No UK law says a business must hire a health and safety consultant. What the law does require is that every employer has access to competent help with health and safety, and that the business meets its duties whether or not anyone outside is involved. For many small, low-risk businesses the owner can be that competent person. For others, the honest answer is that outside help is the quickest and cheapest way to get compliant and stay that way.
This guide explains the legal position, the situations where a consultant usually earns their fee, what a good consultant should and should not do, and how to check that the person you are talking to is competent.
What the law actually requires
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require every employer to appoint one or more competent persons to help them meet their health and safety duties. Competence is not defined by a particular certificate. It means having enough training, experience and knowledge for the risks of the business, and knowing the limits of that knowledge.
The same regulations say that where a competent person already exists inside the business, they should be appointed in preference to someone from outside. The law is deliberately pointing employers towards owning health and safety themselves and bringing in outside help where it adds something, not handing the whole subject to a third party.
The Health and Safety Executive makes the same point in its guidance for small businesses. If your work is low risk, you can often manage it yourself using free HSE guidance, and the competent person can be you or a manager. If your work carries higher risks, or you are not confident you understand them, you are expected to get help.
One point that catches people out: appointing a consultant does not transfer your duties. The employer remains legally responsible. A consultant advises, assesses and writes, but the decisions and the duty stay with the business. For the same reason, a consultant does not automatically become your appointed competent person. If that is what you want, it should be agreed and written down.
When a small business can manage without a consultant
You are probably fine on your own, at least to start with, if most of the following are true.
- Your work is office based or otherwise low risk, with no machinery, hazardous substances, work at height, vehicles or lone working in remote places.
- You have fewer than five employees, so you are not yet required to write down your policy, your risk assessment findings or your arrangements, although you still have to do the thinking.
- Nobody is asking you for evidence. No client questionnaire, tender, landlord or insurer wants to see your documents.
- Someone in the business has the time and the interest to read the HSE guidance and keep records up to date.
Even then, a one-off review can be worth it as a sense check. Most owners who try to do everything themselves get the basics right and miss the same few things: a risk assessment that was never updated, training that was never recorded, or a fire risk assessment that nobody can find.
When outside help usually pays for itself
Your activities carry real risk
Construction and trades, manufacturing, warehousing, vehicle workshops, care, hospitality kitchens, agriculture and anything involving work at height, machinery, hazardous substances or lifting operations. In these settings the risk assessments need technical knowledge, and the cost of getting one wrong is high.
You have grown past five employees
At five employees the written policy, the recorded risk assessments and the recorded arrangements become legal requirements. This is the point at which most small businesses first realise their paperwork does not exist, or exists only as a template downloaded years ago. See what UK law requires of a health and safety policy.
A client, tender or framework is asking
Pre-qualification questionnaires, contractor approval schemes and tenders ask for policies, risk assessments, method statements, training records and accident statistics. Answering them well needs documents that reflect your actual work. A consultant who knows what the assessors look for saves a lot of back and forth.
Something has gone wrong
After an accident, an enforcement visit, an insurer's query or a complaint, you need an independent view of what happened and what to change. Doing that yourself, while also running the business, rarely works well.
You want ISO 45001
Building a management system to a certifiable standard is a project. Businesses do complete it alone, but most find a consultant speeds it up and removes the risk of preparing for the wrong things. See ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 consultancy.
You simply do not have the time
This is the most common reason and a perfectly good one. Health and safety is a management task like payroll or IT. Many owners outsource those without a second thought.
What a good consultant does, and does not do
A good consultant starts by understanding your work and then produces documents and advice sized to it. They write in plain English your staff can follow, tell you what the law requires and what is merely good practice, and are clear about what they will not do. They leave you with records you own and can maintain, rather than a dependency.
Be cautious of anyone who sells a thick generic manual, who promises that you will be compliant or that you cannot be prosecuted, who wants you signed to a long contract before they have seen your premises, or who suggests they will take legal responsibility for your health and safety. None of those things is possible or honest.
How to check that a consultant is competent
- Qualifications. The NEBOSH National or International General Certificate is the usual minimum for general consultancy. The NEBOSH Diploma, or a degree in the subject, is the usual level for complex or high-risk work.
- Professional membership. Membership of IOSH, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, at Technical, Graduate or Chartered grade, shows the person is bound by a code of conduct and keeps their knowledge current.
- Relevant experience. Ask what work they have done in your sector or with similar risks, and what they would do differently in yours.
- Insurance. Professional indemnity and public liability insurance should be in place and they should be happy to say so.
- A written scope. Before any work starts you should have, in writing, what they will do, what they will deliver, what it costs and what stays with you.
- A sample. Ask to see an anonymised example of a risk assessment or policy they have written. If you cannot understand it, your staff will not either.
Options that are not all-or-nothing
Choosing help is not a choice between doing everything yourself and handing everything over. The usual options, roughly in order of cost, are:
- Free HSE guidance and your own time.
- Software that gives you the structure, such as Featherstone Safety Hub, which keeps risk assessments, training records, actions and evidence in one place so nothing is forgotten between reviews.
- A one-off compliance review, which tells you where you stand and what to fix first. Ours starts from £395 and the scope and price are confirmed in writing before any work begins. See the health and safety compliance review.
- A project, such as a compliance pack or a set of risk assessments, to get the documents right once.
- Retained support, where a named consultant is available month to month, visits when needed and keeps your arrangements current. Ours starts from £145 a month with no long-term contract.
For most small businesses the right answer is a combination: a review to establish the position, documents fixed once, then either software or a light retainer to keep things live. Which combination depends on your risks, your headcount and how much of it you want to own yourself. If you are not sure, a short conversation will usually settle it.
Frequently asked questions
Is it a legal requirement to have a health and safety consultant?
No. UK law requires every employer to have access to competent health and safety help, which can be a suitably trained owner or employee. A consultant is one way to meet that requirement, and often the most practical one for higher-risk or growing businesses, but nothing obliges you to appoint one.
Does hiring a consultant make them responsible for our health and safety?
No. The legal duties stay with the employer and the directors. A consultant advises and helps you comply. A consultant can be appointed as your competent person if that is agreed in writing, but even then the duty to act on the advice remains yours.
Do sole traders and the self-employed need a competent person?
The duty to appoint a competent person applies to employers. A self-employed person with no employees still has duties where their work could put others at risk, and in higher-risk trades such as construction they are usually expected to show competence in the same way as an employer.
What qualifications should a health and safety consultant have?
For general small business consultancy, look for at least a NEBOSH General Certificate and membership of IOSH. For complex or high-risk work, a NEBOSH Diploma or equivalent and Graduate or Chartered IOSH membership are the usual benchmark. Relevant sector experience matters as much as the certificate.
How often should a small business review its health and safety arrangements?
At least once a year, and sooner after an accident, a change of premises, new equipment or processes, new staff roles or a change in the law. Many businesses pair an annual review with a monthly check that actions have been closed and records are current.