When did you last review your health and safety policy?

A health and safety policy is one of the most important documents within any organisation. It sets out your commitment to protecting employees, contractors, visitors and anyone else who may be affected by your work activities.

But unfortunately for many organisations health and safety policies are created, filed away and rarely revisited until an audit, inspection or incident highlights the need for change.

If your organisation has evolved over the past year, your health and safety policy should have evolved too.

Why regular policy reviews matter

Your health and safety policy should reflect how your organisation operates today, not how it operated when the document was first written.

Changes such as business growth, new sites, organisational restructuring, new equipment, changes in working practices or updates to legislation can all leave policies outdated and disconnected from day-to-day operations.

An outdated policy can create confusion over responsibilities, lead to inconsistencies in safety management and make it more difficult to demonstrate compliance during audits or inspections.

Reviewing your policy regularly helps ensure it remains relevant, practical and aligned with your current health and safety arrangements.

Is a written health and safety policy a legal requirement?

Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, employers with five or more employees are legally required to have a written health and safety policy.

The policy should be documented, communicated to employees and reviewed whenever circumstances change.

Even organisations with fewer than five employees can benefit from having a written policy, as it provides clarity around expectations, responsibilities and arrangements for managing workplace risks.

what should a health and safety policy include?

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recommends that a health and safety policy contains three key sections.

1. Statement of intent

This section outlines the organisation’s commitment to health and safety and sets the overall direction for health and safety management.

It should:

• Demonstrate senior leadership commitment
• Outline key health and safety objectives
• Confirm compliance with relevant legislation
• Be signed by the most senior person within the organisation
• Include a commitment to regular review

2. Roles and responsibilities

Everyone within the organisation should understand their responsibilities for health and safety.

This section should clearly define the responsibilities of:

• Directors and senior leaders
• Managers and supervisors
• Employees
• Health and safety representatives
• First aiders and fire marshals where applicable

Clear accountability helps ensure health and safety responsibilities are understood and consistently applied across the business.

3. Health and safety arrangements

This section explains how health and safety is managed in practice.

Depending on your organisation, it may include information on:

• Risk assessments
• Accident and incident reporting
• Training and competency management
• Fire safety arrangements
• Emergency procedures
• Contractor management
• Permit to work systems
• Personal protective equipment (PPE)
• Equipment inspection and maintenance
• Occupational health arrangements
• Manual handling controls
• Lone working procedures
• Display screen equipment (DSE) assessments
• First aid arrangements

Signs your health and safety policy needs reviewing

An annual review is considered good practice, but there are many situations where an earlier review may be necessary.

You should consider reviewing your policy if:

• Key personnel or management responsibilities have changed
• New sites, departments or locations have been introduced
• New equipment, machinery or processes have been implemented
• Hybrid or remote working arrangements have changed
• New contractors are regularly working on site
• There has been an accident, near miss or enforcement action
• Legislative requirements have changed
• Employees are unclear about responsibilities or reporting procedures
• The policy contains outdated job titles, procedures or references

If any of these apply, your policy may no longer accurately reflect how your organisation manages health and safety.

A quick health and safety policy review checklist

Not sure whether your policy needs updating?

Ask yourself the following questions:

✓ Has the policy been reviewed within the last 12 months?

✓ Is it signed by the most senior person in the organisation?

✓ Are all named responsibilities still correct?

✓ Does it reflect current organisational structures and reporting lines?

✓ Does it account for current working practices, including hybrid or remote working where relevant?

✓ Are contractor management arrangements included?

✓ Are emergency procedures up to date?

✓ Does it reference your current risk assessment processes?

✓ Are training responsibilities clearly defined?

✓ Can employees easily access the policy?

✓ Does it align with your wider health and safety management system?

If you answered “no” to any of these questions, it may be time for a review.

Communicating your health and safety policy

A well-written policy has limited value if employees are unaware of its contents.

Once reviewed, the policy should be communicated throughout the organisation and made readily accessible to employees. It should also be written in plain English so that everyone can easily understand their responsibilities and the arrangements in place to keep them safe.

Organisations should consider:

• Including the policy within employee inductions
• Discussing key responsibilities during training sessions
• Making the document easily accessible to staff
• Reviewing it during audits and inspections
• Communicating updates whenever changes are made

Health and safety policies should not simply be viewed as compliance documents. They should act as practical guides that support safer ways of working across the organisation.

Simply uploading a policy to a shared drive is rarely enough.

Employees should understand not only where the policy is located, but also what it means for their role and responsibilities.

Effective communication methods may include:

• Employee inductions
• Toolbox talks
• Team briefings
• Safety committees
• Refresher training sessions
• Internal newsletters
• Company intranet platforms
• Digital document management systems

If your organisation is operating across multiple sites, digital solutions can help ensure employees always have access to the latest approved version while maintaining a clear audit trail of who has viewed and acknowledged the document.

Where significant changes have been made, it may also be beneficial to obtain formal acknowledgement from employees to demonstrate the policy has been communicated and understood.

Keeping policies current and accessible

Managing policy reviews across multiple sites, departments and teams can become increasingly challenging as organisations grow.

Digital health and safety management systems can help organisations maintain greater control by storing policies centrally, managing version control, assigning review dates and ensuring employees always have access to the latest approved documentation.

This helps reduce the risk of outdated information being used and provides a clear audit trail of reviews, approvals and updates.

Final thoughts

Your health and safety policy should be a living document that evolves alongside your organisation.

Regular reviews help ensure responsibilities remain clear, procedures remain relevant and your organisation continues to meet its legal and moral obligations to protect its workforce.

If it has been more than 12 months since your last review, or your organisation has experienced significant changes, now could be the ideal time to revisit your policy and ensure it still reflects the way your business operates today.

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