This page is about schools in England. It does not cover Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
The official guidance and law
The DfE's Health and safety: responsibilities and duties for schools, updated 5 April 2022, explains school responsibilities. Section references to that guidance below use its numbered headings. Good estate management for schools: Health and safety, updated 20 July 2026, explains the estate responsibilities; references to it use its named headings.
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires employers to protect employees' health, safety and welfare so far as is reasonably practicable (section 2(1)). Employers must also conduct their undertaking so that, so far as is reasonably practicable, non-employees are not exposed to health and safety risks (section 3(1)).
Who is the employer, and what does the headteacher do?
DfE's estate guidance, ‘Who is the employer in schools’, identifies:
- The local authority: community and community special schools, voluntary-controlled schools, maintained nursery schools and pupil referral units.
- The governing body: foundation and foundation special schools, and voluntary-aided schools.
- The proprietor: academies, free schools and other independent schools. For academies and free schools, this is the academy trust.
Delegating a task does not transfer the employer's legal duties. The headteacher and school management team usually manage health and safety day to day. The school's policy should make clear who does what, including estate responsibilities (estate guidance, ‘Employer responsibilities’ and ‘Premises responsibilities’; school duties guidance, sections 1–3).
Schools must appoint a competent person with the skills, knowledge and experience to help them meet their duties. This can be a member of staff or external support arranged by the employer. Staff need information and training for their responsibilities, with additional training where their work involves greater risk (school duties guidance, sections 1 and 10).
Risk assessment: what must be assessed and written down?
Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, employers must make a suitable and sufficient assessment of risks to employees at work and non-employees affected by their undertaking. They must review it if there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid or a significant related change, and make any resulting changes (regulation 3(1) and (3)).
An employer with five or more employees must record the significant findings and any group of employees especially at risk (regulation 3(6)). This is an employer threshold. The duty to assess risks applies below it too. Fire assessment recording has a separate requirement, set out below.
DfE says school records should be simple and focus on controls: identify the hazards, how people could be harmed and the measures controlling the risk. Assess the school day, premises and curriculum, including activities away from school (school duties guidance, section 4).
Risk register, risk assessment examples and official templates
For recording health and safety risks and the actions needed, use HSE's risk assessment template and examples. Its Word and OpenDocument templates record who could be harmed and how, existing controls, further action, the person taking it and the deadline. These are useful fields when organising health and safety actions in a risk register (HSE, ‘Template’).
HSE's examples include offices, food preparation and service, and maintenance work. Use them to consider relevant hazards and controls; HSE explicitly says copying an example and changing the organisation's name does not satisfy the law (HSE, ‘Example risk assessments’).
DfE's estate guidance says potential risks should be formally recorded, assessed and managed, with actions monitored and reviewed. It also recommends a system to record and act on risks reported by staff and pupils (‘Risk assessments’).
Fire risk assessment and the responsible person
For a workplace, the responsible person is the employer where the workplace is to any extent under its control. For other premises, the definition turns on control of the premises in connection with an undertaking, or ownership where that condition is not met (Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 3). A headteacher or site manager doing the work does not automatically replace the employer as the responsible person.
The responsible person must make a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment identifying the general fire precautions needed. They must review it regularly, particularly if it may no longer be valid or there has been a significant change, and make required changes (article 9(1) and (3)).
Record the assessment or review as soon as practicable, including its findings, measures already taken or planned, and groups especially at risk. The current recording duty has no five-employee threshold (article 9(6)–(7)).
DfE's estate guidance says schools must have an up-to-date assessment for all premises under their control. It also lists reducing the likelihood of fire, maintaining detection and alarm systems, and familiarising pupils and staff with evacuation procedures (‘Fire safety’ and ‘Fire risk assessments’).
For an official fire risk assessment example form, the government's educational premises guide contains a recording form in Appendix A2, printed page 118. Use the current article 9 recording requirements above alongside that form.
Educational visits: proportionate planning
DfE's Health and safety on educational visits, published 26 November 2018, distinguishes routine visits covered by existing policies from trips needing a risk assessment and extra planning. Routine visits involve no more than everyday risks and need little additional planning beyond the educational purpose (‘Types of trip’).
For trips outside those policies, consider the activity, location, distance and specialist skills. Some require detailed assessment, planning and informed approval by the headteacher or governing board. Schools should appoint and train an educational visits co-ordinator; the headteacher takes on this duty if there is none (‘Trips that need a risk assessment and extra planning’; ‘Educational visits co-ordinators’).
When using an outside organisation, schools must check appropriate safety standards and public liability insurance. DfE includes safeguarding among the checks where the provider lacks the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge (‘Using outside organisations’). Our safeguarding guide covers the school's wider safeguarding responsibilities.
RIDDOR: what to report and the deadlines
The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) cover specified work-related incidents. For school staff and pupils, reporting normally rests with the main employer; the school's policy should state its arrangements. Most school incidents do not need a RIDDOR report (HSE's school reporting guidance, EDIS1, revision 3, page 1).
HSE's reporting deadlines are:
- Without delay, with the report received within 10 days: reportable deaths, specified worker injuries, reportable non-fatal accidents to non-workers requiring hospital treatment, and dangerous occurrences. The 10 days do not replace the immediate notification duty.
- As soon as practicable, and within 15 days of the accident: report work-related accidents leaving a worker unable to do their normal work for more than seven consecutive days. Exclude the accident day but include weekends and rest days (RIDDOR, regulation 4(2); EDIS1, page 2).
- As soon as a diagnosis is received: reportable occupational diseases. EDIS1, page 2, specifies a doctor's written confirmation of a reportable work-related disease affecting an employee.
For a pupil who is not at work, an injury is reportable where a work-related accident results in the pupil being taken directly from the scene to hospital for treatment; report a death arising from a work activity too. Examination or diagnostic tests alone are not treatment. Consider how the activity was organised, equipment or substances used, and the condition of the premises. The worker's seven-day rule does not apply to these pupils. Pupils on a training scheme or work placement are treated as employees for the period of the placement, so the worker reporting categories apply and the placement employer is responsible for reporting (EDIS1, page 3, ‘Section 2: Incidents to pupils and other people who are not at work’, and page 4, ‘Incidents to pupils on work experience placements’).
Keep records of reportable incidents and diagnoses, and work-related injuries that incapacitate a worker for more than three consecutive days, excluding the day of the accident. Keep each record entry for at least three years from the date it was made (RIDDOR, regulation 12(1)–(2)).
Asbestos: identify the dutyholder and manage the material
The duty to manage asbestos applies to non-domestic premises, including schools. The dutyholder is often the organisation or person responsible for maintenance or repair; it is not automatically the headteacher (HSE, ‘Asbestos in schools’, ‘Duty to manage asbestos’).
HSE's duty to manage guidance requires the dutyholder to establish whether asbestos is present, presume materials contain it unless there is strong contrary evidence, keep an up-to-date register of location and condition, assess exposure risks, and write and implement a management plan. Monitor materials and review the plan every 12 months or sooner if necessary. Give location and condition information to anyone who may disturb asbestos, including emergency services (‘What the duty to manage asbestos in buildings is’).
First aid needs assessment
DfE's First aid in schools, early years and further education, updated 14 February 2022, explains the employer's duty to provide adequate and appropriate first aid equipment, facilities and personnel for employees. It strongly recommends considering pupils and visitors too (‘Schools and colleges’).
Use a needs assessment to determine equipment, facilities, personnel and cover for absences and off-site activities. Review needs after major changes to staff or premises. DfE does not set a fixed number of first aiders: the assessment determines provision for the individual school (‘First aid needs assessments’ and ‘First aiders’). Early years provision also has separate paediatric first aid requirements (DfE, ‘Early years’).
DfE strongly recommends recording incidents requiring first aid attendance, including when and where it happened, who was affected, the injury or illness, treatment, what happened next and who dealt with it. This recommended first aid record is distinct from the statutory accident book, though they can be combined (‘Recording and reporting’).
Keep records useful and proportionate
DfE's estate guidance, ‘Health and safety documentation’, identifies the health and safety policy and risk assessments, asbestos register and management plan for estates containing asbestos, and fire assessment and management plan as required documents. It recommends keeping maintenance and testing certificates, inspection logs and contractor contacts too.
Keep assessment records short and focused on controls (school duties guidance, section 4). For routine visits covered by existing policies, follow DfE's proportionate planning approach above. HSE says paperwork alone is not the priority: put the controls into practice (‘Record your findings’).
Martyn's Law's substantive duties are not yet in force; the official commencement update, ‘What you can do now’, says the exact dates depend on statutory instruments.
Roles this guide supports
For role responsibilities, see headteacher, school business manager, site manager, health and safety lead and first aider.