Where to Start
As an employer, you have a duty in law to protect yourself, the people in your employment, and any other person who is affected by what you do, such as a contractor or visitor to your site.
Generally, you must do whatever is reasonably practicable to achieve this, and you can take into account the cost set against the benefit. Sometimes, where the risk of injury is inevitable if safety precautions are not taken, the duty to take measures may be absolute, and must be done without choice or allowances.
To meet these duties, all organisations with five or more employees must have a written Health and Safety Policy under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Even if you employ less than 5 employees, you still need to implement Health and Safety requirements and conduct risk assessments. Currently the difference is that a policy does not need to be written down for less than 5 employees, although we at Conform - Safety believe it is good working practice to do so.
