Workplace Health and Safety in 2026: What the Law Actually Requires (And Where Most Businesses Are Getting It Wrong)
Written by Stephanie Austin — Owner & Lead Trainer, Prima Cura Training | Last reviewed: June 2026 | Next review: June 2027
Workplace Health and Safety in 2026: What the Law Actually Requires (And Where Most Businesses Are Getting It Wrong)
Most people hear “health and safety” and immediately picture someone filling in a form about a wet floor sign. That’s the reputation the subject has, and it’s done enormous damage.
While business owners are busy rolling their eyes at the perceived red tape, according to the HSE’s 2024/25 annual health and safety statistics, published in November 2025, 124 workers were fatally injured in work-related accidents in Great Britain. A further 680,000 working people sustained a non-fatal injury at work, according to the Labour Force Survey, while 59,219 employee injuries were formally reported by employers under RIDDOR
Health and safety is not paperwork. It’s the difference between your team going home safe and your business facing a prosecution.
| 124 Workers fatally injured | 680,000 Non-fatal workplace injuries | 1.9m Workers with work-related illness | 40.1m Working days lost |
Key figures for Great Britain 2024 to 2025 – HSE
The Law Has Been Clear Since 1974
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 is the bedrock of UK workplace safety law. It places a legal duty on every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety, and welfare of all employees. Not some employees. Not just the ones doing physically dangerous jobs. All of them.
The phrase “so far as is reasonably practicable” does not mean “if it’s convenient”. It means employers must weigh the risk against the cost and effort of addressing it. If the risk is significant, it must be addressed, regardless of business size, sector, or how busy everyone is.
Self-employed workers and members of the general public must also be protected from risks created by your work activities. The Act does not have a minimum headcount. If you run a business in England and Wales, it applies to you.
The Regulations That Sit Underneath It
The 1974 Act is the framework. The regulations beneath it tell you exactly what’s required in specific areas. These are the ones that catch businesses out most often.
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessments, put preventive measures in place, and appoint a competent person to help manage health and safety. If you have five or more employees, the significant findings of that assessment must be written down. That requirement is not a formality.
Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 cover any lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling, or carrying that could result in injury. Employers must avoid hazardous manual handling where reasonably practicable, assess the risks where it cannot be avoided, and reduce the risk of injury. Musculoskeletal disorders remain the most common form of work-related ill health in Britain, affecting 477,000 workers.
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH)
The COSHH Regulations 2002 require employers to assess and control exposure to hazardous substances. This applies to a far wider range of businesses than most employers realise. Cleaning products, paint fumes, wood dust, flour dust, printing inks, biological agents, and prolonged skin exposure to water and detergents all fall within the scope. If your staff handle any of these, a COSHH assessment is a legal requirement.
Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR)
The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 require certain workplace incidents to be reported to the HSE. Fatalities, specified injuries, over-seven-day incapacitation injuries, occupational diseases, and dangerous occurrences are all within scope. Under-reporting is widespread. Missing a required RIDDOR report is a criminal offence under Section 33 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, as amended by the Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, requires every non-domestic premises to have a nominated Responsible Person. That person must ensure a fire risk assessment is completed and kept up to date, fire safety measures are maintained, and staff receive appropriate fire safety instruction and training. This applies to every employer, not just those in high-risk industries.
Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981
The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 require employers to ensure adequate and appropriate first aid arrangements are in place. What that looks like depends on the nature of the work, the size of the workforce, and the location of the premises. A bandage in a drawer is not an adequate provision.
Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992
The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 apply to any worker who uses a computer, tablet, or screen as a significant part of their work. Employers must carry out workstation assessments, provide eye tests on request, and ensure adequate breaks from screen use. Remote and hybrid workers are included.
Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023
In force from October 2024, the Worker Protection Act 2023 introduced a new proactive duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of workers in the course of their employment. This is not just an HR matter. It is a health and safety obligation, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission can investigate and enforce breaches.
What ‘Suitable and Sufficient’ Actually Means
Risk assessment is the cornerstone of UK health and safety law, and it’s the area where most businesses either get it badly wrong or skip it entirely.
A risk assessment is not a form you complete once and file. It’s a genuine evaluation of what could cause harm in your workplace, how likely that is, how serious it could be, and what controls you have in place. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require it to be “suitable and sufficient”: proportionate to the actual risks in your workplace, not a downloaded template with everything ticked yes.
If you have five or more employees, significant findings must be written down. The assessment must also be reviewed when there’s reason to believe it’s no longer valid: after a change in work processes, following an incident, or when new staff or equipment are introduced.
Our Risk Assessing course is built around practical application rather than theory. It’s designed for the people in your business who are actually responsible for writing and reviewing assessments, and who need to understand what they’re looking for, not just how to fill in a form.
Common H&S Obligations by Business Type
Every workplace has its own risk profile. These are the starting points for the most common sectors.
| Business Type | Key Regulations | Common Risk Areas | Where to Start With Training |
| Office-based | DSE Regs 1992, MHSWR 1999, Fire Safety Order 2005, Worker Protection Act 2023 | Workstation ergonomics, fire evacuation, stress, mental health, harassment prevention | H&S Awareness, Fire Safety Awareness, Risk Assessing, Mental Health Awareness |
| Hospitality and Retail | MHSWR 1999, Manual Handling Regs 1992, Food Safety and Hygiene Regs 2013, Fire Safety Order 2005 | Slips, trips and falls, manual handling, food hygiene, fire | Manual Handling, Food Hygiene Awareness, Fire Safety Awareness, H&S Awareness |
| Construction | CDM Regulations 2015, Manual Handling Regs 1992, COSHH 2002, RIDDOR 2013 | Falls from height, manual handling, hazardous substances, and reportable injuries | Manual Handling, COSHH and RIDDOR Awareness, Risk Assessing |
| Manufacturing | PUWER 1998, COSHH 2002, Manual Handling Regs 1992, RIDDOR 2013, Noise at Work Regs 2005 | Work equipment, hazardous substances, manual handling, noise, reportable injuries | COSHH and RIDDOR Awareness, Manual Handling, Risk Assessing, H&S Level 2 |
| Early Years and Education | MHSWR 1999, Fire Safety Order 2005, HSWA 1974, Manual Handling Regs 1992 | Fire, manual handling, infection control, and duty of care | H&S Awareness, Fire Safety Awareness, Infection Prevention and Control |
| Healthcare and Social Care | COSHH 2002, Manual Handling Regs 1992, RIDDOR 2013, IPC guidelines | Infection control, manual handling, COSHH, RIDDOR reporting | Manual Handling, COSHH and RIDDOR Awareness, Infection Prevention and Control |
Note: This table provides a general guide. A risk assessment will identify the specific obligations for your workplace.
The Areas Where Businesses Consistently Fall Short
Manual Handling
Musculoskeletal injuries remain the leading cause of work-related ill health in Britain, yet manual handling remains one of the most under-addressed risks in workplaces outside heavy industry. Office workers lifting boxes from storage, retail staff restocking shelves, hospitality teams moving barrels and equipment: the risk is present across sectors that don’t always think of themselves as “manual” environments. Our Manual Handling training covers technique, task assessment, and the practical controls your team needs.
Fire Safety
Too many businesses have a fire risk assessment gathering dust, and fire marshals who last trained two years ago and have since left the company. The Responsible Person has a legal duty to ensure training stays current and that fire safety measures are actually effective, not just documented. Our Fire Marshal training and Fire Safety Awareness course are designed for both.
COSHH
Businesses that don’t handle industrial chemicals often assume COSHH doesn’t apply to them. It usually does. Cleaning products, adhesives, printing inks, and prolonged skin exposure to water and soap all fall within the regulations. If your staff deal with any hazardous substance regularly, the law requires you to assess and control that exposure. Our COSHH and RIDDOR Awareness course covers both the assessment process and the reporting requirements that go alongside it.
RIDDOR Reporting
Under-reporting of workplace incidents is a persistent problem across UK businesses. The reasons are varied: not knowing what triggers a report, uncertainty about the submission process, or a reluctance to create documentation around an incident. RIDDOR reports are a legal requirement. Failure to submit one when required is a criminal offence.
The HSE has an online RIDDOR reporting portal. Knowing when and how to use it is a basic competency for anyone managing health and safety in your business.
Display Screen Equipment and Remote Workers
Since the shift to hybrid and remote working, DSE compliance has become one of the most widely ignored areas of H&S law. The regulations apply regardless of whether the workstation is in your office or your employee’s spare room. Workstation assessments must cover remote setups, and the employer is still responsible for ensuring they’re carried out.
Mental Health
Employers have a duty to assess and manage psychosocial risks just as they would physical ones. The Worker Protection Act 2023 has sharpened this focus further. Our Mental Health Awareness training gives managers and staff a practical grounding in recognising the signs and knowing what action to take.
| Not sure which training your business actually needs? Drop us a message or call 0333 999 8783 and we will tell you straight. info@primacuratraining.co.uk | primacuratraining.co.uk |
Training Is Not a Box-Tick Exercise
A lot of businesses book health and safety training because they have to. Audits, insurance requirements, and contract conditions. And if compliance is the only thing driving a booking, it usually shows in how the training lands with the team.
The businesses that get health and safety right don’t treat training as an annual obligation. They treat it as part of how they actually operate. Managers understand why the requirements exist, not just what they are. Staff know what to do because they’ve practised it, not because they were handed a policy document to sign.
That’s the difference between our Health and Safety Awareness and Health and Safety Level 2 courses and a generic e-learning module someone clicks through in fifteen minutes. The content is grounded in real workplace scenarios. The delivery is built around application.
If your team works with food, our Food Hygiene Awareness and Infection Prevention and Control courses extend that same principle into specific, practical contexts.
Matching Training to Role: A Practical Starting Point
| Role | Recommended Training | The Legal Basis |
| All employees | Health and Safety Awareness | Employer duty under HSWA 1974 and MHSWR 1999 |
| All employees | Fire Safety Awareness | Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 |
| Managers and supervisors | Health and Safety Level 2, Risk Assessing | Competent person requirement under MHSWR 1999 |
| Any role involving lifting or carrying | Manual Handling | Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 |
| Designated fire marshals | Fire Marshal | Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 |
| Any role using hazardous substances | COSHH and RIDDOR Awareness | COSHH Regulations 2002 and RIDDOR 2013 |
| Food handlers | Food Hygiene Awareness | Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 |
| Healthcare, social care, and early years | Infection Prevention and Control | HSE requirements and sector-specific IPC guidance |
| Managers, HR, and all staff | Mental Health Awareness | Employer duty of care and Worker Protection Act 2023 |
One More Obligation Many Businesses Haven’t Acted On Yet
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 came into force in October 2024. A significant number of employers still haven’t fully assessed what it requires.
The Act created a new proactive duty. Employers must now take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment from occurring in the workplace. Not just respond to it when it does. Prevent it before it happens. That’s a shift in the standard, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission has published a statutory code of practice to help employers understand what “reasonable steps” look like in practice.
If your business hasn’t reviewed its policies, training provision, and workplace culture in light of this, now is a good time to do so.
Ready to Get Your H&S Training Sorted?
Health and safety training that actually works is not about handing your team a printout and ticking a box. It’s about giving people the knowledge to spot risks and act on them before something goes wrong.
Prima Cura Training has been delivering workplace health and safety training across the UK since 2015. We work with businesses across hospitality, construction, manufacturing, education, retail, and more. Our delivery is face-to-face, remote, blended, and e-learning, so we can work around your team rather than the other way around.
If you want to talk through what your business needs, we are not going to push a course on you. We will give you a straight answer and point you in the right direction.
| Get in touch with Prima Cura Training Call: 0333 999 8783 Email: info@primacuratraining.co.uk Browse our full training range at primacuratraining.co.uk |
This article is for general information and guidance only. It is not legal advice and should not be used as a substitute for advice from a competent health and safety professional, legal adviser, fire risk assessor, HR adviser or the Health and Safety Executive. Health and safety duties can vary depending on your workplace, sector, workforce, premises, work activities and level of risk. Employers remain responsible for carrying out suitable and sufficient risk assessments, keeping arrangements under review, and ensuring they meet their legal duties under current UK legislation and guidance. For urgent health and safety concerns, serious incidents or reportable workplace events, follow your organisation’s procedures and seek appropriate professional or regulatory guidance.
