Office Health & Safety Consultants

Office work is lower risk, not no risk. The law does not distinguish by sector: the same duties that govern a construction site apply to your office, scaled to the risks that genuinely exist there.

From our City-accessible London base we help office-based businesses meet those duties without drowning in paperwork, from workstation assessments and fire safety through to the policy a client or insurer will eventually ask to see.

The law does not distinguish by sector

The duty at the heart of UK health and safety law is to protect the health, safety and welfare of employees so far as is reasonably practicable. That wording does not change depending on what your business does. A software company, an accountancy practice and a marketing agency all carry the same baseline obligations as a manufacturer or a contractor.

In practical terms, an office-based employer is expected to assess the risks that genuinely exist in their workplace, put proportionate controls in place, and keep those arrangements under review. If you employ five or more people, you must also record the significant findings of your risk assessment and have a written health and safety policy. The standard is proportionate, so nobody is expecting an office to be managed like a construction site. But proportionate does not mean optional.

In plain terms

Appointing MAST Safety as your competent person meets the legal requirement without the cost of a full-time safety manager.

The hazards offices actually have

The risks in an office are real, but they tend to build slowly rather than announce themselves. The areas an employer needs to manage include:

Display screen equipment Anyone using a computer regularly as a significant part of their job is a DSE user. Workstations must be assessed, screens, chairs, desks and lighting set up correctly, and eye test funding provided on request.
Musculoskeletal strain Long periods seated, repetitive keyboard and mouse use and badly arranged workstations are a significant cause of sickness absence.
Slips, trips and falls The most common cause of injury in offices, and among the easiest to control with simple housekeeping discipline.
Fire safety Every workplace needs a fire risk assessment, clear escape routes, working detection and a tested evacuation plan.
Welfare and the working environment Temperature, ventilation, lighting, space and properly maintained facilities are legal requirements, not administrative details.
Electrical safety Portable equipment must be maintained in a safe condition, with damaged items identified and removed from use.
Mental health and wellbeing The duty to protect health includes psychological health, and HSE expects work-related stress to be assessed and managed like any other risk.

Our consultants assess what applies to your premises and give you a prioritised action list rather than a generic checklist. There is more detail in our guide to office health and safety obligations.

Fire safety for office premises

Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, any premises where people work must have a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment. That applies to a single-room office just as it does to a multi-storey commercial building, and the Responsible Person carries the legal duty to ensure it is carried out and kept up to date.

Shared and multi-tenanted buildings bring added complexity. Businesses in managed or serviced offices sometimes assume the building management company handles fire safety. In most cases the building manager is responsible for common areas, and individual tenants carry their own obligations for the space they occupy.

Carrying out a fire risk assessment and a health and safety review together is an efficient way to establish your whole compliance position in a single visit, with a clear written output for each. We describe a recent Westminster example in our article on fire risk assessment and H&S support for London offices.

How we support office businesses

Most office-based businesses do not need a full-time health and safety manager. What they need is access to qualified advice, a properly completed set of risk assessments, a current policy, and someone to keep those arrangements under review as the business changes.

Workstation (DSE) and workplace assessments
Policies, risk assessments and documentation
Acting as your external competent person
Periodic health and safety audits
Fire risk assessments and review cycles
Support during inspections or after an incident

Offices suit retained support particularly well: the risk profile is stable, the duties are continuous, and a retainer package keeps everything current without becoming a management burden.

Mental health and wellbeing

Work-related stress, anxiety and depression account for a substantial share of all work-related ill health in the UK, and the legal duty to protect employees’ health includes their psychological health. HSE expects employers to assess and manage that risk in the same structured way they manage physical risks.

Alongside the assessment side, our course advisors arrange Mental Health First Aid England training so your team has trained people in the building, not just a policy in a folder.

Get your office covered

Tell us about your office, how many people you have and what is already in place, and we will confirm what you need to be compliant and what it will cost.

Speak to MAST Safety →

Office Health & Safety FAQs

Do health and safety laws really apply to a small office?

Yes. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 apply to every employer in the UK, whatever the size of the business or the sector. The requirements are proportionate to the level of risk, so a small office is not expected to be managed like an industrial site, but the underlying legal duties are the same.

Does my office need a written health and safety policy?

If you employ five or more people, you are legally required to have a written health and safety policy and to record the significant findings of your risk assessment. If you employ fewer than five, the duty to manage risks still applies, but it does not have to be written down. In practice, most growing businesses benefit from having it in writing regardless.

What is a DSE assessment and does my business need to do them?

A display screen equipment (DSE) assessment looks at how a person's workstation is set up, covering their screen, chair, desk, posture, lighting and work routine. Any employee who uses a computer regularly as a significant part of their job counts as a DSE user, so most office employers need to carry these out and act on the findings.

Who is responsible for fire safety in a shared office building?

Both parties usually hold duties. The building owner or managing agent is typically responsible for common areas such as stairwells, corridors and shared escape routes, while each tenant remains responsible for fire safety within the space they occupy. Assuming the building manager covers everything is one of the most common gaps we find in serviced and managed offices.

Is workplace stress something an employer has to manage by law?

Yes. The legal duty to protect employees’ health includes their psychological health. HSE expects employers to assess the risk of work-related stress and put reasonable measures in place to manage it, in the same structured way they would manage a physical hazard.