What a retained health and safety service includes

A retained health and safety service is an ongoing arrangement in which you pay a fixed regular fee for a named competent person, instead of buying help one job at a time. The core of a retainer is a named consultant, a policy and arrangements that stay current, scheduled site visits with written reports, standard risk assessments, an advice line, and support when an incident or an inspection happens. Providers differ in what sits outside that core, so read the exclusions first.

What a retained service is, in legal terms

In Great Britain, the legal anchor is regulation 7 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. It requires every employer to appoint one or more competent persons to assist in undertaking the measures needed to comply with health and safety law.

Regulation 7(5) of MHSWR 1999 defines competence by what the person can do: sufficient training and experience, or knowledge and other qualities, to assist properly. There is no named qualification in the Regulations.

A retained service is one way of meeting that duty. You appoint an external competent person, and the retainer is the commercial arrangement that sits underneath the appointment.

Two consequences follow.

Regulation 7(3) of MHSWR 1999 requires the employer to ensure that the number of people appointed, the time available to them and the means at their disposal are adequate, having regard to the size of the undertaking and the risks. A retainer priced for two visits a year at a high-risk site is your problem, not the provider's.

Regulation 7(4)(a) of MHSWR 1999 puts a duty on you when the appointee is external. You must inform them of the factors you know or suspect affect health and safety, and give them access to the information in regulation 10 of MHSWR 1999. A consultant working from what you told them is working to the standard of what you told them.

What a retained health and safety service includes

Scope varies by provider and by price, so treat the list below as the elements to ask about, and confirm which of them your quote covers.

Element	What it should mean
Named competent person	A specific consultant appointed under regulation 7 of MHSWR 1999, identifiable by name
Policy and arrangements	Your health and safety policy written or reviewed, and kept current as the law changes
Scheduled site visits	An agreed number per year, with a written report and actions
Risk assessments	The standard set for your activities, reviewed on a cycle
Advice line	Telephone and email access between visits
Incident and enforcement support	Help when something happens, and when an inspector arrives
Document system	Somewhere your records live, for example a portal

Two questions tell you what the list above is worth.

How many visit days, and who attends? A retainer quoting "regular visits" without a number and a named person is quoting nothing. Ask what happens when your consultant leaves.

What is the response time on the advice line, and is it capped? Ask whether "unlimited" advice is subject to a fair-use limit.

What a retained service can exclude

This is the part of a quote to read line by line, because anything outside the scope is invoiced separately. Check each item below before you sign.

Check whether it is included	Why it can sit outside
Specialist surveys and assessments	Asbestos, legionella, noise, vibration and occupational hygiene need separate competence and equipment
Fire risk assessment	A separate discipline with its own competence question, and sometimes a separate appointment
Training course fees	Certificated training can be priced per delegate
Project-specific RAMS	Method statements for a particular job, especially in construction
Major accident investigation	A serious incident can take more time than a fixed fee covers
Solicitors and expert witness work	Health and safety advice is a different discipline from defending a prosecution, and the second is priced separately
Implementation	The provider advises. Doing the work on site stays with you

That last row matters most. A retainer buys competent assistance. It does not buy someone to supervise your staff, maintain your equipment or run your business day to day.

Our outsourced health and safety page sets out what is inside and outside our own service, and the Opus Safety Partnership covers how the retained arrangement works in practice.

What stays your legal duty whatever you buy

Appointing a competent person transfers work. It transfers no liability.

Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places the duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of employees on the employer. That duty stays with you when you sign a retainer.

Regulation 5 of MHSWR 1999 requires you to make and give effect to arrangements for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of your preventive and protective measures. Where you employ five or more people, those arrangements are recorded. A consultant can write them. Giving effect to them is yours.

There is also a provision that argues against buying a retainer at all in some cases. Regulation 7(8) of MHSWR 1999 says that where there is a competent person in the employer's employment, that person must be appointed in preference to a competent person outside it. If you already employ someone competent for your risks, the Regulations point at them first. An external appointment makes sense where nobody in the business meets the competence test, where the in-house person needs specialist support, or where the risks have outgrown the person carrying them.

Our guidance on whether you need a competent person when you have no in-house expert works through that decision.

Frequently asked questions

What does a retained health and safety service include? A named competent person appointed under regulation 7 of MHSWR 1999, a policy and arrangements kept current, an agreed number of site visits with written reports, standard risk assessments, advice between visits, and support during incidents and inspections.

Is a retained health and safety service a legal requirement? No. The legal requirement is to appoint a competent person under regulation 7 of MHSWR 1999. A retainer is one commercial way to do that, and an employee can be appointed instead.

What is the difference between a retainer and ad hoc consultancy? A retainer is a fixed regular fee for continuing access and a defined scope. Ad hoc work is bought per job. The retainer suits a business needing ongoing competent assistance; ad hoc suits a single assessment or a one-off project.

Does a retainer cover fire risk assessment? It depends on the provider. Fire risk assessment is a separate discipline with its own competence question, and it can be priced separately. Ask before you assume it is in.

Can I outsource my legal responsibility for health and safety? No. Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places the duty on the employer, and appointing a competent person under regulation 7 of MHSWR 1999 moves the work without moving the duty.

Should I appoint an external consultant if I have someone in-house? Regulation 7(8) of MHSWR 1999 says an employee who is competent must be appointed in preference to an external person. External support makes sense where nobody in the business meets the competence test for your risks, or where your in-house person needs specialist backup.

What should I check before signing a retainer? The number of visit days and the named consultant, what the advice line covers and whether it is capped, the exclusions list, what happens when your consultant leaves, and who owns your documents if you switch provider.