What it is, what to include, and how to make it more than a piece of paper
A health and safety policy is a short, signed statement of your commitment to health and safety and how you'll manage it. The HSWA doesn't mandate a specific document, but a clear policy is the foundation of a working system — and it only matters if what it says actually happens.
A health and safety policy is a clear statement of your business's commitment to health and safety, the responsibilities people hold, and how you manage risk.
Think of it as the top of your system, not the whole system. It sets the direction and tone — what you stand for and who is accountable — while your registers, procedures and records do the detailed work underneath. A policy that sits in a drawer achieves nothing; a good one is short, signed, visible, and reflected in how the business actually behaves.
The HSWA does not require a specific policy document by name — but it does require you to manage risk and be able to show how, and a documented policy is the standard way to start.
In practice a written policy is treated as essential: it is the first thing clients, head contractors and prequalification schemes such as SiteWise, PreQual and Totika look for, and it anchors the rest of your system. So while no law says “you must have a policy titled X”, you will struggle to demonstrate a managed approach to health and safety without one.
A workable policy covers commitment, responsibilities and how health and safety is managed — in plain language.
| Section | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Commitment statement | A clear statement that the business is committed to the health and safety of workers and others, so far as is reasonably practicable. |
| Scope | Who and what the policy covers — workers, contractors, visitors and others. |
| Responsibilities | What is expected of leaders and officers, managers, supervisors and workers. |
| How risk is managed | That you identify hazards, assess and control risks, and follow the hierarchy of controls. |
| Worker engagement | How you consult workers and how they can raise health and safety issues. |
| Key processes | How you handle training, incident reporting, emergencies and review. |
| Sign-off | Signed and dated by a senior leader, with a review date. |
Leadership owns the policy, workers help shape it, and a senior leader signs it.
The commitment has to come from the top to be credible, so the policy should be signed and dated by an owner, director or chief executive. Involving workers when you draft or review it does two things: it produces a more practical policy, and it meets your duty to engage with workers on health and safety. Once signed, communicate it — a policy nobody has seen is not doing its job.
The gap between a good business and a paper one is whether the policy matches what happens on the floor.
Connect each commitment to a real process: if the policy says you manage hazards, you need a live hazard register; if it says you report incidents, you need incident records; if it says you train people, you need training records. Then review the policy on a regular cycle and whenever the business changes — new work, new sites, new risks — so it keeps describing the business you actually are.
Get a ready-to-use policy and the system that makes it true. Book a demo and we'll show you how it works — free 30-day trial included.
The HSWA does not require a specific policy document by name, but it does require you to manage risk and be able to show how. A written policy is the standard, practical way to demonstrate a managed approach, and it is treated as essential by clients and prequalification schemes.
A commitment statement, the scope of who it covers, responsibilities for leaders and workers, how you manage risk, how you engage workers, your key processes (training, incident reporting, emergencies, review), and a signature with a review date.
A senior leader — an owner, director or chief executive — should sign and date it, because the commitment needs to come from the top to be credible. Involve workers in drafting or reviewing it as well.
Short. One or two pages is usually plenty for the policy itself. The detailed how-to belongs in your procedures, registers and records, not in the policy statement.
Review it on a regular cycle and whenever the business changes — new work, sites or risks, or after a significant incident — so it keeps reflecting what the business actually does.
