Your employer's legal duties.

The framework — the 1974 Act and the six-pack

UK workplace health and safety law sits on the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 — a primary statute imposing general duties — supported by the so-called "six-pack" of regulations introduced in 1992 to implement EU directives, plus dozens of hazard-specific Statutory Instruments. The general duty (section 2) is to ensure employee health, safety and welfare "so far as is reasonably practicable." Section 3 extends a similar duty to non-employees affected by the work. Section 7 imposes a reciprocal duty on employees to take reasonable care for themselves and others.

The seven core duties

1. Carry out and document risk assessments. Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Five or more employees triggers a written record. Risk assessments must be suitable, sufficient and reviewed when circumstances change.
2. Provide safe equipment and inspect it. Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) and the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER). Lifting equipment needs thorough examination at least every 12 months — every 6 months if used to lift people.
3. Provide and enforce suitable PPE. Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended by the 2022 Regulations to extend to "limb (b)" workers — gig and zero-hours workers). PPE must be free of charge and the employer must enforce its use.
4. Train you for the task and supervise as needed. Reg 13 of the Management Regulations and the common-law duty stated in Wilsons & Clyde Coal Co Ltd v English [1938] AC 57: provide competent staff, safe equipment, a safe place of work and a safe system of work.
5. Maintain safe workplaces, floors, lighting, ventilation and welfare. Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 — covering temperature (minimum 16 °C, 13 °C if work is physical), drinking water, sanitary facilities, traffic routes and floor condition.
6. Report serious injuries and dangerous occurrences. Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR). Reportable events include over-7-day absences, specified injuries (fractures, amputations, eye loss, scalpings), occupational diseases and dangerous occurrences.
7. Hold and display Employers' Liability insurance. Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969. Minimum £5m of cover; certificate must be displayed or made electronically available.

Specific duties by hazard

• Manual handling. Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. The hierarchy is avoid, assess, reduce. See our guide to manual handling injuries.
• Working at height. Work at Height Regulations 2005. Collective protection (scaffold, MEWP, nets) before personal protection (harness). See construction site accidents.
• Display screen equipment. Health and Safety (DSE) Regulations 1992. Workstation assessments, breaks away from the screen, eye tests on request — extended to home workers in practice.
• Vibration. Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005. Hand-arm vibration: action value 2.5 m/s² A(8); limit value 5.0 m/s² A(8).
• Noise. Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005. Hearing protection available at 80 dB(A); mandatory hearing protection zones at 85 dB(A); absolute exposure limit 87 dB(A) (taking into account hearing protection).
• Hazardous substances. COSHH 2002. Assess, prevent or control exposure to chemicals, dust, fumes and biological agents. Health surveillance where appropriate.
• Asbestos. Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. Duty to manage asbestos in non-domestic premises; licensable work only by HSE-licensed contractors.
• Working time. Working Time Regulations 1998. 48-hour weekly limit (with opt-out), daily and weekly rest, 11 hours' rest in any 24, paid annual leave.
• Lone working, violence, stress. No bespoke regulations but caught by the general s.2 duty and the Management Regulations risk-assessment duty.

What employers cannot do

• Contract out of liability for negligence under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977.
• Charge you for PPE (PPE Regulations).
• Penalise or dismiss you for raising a genuine safety concern — sections 44 and 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. See can I be sacked for claiming?
• Force you back to work before you are medically fit.
• Refuse to disclose the risk assessment, accident book entry or relevant insurance details when reasonably requested.
• Pretend you were "self-employed" if in reality you worked under their direction (the Pimlico Plumbers and Uber line of cases).

Who actually pays your compensation

Your damages are paid by your employer's compulsory Employers' Liability insurer, not your employer's bank account. Bringing a claim does not cost your employer money personally — it does not threaten your colleagues' jobs, the business's solvency or the office Christmas party. The Employers' Liability Tracing Office (ELTO) maintains a register of EL policies so that claimants can identify the right insurer even where the employer has since dissolved.

What if my employer no longer exists?

You can still claim. The ELTO database identifies the historic insurer. If the employer is dissolved, the company can be restored to the Companies House register specifically for the purpose of bringing the claim against the insurer (under the Companies Act 2006, s.1029).

Self-employed and agency workers

Statutory duties bite even where you are not an "employee" in the strictest sense. PUWER applies to "every person at work on the premises." The Workplace Regulations and Work at Height Regulations apply to people at work, regardless of contract type. Agency workers are owed duties by both the agency (your direct employer) and the end-user (the site occupier). Genuinely self-employed contractors are owed duties under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 by the principal contractor on a building site.

Read about how a UK claim works, the time limits, or browse claim types by setting.

See also: claim types · how a claim works · compensation amounts.