been the case. Comprehensive health and safety regulations have only been in place since 1974 when the HSWA was introduced. So before we dive into the specifics of the Act, it’s helpful to understand the history of it and why it exists.

Before the introduction of the HSWA, there was no comprehensive health and safety legislation in the UK. While there were laws to ensure workplace health, they were industry or sector-specific that applied to:

• Factories
• Shops
• Construction sites
• Railways
• Mines.

While these industry-specific regulations helped to make working conditions somewhat safer, the legislation was prescriptive and often unequipped to deal with technological advancements.

Catalysts for change

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the need for comprehensive and fundamental health and safety legislation became evident due to two tragic events:

The James Watt Street Fire — 1968

A fire in a Glasgow factory led to the deaths of 22 factory workers in 1968. The building was previously modified to operate as a whisky bond (a highly secure factory to protect whisky on which excise duty had not yet been paid).

Due to this, the factory had barred windows, which compromised the escape of factory workers when the fire broke out. The James Watt Street Fire was not an isolated incident, as many similar fires had taken place since the end of the Second World War.

Flixborough Chemical Plant Fire — 1974

In the year that the Health and Safety at Work Act was being created, a fire occurred at a chemical plant near the village of Flixborough in Lincolnshire, England. Known as the Flixborough Disaster, the fire killed 28 people and seriously injured another 36. At the time, there was no health and safety legislation to cover a chemical plant.

The creation of the HSWA in 1974

These incidents, among countless others, clarified the need for comprehensive health and safety regulations. In 1970, the Employed Persons (Health and Safety) Bill was introduced, but it was quickly evident that it needed to be more thorough.

The government established a health and safety committee led by Lord Alfred Robens. The committee’s purpose was to create health and safety legislation that was easy to follow and flexible. On the 31st of July, 1974, the Health and Safety at Work Act was published.

Since its creation, the Act has helped the UK make significant strides forward in terms of workplace safety in consultation with employers and employees. Alongside helping to make the workplace safer, it also set up a fast way to introduce new legislation. Since 1974, several significant regulations have been introduced, including:

• The Construction (Head Protection) Regulations 1989
• Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995
• Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998
• Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations 2002
• Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002
• The Work at Height Regulations 2005
• The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005
• The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006
• The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.

While plenty of new regulations and safety measures have been introduced since 1974, employers’ and employees’ responsibilities remain relatively unchanged for nearly 50 years.

Employer responsibilities

• Ensuring the health, safety, and welfare of employees while at work.
• Providing and maintaining safe plant and machinery.
• Ensuring safe handling and use of substances.
• Providing information, instruction and training to employees.
• Providing and maintaining a safe and healthy working environment.
• Making arrangements for first aid and welfare facilities.
• Creating a health and safety policy for more than five employees.

Employee responsibilities

• Taking reasonable care of their own health and safety and that of others who may be affected by their actions.
• Cooperating with their employer on health and safety matters.
• Following training and instructions provided by the employer.
• Not interfering with or misusing any health and safety equipment provided by the employer.
• Reporting any hazardous situations or defects in equipment to the employer.

Recommended reading: Learn more about employee responsibilities.

Both employers and employees have a shared responsibility to take reasonable steps to protect the health and safety of workers and others who may be affected by work activities. This includes taking necessary precautions to prevent accidents and injuries and ensuring the workplace is safe and healthy.

The Health and Safety at Work Act is enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in England, Scotland, and Wales and the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) in Northern Ireland.

The HSE and HSENI have the power to:

• Inspect workplaces to ensure that they comply with the Act and other health and safety regulations.
• Investigate accidents and incidents that occur at work to determine their causes and how they could have been prevented.
• Prosecute employers, employees, and self-employed people who have committed offences under the Act or other health and safety regulations.
• Serve improvement and prohibition notices on employers and other duty holders requiring them to take or stop specific actions to ensure compliance with the Act and other regulations.
• Require employers to provide information about the risks to the health and safety of their employees and others who may be affected by their work, as well as the steps they have taken to manage those risks.

In addition to these enforcement powers, the HSE and HSENI also provide advice and guidance to employers and employees on how to comply with the Act and other health and safety regulations. They also offer a range of training and support to help people understand their health and safety obligations and fulfil them effectively.

Ensure your compliance with the Health And Safety Act today