A bespoke written health & safety policy for your business — the document UK law requires once you employ five or more people, written around your real risks by CMIOSH consultants. Not a template. Since 1984.
A health and safety policy is the document that sets out, in writing, how your organisation manages health and safety. It has three parts: a statement of intent (your commitment and aims), responsibilities (who is accountable for what), and arrangements (the practical systems — risk assessment, training, first aid, accident reporting and so on).
Under Section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, if you employ five or more people you must have a written health and safety policy and bring it to your employees’ attention. Below five employees a written policy is not legally compulsory — but clients, insurers and tender pre-qualification questionnaires routinely ask for one regardless.
A free template can look like a shortcut, but a generic policy that does not reflect your actual hazards is worth little at an HSE inspection and can mislead your own staff. KeyOstas writes a policy bespoke to your business — your sites, your activities, your real risks — by CMIOSH consultants, so it is both compliant and genuinely usable.
Section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires every employer with five or more employees to prepare, and keep up to date, a written statement of their general health and safety policy — and to bring it, and any revision, to the attention of their employees.
A complete, bespoke written health & safety policy — the three statutory parts, written for your business by a CMIOSH consultant.
A clear commitment to health and safety, signed at the top of your organisation — tailored, not boilerplate.
Who is accountable for what, from directors to supervisors to employees — mapped to your actual structure.
The practical systems — risk assessment, training, first aid, fire, accident reporting, contractors — written around your operations.
Sections covering the hazards that genuinely apply to your work, rather than a generic catch-all.
A policy written so it stands up if an HSE inspector, insurer or client asks to see it.
Guidance on keeping the policy current — and an option to fold updates into a retained advisory package.
Four reasons UK employers have KeyOstas write their health & safety policy.
Five CMIOSH-grade consultants — Chartered Members of IOSH, the highest grade IOSH awards. Most one-person UK consultancies hold no Chartered grade at all.
Our lead consultant is listed on the Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register — the cross-body register endorsed by HSE, IOSH and IEMA. Verify us directly on OSHCR.
No junior account managers, no offshored advice lines. The Chartered consultant who scopes your engagement on the free call is the consultant who delivers it.
Findings closed, not just listed. Documents your team will actually use. The benchmark is whether this made your business safer.
From first call to delivery, the Chartered consultant you meet is the consultant who does the work — no handoffs, no junior advisors.
Talk to a Chartered consultant. We map your current state, your regulatory exposure and your priorities. No obligation, no pitch.
Written scope, deliverables, the named consultant who will lead, and a fixed fee or retainer rate — in your inbox within one working day.
Site work, documentation and ongoing competent-person support if you need it. The consultant who scoped the work is the consultant who delivers it.
A bespoke health & safety policy is fixed-scope project work; ongoing updates can sit inside a retained advisory package.
A complete bespoke written health & safety policy — statement of intent, responsibilities and arrangements, written around your real risks. Written proposal within 24 hours.
Ongoing policy upkeep — we keep your written policy accurate and in date as your business changes — inside a retained package from £495 a year.
The questions UK buyers ask us most about this service. Tap any to expand.
Yes, if you employ five or more people. Section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires employers with five or more employees to have a written health and safety policy and to bring it to their employees’ attention. Below five employees a written policy is not compulsory, though it is still good practice.
Five. Once you employ five or more people the written policy becomes a legal requirement. The count includes part-time staff. Many businesses below the threshold still produce one because clients, insurers and tenders expect it.
Three parts: a statement of intent (your aims and commitment); the responsibilities (who is accountable for health and safety, and for what); and the arrangements (the practical systems for managing risk — risk assessment, training, first aid, accident reporting and so on).
You can, but a generic template that does not reflect your actual hazards has limited value — it can mislead your own staff and carries little weight at an HSE inspection. A policy must be specific to your business to be genuinely compliant and useful. KeyOstas writes yours bespoke.
A written policy should be reviewed whenever it may no longer be valid — after a significant change to your business, premises, activities or structure, after a serious incident, or when legislation changes. An annual review is a sensible routine backstop.
If you employ five or more people and have no written policy, you are in breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. An HSE inspector can issue an improvement notice requiring you to produce one, and persistent or serious failings can lead to prosecution.
Services and courses UK employers most often combine with this one.
Free 20-minute scoping call. Written proposal and fixed fee within 24 hours. CMIOSH consultants, UK-wide.
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