After an accident
After an accident: report, investigate, or both?
After a workplace accident you may need to report it under RIDDOR, and you should investigate it. What must be reported, by when, and how to investigate well.
Read the guideGuides
Health and safety, explained simply.
Short, practical guides and plain-English explanations of health and safety law. Each one is checked against current guidance from the Health and Safety Executive and links to the source.
Practical guides
Step-by-step help with the jobs that come up most.
CDM 2015
What goes in a construction phase plan?
Who writes the construction phase plan under CDM 2015, when it must be ready, what it should contain and how to keep it proportionate and up to date.
Read the guideCDM 2015
CDM 2015 duty holders, explained
Who does what under CDM 2015: clients, principal designers, designers, principal contractors, contractors and workers, and when a project must be notified to HSE.
Read the guideAudits
How to prepare for a health and safety audit
A practical checklist for a health and safety audit: the scope to agree, the documents to gather, the people to involve and what to do with the findings.
Read the guideMental health
Psychological safety at work: a practical guide
What psychological safety means, why it matters for health and safety, and practical steps to help your team speak up about risks, mistakes and mental health.
Read the guideRAMS
What should RAMS include?
What a good risk assessment and method statement (RAMS) includes, why generic RAMS get rejected, and how to make yours site-specific and useful.
Read the guide
Health and safety law
What the law requires of a small business, in plain English.
Health and safety law
Health and safety law for small businesses: where to start
The main health and safety laws for small businesses in Great Britain, what they ask of you, and the basics HSE says every employer should have in place.
Read the guideHealth and safety law
What does "so far as is reasonably practicable" mean?
What "so far as is reasonably practicable" means in health and safety law, how the courts apply it, and how to use it to decide which controls you need.
Read the guideHealth and safety policy
Do you need a written health and safety policy?
When the law says you must write down your health and safety policy, what its three parts should cover, and how to keep it true to the way your business works.
Read the guideRisk assessment
Risk assessment: what the law requires, and what it does not
What the law requires from a risk assessment, when you must write it down, HSE's five steps, and the common myths that waste time without making work safer.
Read the guideCompetent help
Competent help: why the law says you need it
Why the law says every employer needs competent health and safety help, what competence means, when to bring in an outside adviser and how to choose one well.
Read the guideWhy it matters
Why does practical health and safety advice matter?
The human and business case for practical health and safety in small firms: HSE figures, insurance, winning work, keeping good people and less paperwork.
Read the guide
Enforcement and liability
Inspections, fines, and the personal duties of directors and managers.
Directors and managers
Directors and managers: what are your personal duties?
What section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act means for directors and managers of small firms, and the practical steps HSE recommends for leaders.
Read the guideFines and sentencing
How are health and safety fines decided?
How courts in England and Wales set health and safety fines: culpability, harm, turnover, prison for individuals, and why prevention costs a small firm less.
Read the guideCorporate manslaughter
Corporate manslaughter: what do small firms need to know?
What the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 means for small firms, how it differs from gross negligence manslaughter, and what to do.
Read the guideInspections
What happens when an HSE inspector calls?
What happens when an HSE inspector visits, how improvement and prohibition notices and appeals work, and what Fee for Intervention costs in 2026.
Read the guide
Construction
On-site risks and CDM, for builders, trades and the people who hire them.
CDM 2015
CDM 2015 on small jobs: the questions builders and clients ask
How CDM 2015 works on small jobs and home improvements: domestic clients, more than one contractor, what a builder must do, notification and welfare.
Read the guideWork at height
Working at height: the law, ladders and the myths
What the Work at Height Regulations 2005 require, when a ladder is the right choice, how to deal with fragile roofs and when scaffolds must be inspected.
Read the guideAsbestos
Asbestos: what to check before you drill
Before you drill, cut or strip out an older building: the duty to manage asbestos, surveys, licensed and non-licensed work, and asbestos awareness training.
Read the guideDust and silica
Construction dust and silica: controlling the risk
How to control construction dust and silica under COSHH: the exposure limit, water and on-tool extraction, face-fit tested RPE and health surveillance.
Read the guideSubcontractors
Choosing and managing subcontractors safely
How to check a subcontractor can work safely under CDM 2015 without drowning in paperwork, what SSIP and CHAS prove, and how to coordinate the work.
Read the guide
People and wellbeing
Training, equipment, handling, first aid, stress and mental health.
Manual handling
Manual handling: the law and what actually works
What the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 require, how to assess lifting tasks with TILE, and the practical controls that reduce injuries at work.
Read the guideWork equipment
Work equipment and lifting: PUWER and LOLER in plain English
What PUWER and LOLER require for work equipment and lifting: suitability, maintenance, inspection, training, planned lifts and thorough examination intervals.
Read the guideTraining and competence
Training, induction and supervision: what does the law expect?
What the law expects on health and safety training, site inductions, supervision and young workers, plus toolbox talks and the simple records worth keeping.
Read the guideHealth and wellbeing
Work-related stress and mental health: what are your duties?
Your legal duty to assess the risk of work-related stress, how HSE's six Management Standards help, and practical steps for a small firm or site team.
Read the guideFirst aid
First aid at work: what does a small business need?
What the First-Aid Regulations 1981 require: the needs assessment, appointed persons and first-aiders, first aid kits, remote and lone workers and shared sites.
Read the guide
Tell us what you need.
A short conversation is the quickest way to scope the right support, in plain English.