Who’s Responsible for Health and Safety? (It’s Not Just Who You Think)

Let’s clear something up.

Asking “who’s responsible for health and safety?” is a trick question.

Most businesses default to a single answer:

“It’s the manager.”
“It’s the safety rep.”
“It’s me—I’ve got the IOSH certificate.”

And while someone might hold the legal duty, that’s not the same as being able to make it happen.

The title means nothing if no one listens

I’ve lost count of how many audits I’ve done where the “responsible person” was named in a policy… but had zero influence over what actually happened.

• Workers didn’t take them seriously

• Supervisors overruled their advice

• Directors didn’t back them

• Or they just didn’t have the confidence to speak up

So what’s the result?

You’ve got one person accountable—surrounded by 10 others who don’t feel responsible at all.

That’s not a system. That’s a fall guy.

Health and safety isn’t owned. It’s shared.

If safety is “someone else’s job”, nothing changes.

If you want a workplace where people actually speak up, act early, and avoid dumb mistakes…
you need to flip the script:

“It’s not your responsibility. It’s ours.”

That shift—from individual to team ownership—is what most workplaces are missing.

And until that happens, no amount of policies, training, or checklists will stick.

What we teach inside The Safety Pro

We help businesses stop starting with paperwork.

Instead, we start with:

• The real roles and power dynamics

• The blockers no one talks about (like fear, ego, mistrust)

• The ways people actually behave when no one’s watching

Because safety doesn’t live in a document.
It lives in your day-to-day decisions.

→ Want our framework for getting real team ownership of health and safety?
Join the waitlist and we’ll send it your way.