Health and Safety Policy Template
The hazards here, the controls, and what everyone must do about them.
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| Applies to | [who it applies to] |
| Owner | [owner] |
| Effective from | October 14, 2026 |
| Next review | [date] |
1. Our commitment
This organization will provide a safe place to work, safe equipment, safe systems of work, and the information, instruction and training needed to use them. Nobody is expected to take a risk to meet a deadline, and nobody will be penalised for stopping work they believe to be unsafe.
2. The main hazards here, and what controls them
| Hazard | Control |
|---|---|
| [add one hazard per line] |
3. What everyone must do
[add one duty per line]
4. First aid and emergencies
[first-aiders, equipment locations, assembly point, emergency numbers]
5. Reporting accidents and near misses
[who to tell, where it is recorded, what gets reported externally]
What is a Health and Safety Policy?
A health and safety policy sets out what your organisation does to keep people from being hurt: the hazards present, the controls in place, who is responsible for what, and what everyone is expected to do. It matters because in many jurisdictions it is a legal requirement above a certain headcount, and because after an incident, the first thing an inspector asks for is the written policy and the evidence it was followed.
Every employer has some version of this duty, but the document looks different by sector. An office needs a short policy covering display screen work, fire, first aid, lone working and stress. A workshop, kitchen, warehouse or construction site needs machinery guarding, manual handling, hazardous substances, work at height and traffic movements. Directors and owners sign it; managers deliver it; the person responsible for the day-to-day arrangements is named in it. Employees read it at induction, which is the only reason it should be written in language they will actually read.
The legal duty behind it differs sharply. In Great Britain, employers with five or more employees must have a written health and safety policy under the Health and Safety at Work Act, and risk assessments must be recorded above the same threshold. Australia and much of Canada work under work health and safety legislation with duties on persons conducting a business. In the US, OSHA sets standards and several specific written programmes rather than one general policy. India's occupational safety code and state factory rules apply by sector and size. Check the current requirement for your jurisdiction; do not assume the threshold.
A policy is not a risk assessment. The policy says how you manage safety; the risk assessment identifies specific hazards, who might be harmed and what controls apply, and in most systems both are required. The policy is also not a substitute for training, equipment or supervision — a document describing controls nobody was taught to use is evidence against you, not for you. And it does not transfer liability to employees. Duties on workers to follow procedures sit alongside the employer's duties; they do not replace them.
What to put in a Health and Safety Policy
These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.
| Field | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Issuing organisation | For example: Maple Grove Homeowners Association |
| Organisation address | For example: 1420 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH 43212 |
| Who this applies to | For example: All employees, contractors and anyone posting on a company account |
| Policy owner | For example: Head of People |
| Next review | Free text |
| Main hazards here | One per line: Hazard | Control |
| What everyone must do | One per line |
| First aid and emergency | For example: First-aiders: Rachel Delgado (yard), Daniel Okafor (counter). First-aid boxes at the… |
| Reporting an accident | For example: Report every accident, injury and near miss to your supervisor the same day and record it… |
How to write a Health and Safety Policy
Open with a signed statement of intent
A short declaration from the most senior person — owner, managing director, trustee chair — saying the organisation is committed to providing safe working conditions and will meet its legal duties. Sign and date it personally. An unsigned or undated statement, or one signed by someone who left two years ago, is the first thing an inspector notices.
Name people, not job families
State who is responsible for what: overall responsibility, day-to-day arrangements, fire marshals, first aiders, the person who maintains equipment records. Use names and roles together, because names change and roles persist. Vague allocation is the failure that shows up after an incident, when three managers each believed another was checking the ladders.
List your actual hazards and controls
Work through what people here actually do, and for each significant hazard state the control: guarding and isolation on the bandsaw, two-person lift above a stated weight, harness and trained user for the loading bay edge. Generic lists copied from another sector are worse than nothing — they show the assessment was never done for this workplace.
Set out training, reporting and emergencies
Say what induction covers, what refresher training is required and how it is recorded. Explain how a hazard or near miss is reported and who acts on it. Then give the emergency arrangements: alarm, escape routes, assembly point, first aid provision, and which incidents must be reported to the regulator, since reportable categories are set by your jurisdiction.
Date it, review it and hand it out
Put a version number, an issue date and a review date on the front, and review after any significant incident, change of premises, new equipment or change in the law. Then make sure people have actually seen it — induction record, signed acknowledgement, a copy on the noticeboard. A policy nobody has read protects nobody.
Common mistakes
- Downloading a generic policy and changing only the company name, which lists hazards you do not have and misses the ones that will actually hurt someone.
- Leaving responsibilities to job titles nobody holds any more, so after an incident there is no evidence anyone was accountable for the control that failed.
- Writing the policy and never delivering the training it describes, which turns your own document into evidence that the control existed on paper only.
- Never dating or reviewing it, so the policy still refers to a building you moved out of and equipment you sold.
- Treating the policy as a replacement for recorded risk assessments, which are separately required in most systems and are what an inspector asks for next.
Frequently asked questions
Does a small business need a written health and safety policy?
It depends where you are and how many people you employ. In Great Britain the written policy requirement starts at five employees, though the underlying duty to manage risk applies to everyone. Other jurisdictions set different thresholds or require specific written programmes instead. Check the rule for your country and sector, and note that many clients and insurers ask for one regardless.
How often should a health and safety policy be reviewed?
Annually is the common working rhythm, but the real triggers are events: a serious incident or near miss, new equipment or processes, a move to different premises, a significant change in headcount, or a change in the law. Record the review date each time even when nothing changes, because the absence of any review date is what looks careless.
Who should sign the health and safety policy?
The most senior person in the organisation — the owner, managing director or chair of trustees. The point is that responsibility sits at the top and is visibly owned, not delegated to whoever drafted it. A safety adviser can write it, but they should not be the only signature. Sign and date it personally, and re-sign at each review.
What is the difference between a health and safety policy and a risk assessment?
The policy is the framework: intent, responsibilities and arrangements. The risk assessment is the analysis of a specific hazard — what could go wrong, who could be harmed, what controls reduce it, and what is left. One organisation has a single policy and many risk assessments. Most systems require both, and having only one of them is a common gap.
Do we have to display the health and safety policy?
Requirements differ. Some jurisdictions require a specific poster or notice to be displayed rather than the policy itself, and some require the policy to be brought to employees' attention without prescribing how. The practical answer is to do both: display what your regulator requires and make the policy available where people work. Confirm the current display obligation for your country.
This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.