WorkNest alternative: how Opus Safety compares

If you ring WorkNest about employment law as often as about health and safety, or you want legal expenses insurance and cyber security support from the same group, WorkNest may still be the right fit. If health and safety is where your risk sits, and you want your consultant on site typically two to four times a year under your contract, with occupational health testing on site from the same team, Opus Safety is the closer alternative. WorkNest, formerly Ellis Whittam, sells employment law, HR, health and safety and cyber security services and is part of Axiom GRC. Opus Safety is a health and safety consultancy founded by former health and safety inspectors, where a named consultant is appointed as your competent person, writes your risk assessments and visits your sites, with occupational health and HR from the same business.

What each one is

WorkNest describes itself as a provider of people, safety and cyber resilience solutions. Under the WorkNest People name it sells employment law, HR and health and safety. WorkNest Secure covers cyber security and data protection, and a separate ISO service helps organisations get certified. Its own pages say it is part of Axiom GRC, and that the WorkNest group includes ESP Solicitors, an SRA-regulated employment and immigration practice, and Care 4 Quality for healthcare compliance.

On health and safety, WorkNest sells a package for one fixed monthly fee. Its pages list a named, local consultant who acts as your competent person, risk assessments starting with a general risk assessment, policies and handbooks, onsite and remote annual audits, unlimited helpdesk support, its SafetyNest software and 24/7 emergency assistance. The same package lists legal expenses insurance, which WorkNest's insurance page offers to clients of the service as an option. A separate fire safety service, which WorkNest describes as BAFE-certified, carries out your fire risk assessment, and separate projects cover specific risk assessments, gap analysis and ISO 45001 support.

Opus Safety is a health and safety consultancy first. On the Opus Safety Partnership, a named consultant is appointed as your competent person, writes your risk assessments, carries out your audits and is on call between visits, for a fixed monthly fee. Site visits are set in your contract, typically two to four a year, and the same consultant comes each time. You get full access to Opus Compliance Cloud, the platform your consultant works in. Fire, asbestos, noise and legionella assessments can be built into the Partnership by agreement or quoted separately. Occupational health, including hearing, lung function and hand-arm vibration surveillance on your site, comes from the same business, and so do training and HR support.

The differences that decide it

	WorkNest	Opus Safety
What it sells	Employment law, HR, health and safety, training, cyber security, data protection and ISO certification support	Health and safety, occupational health, training and HR support
Health and safety package	A named consultant acting as your competent person; risk assessments, starting with a general risk assessment; policies and handbooks; onsite and remote annual audits	A named consultant appointed as your competent person; risk assessments written and audits carried out for you; site visits set in your contract, typically two to four a year
Between visits	Unlimited helpdesk support and 24/7 emergency assistance	Your named consultant, on call between visits by phone or email, and reachable in an emergency
Software	SafetyNest	Opus Compliance Cloud
Employment law	Advice, documentation and tribunal claim handling, with a barrister instructed for hearings	HR support for grievances, disciplinaries, absence, redundancy, contracts and handbooks

Two differences matter most.

The first is what each one sells. WorkNest sells its health and safety support as a contract on its own, so the rest of its range, from employment law to cyber security, matters only if you will use it. If most of your calls are about people problems, judge Opus's HR support against WorkNest's employment law service, including what happens if a claim reaches a tribunal.

The second is how often someone comes to site. WorkNest's package lists onsite and remote annual audits, and Opus sets visits in the contract, typically two to four a year. Ask WorkNest how many on-site visits your fee includes.

Where WorkNest is the better answer

• Employment law matters to you as much as health and safety, and you want tribunal claims handled by the same provider. WorkNest's tribunal service manages the claim and instructs a barrister to represent you at hearings.
• Legal expenses insurance attached to your health and safety service is worth having to you. WorkNest's covers defending a prosecution, appealing an improvement or prohibition notice, and Fee for Intervention charges, subject to the policy terms.
• Cyber security, data protection or ISO certification sits on the same desk as health and safety, and you want one group for all of it.
• You run a care service regulated by the CQC and want compliance support, such as mock inspections, from the same group. WorkNest sells them through its sister company, Care 4 Quality.
• An emergency number that answers at any hour matters to you. WorkNest lists 24/7 emergency assistance.

Where Opus is the better answer

• Health and safety is the main risk, and you want it handled by a consultancy that does health and safety first, founded by people who used to enforce it.
• You want two to four site visits a year set in your contract, which is Opus's typical pattern.
• Your hazards call for health surveillance. Opus's occupational health team tests hearing, lung function and hand-arm vibration on your site, and the surveillance follows the risk assessments your consultant writes.

What the competent person appointment does, whichever you choose

Both WorkNest and Opus offer to act as your competent person. In Great Britain, regulation 7 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires an employer to appoint one or more competent persons to help it take the measures health and safety law requires. Three other parts of the same Regulations decide what that appointment is worth when you switch.

Your duties stay with you, whoever you appoint. Under regulation 21 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the act or default of a competent person you appointed is no defence for you in criminal proceedings. The consultant helps you meet the duties, and they remain yours as the employer.

Regulation 7(3) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires the number of people appointed, the time available to them and the means at their disposal to be adequate, having regard to the size of your business, the risks your employees face and how those risks are spread across it. A multi-site operation with vehicles and machinery needs more of a consultant's time than a single office, so compare the hours and visits each provider puts against your sites.

When you switch, the new consultant needs a briefing. Regulation 7(4) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires you to tell an outside competent person what you know or suspect affects the health and safety of people your business may affect, and to give them access to the information your employees must be given. Any competent person you appoint must also be told what they need to know about your fixed-term and agency workers. Open actions, recent incidents and any notices go to them on the first day.

What to check before you switch

• Your contract term, notice period and renewal clause. Ask WorkNest to confirm them in writing; we have not seen its standard terms and will not describe them second hand.
• Any open matter WorkNest is handling for you, such as a tribunal claim or an HSE investigation. Agree in writing who carries it through to the end.
• Legal expenses insurance, if you took it. Ask WorkNest how the policy relates to your service contract, and what happens to the cover and to any open claim when the service ends.
• Documents and data: risk assessments, policies, handbooks, training records, accident records and anything held in SafetyNest. Export them while you are still a customer, and ask what format they come in.
• Whether you are splitting health and safety from employment law. If you keep employment law with WorkNest, check with WorkNest that the service can continue on its own.
• The start date of the new appointment, so one competent person takes over as the other stands down.
• Any customer contract, insurer or accreditation scheme that names your provider, so you can notify the change.

How switching works

We start with a health and safety audit and gap analysis. Your consultant checks your policy, risk assessments, safe systems of work and training records against the law, inspects the site to see whether what is written down is what happens, and gives you an action plan with every gap ranked by severity. What is good carries over, and the plan shows what needs rewriting.

From there your consultant is appointed as your competent person and the visits begin. Opus Compliance Cloud works alongside your existing systems, and you can export all of your data from it at any time. A Partnership is typically operational within two to three weeks of going ahead, so time the start to your notice period and the new appointment begins as the old one ends.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Opus Safety a good WorkNest alternative for? A business whose main risk is health and safety, which wants a named consultant appointed as its competent person to write its risk assessments and visit its sites, typically two to four times a year as set in the contract, with occupational health testing on site from the same team. If employment law, legal expenses insurance or cyber security is a large part of what you buy from WorkNest, staying with WorkNest or another provider that bundles them may suit you better.

Is WorkNest the same company as Ellis Whittam? Yes. Companies House lists Ellis Whittam Limited as the previous name of WorkNest Limited, changed in September 2022, and WorkNest's own blog says the WorkNest brand was adopted in October 2021.

Who owns WorkNest? WorkNest's own pages say it is part of Axiom GRC. Its May 2025 announcement says Axiom GRC was formed when the private equity firm Inflexion bought Marlowe plc's risk software and services division, which included WorkNest, in 2024.

Can I leave my WorkNest contract early? Your agreement decides it. Read it for the term, the notice period and any renewal or early termination clause, and ask WorkNest to confirm them in writing before you give notice.

Is Opus cheaper than WorkNest? There is no published price to compare: both charge a fixed monthly fee for retained health and safety support, and neither publishes the figure. The fair comparison is two quotes against the same specification: the number of sites, on-site visits a year, which risk assessments the fee covers, whether insurance is included and what sits outside the fee.

Does Opus offer employment law support like WorkNest? For day-to-day employment law and HR advice, yes. Opus's HR support covers grievances, disciplinaries, absence, redundancy, contracts and handbooks, for employers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. WorkNest's employment law service handles tribunal claims as well, so if you expect a claim, ask Opus what tribunal support is included before you move employment law across.

Can I use Opus for health and safety and keep WorkNest for employment law? Opus can take on health and safety on its own. Whether your WorkNest employment law service continues without the health and safety part depends on your agreement, so check with WorkNest first, then agree how absence and occupational health referrals will be shared.

Do I legally need a provider at all? No. In Great Britain, regulation 7(8) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 says that where someone in your own employment is competent, you appoint them in preference to someone from outside. A provider is one way to meet the duty when nobody in-house has the competence.

Where to go next

If you are weighing a move from WorkNest, start with a gap analysis. You will see what is in place and what a switch would involve before you give anyone notice.

If you are shortlisting more than two providers, our guide to alternatives to Citation sets WorkNest alongside Peninsula, Croner and independent consultants.