Health and safety at work: criminal and civil law

Both criminal and civil law apply to workplace health and safety. They're not the same.

As an employer, you must protect your workers and others from getting hurt or ill through work.

If you don't:

a regulator such as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or local authority may take action against you under criminal law
the person affected may make a claim for compensation against you under civil law

Neither HSE nor local authorities have responsibility for applying civil law or setting the rules for the conduct of civil cases.

More guidance can be found here.