UK health and safety training requirements start with one sentence of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974: every employer must provide "such information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary" to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of its employees. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 then say when. Regulation 13 names the moments training is due: on recruitment, and whenever someone is exposed to new or increased risks.
No hour count. No universal refresher period. What the law sets is the trigger, the content logic and who pays. This guide covers Great Britain, the area HSE's figures describe; Northern Ireland has its own legislation.
What the 1974 Act requires
The Act is the umbrella. Section 2 places a general duty on employers to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees so far as is reasonably practicable, and lists training as one of the means. It does not define a course, a length or a format, so the duty is judged by outcome: is the training enough for the risks people actually face?
The wording sits in section 2(2)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (legislation.gov.uk). "Reasonably practicable" is the key phrase. It weighs the risk against the effort needed to control it, which is why a quarry and a call centre end up with very different training plans under the same law.
Regulation 13: when training is due
Regulation 13 of the 1999 Regulations turns the general duty into specific moments. Employers must provide adequate health and safety training when someone is recruited, and when they face new or increased risks because of a transfer, new equipment, new technology or a changed system of work.
The full list in MHSWR regulation 13 (legislation.gov.uk) has four triggers after recruitment:
- a transfer or a change of responsibilities;
- new work equipment, or a change to equipment already in use;
- new technology;
- a new system of work, or a change to an existing one.
Paragraph (1) adds a duty that is easy to miss. When giving someone a task, the employer must take their capabilities into account. Training a new forklift driver and then putting them on the night shift alone the next day can fail that test even if the course itself was fine.
How often must training be repeated?
There is no general refresher interval in UK law. Regulation 13(3) says training must be repeated periodically "where appropriate", adapted to new or changed risks and delivered during working hours. Your risk assessment sets the frequency, unless a specific regulation sets its own deadline.
This surprises people who expect an annual rule. HSE's leaflet Health and safety training: a brief guide (INDG345, HSE, 2012) notes that some people's skills "may need updating by refresher training", and that other regulations carry their own training requirements, naming asbestos, diving and first aid as examples. Those topic rules override the general "where appropriate".
So the honest answer to "how often" is: as often as your risk assessment can defend. Write down why you picked the interval. An inspector will ask.
Fire safety training in England and Wales
For fire, England and Wales have a parallel rule. Article 21 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 uses the same triggers as regulation 13 and adds two requirements. Training must cover the precautions and actions employees should take to protect themselves and others, and match the risks found in the fire risk assessment.
Article 21 of the Fire Safety Order (legislation.gov.uk) also repeats the "periodically where appropriate" wording and the working-hours rule. In practice this means every new starter learns the alarm, the escape routes and the assembly point before they work alone. HSE's leaflet lists "arrangements for first aid, fire and evacuation" as part of basic induction for new recruits. For how often the evacuation itself has to be rehearsed, see our guide on how often fire drills are required.
Who pays, and on whose time
The employer pays, and training happens in paid time. Section 9 of the 1974 Act bans charging employees for anything provided under a specific statutory requirement, which covers the training regulation 13 demands. Regulation 13(3)(c) requires it during working hours.
Section 9 (legislation.gov.uk) is two lines long. INDG345 puts it more plainly: "You must provide training during working hours and not at the expense of your employees." It also flags part-timers and shift workers, who may need special arrangements so they are not trained on their day off.
The same leaflet says employers should consult employees or their representatives on planning the training, and that safety representatives are entitled to paid time off for their own training.
Who needs training
Everyone who works for you, including some people who are not on the payroll. HSE points out that a person treated as self-employed for tax can still count as your employee for health and safety purposes. Managers, supervisors, young workers, people changing jobs and contractors unfamiliar with your site all have particular needs.
INDG345 is direct about young employees: they are "particularly vulnerable to accidents", so their training should be a priority and they should be supervised. It also asks employers to meet the needs of workers whose English is limited and of people with poor literacy or sight or hearing impairments. A slide deck in fluent English does not reach all of them.
Contractors are a separate case. Our guide to contractor safety orientation covers what to show people from outside firms before they start.
What the training can look like
UK law does not prescribe a format. HSE guidance says training "isn't just about formal 'classroom' courses" and lists coaching, on-the-job training, open and distance learning, and computer-based or interactive learning as options. What counts is that people end up able to work safely, and that you check this.
The checking step is where many programmes stop short. Step 5 of INDG345 asks whether employees are "actually working as they have been trained to" and whether behaviour has changed. It also recommends keeping training records, even for in-house sessions, and monitoring them "so that refresher training can be given when needed".
Neither regulation 13 nor INDG345 names a required course or qualification. IOSH and NEBOSH certificates are respected private qualifications, useful for managers and safety professionals, but holding one does not by itself discharge the employer's duty to train each worker for their own risks.
What happens if you get it wrong
A breach of the general duties in sections 2 to 6 is a criminal offence under section 33. Under Schedule 3A, the maximum on indictment is two years' imprisonment, a fine, or both. In England and Wales, the £20,000 cap on fines in the magistrates' courts was removed in 2015.
The table is in Schedule 3A of the 1974 Act (legislation.gov.uk). Behind the penalties are the cases they exist for. HSE counts 126 workers killed in work-related accidents in Great Britain in 2025/26, a provisional figure to be finalised in July 2027 (HSE, work-related fatal injuries, 2026). Falls from height caused 31 of those deaths, being struck by a moving vehicle 24 and being struck by a moving object 21.
Where VR fits
VR belongs in the "computer-based or interactive learning" column of INDG345. Its strength is practice. A worker can walk a workshop and spot its hazards, rehearse working at height without the drop, or use a fire extinguisher on a fire that grows while they hesitate.
Each session is logged with a date and a result. That gives you the records INDG345 recommends and a clear view of who is due a refresher, which is the job of a VR LMS. VR does not replace supervised practice on the real equipment, and it issues no IOSH, NEBOSH or forklift qualification. Our page on VR safety training in the UK explains how the scenarios map onto these duties.
A short checklist
- Every recruit, transfer and change of equipment, technology or system of work triggers recorded training.
- The refresher interval for each role is written down and justified by the risk assessment.
- Topic rules (first aid, asbestos and the like) are tracked separately with their own deadlines.
- New starters know the alarm, escape routes and assembly point before working alone.
- Training happens in paid working time, at no cost to the worker.
- You have evidence that people work the way they were trained.
To compare with other countries, read about mandatory safety training in France. The scenarios we offer are in our VR training catalog, and why VR training is more effective than traditional training covers what the research says about repeated practice.
