Introduction to Health and Safety at Work

2.2 
Legal requirements
Section 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work Act and 
the Employers’ Health and Safety Policy Statements 
(Exception) Regulations 1975 require employers, with fi ve 
or more employees, to prepare and revise on a regular 
basis a written health and safety policy together with the 
necessary organization and arrangements to carry it out 
and to bring the statement and any revision of it to the 
notice of their employees.
This does not mean that organizations with four or 
less employees do not need to have a safety policy – it 
simply means that it does not have to be written down. 
The number of employees is the maximum number at any 
one time whether they are full time, part time or seasonal.
This obligation on employers was introduced for the 
fi rst time by the HSW Act and is related to the reliance 
in the Act on self-regulation by employers to improve 
health and safety standards rather than on enforcement 
alone. A good health and safety policy involves the 
development, monitoring and review of the standards 
needed to address and reduce the risks to health and 
safety produced by the organization.
The law requires that the written health and safety 
policy should include the following three sections:
➤
a health and safety policy statement of intent which 
includes the health and safety aims and objectives 
of the organization
➤
the health and safety organization detailing the people 
with health and safety responsibilities and their 
duties
➤
the health and safety arrangements in place in terms 
of systems and procedures.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 
also requires the employer to ‘make and give effect to 
such arrangements as are appropriate, having regard to 
the nature of his activities and the size of his undertaking, 
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