HSG65 is the Health and Safety Executive’s guidance on managing health and safety, structured as Plan, Do, Check, Act. It is not a certifiable standard and there is no HSG65 certificate. It is a framework for organising a safety management system, and it is the one most UK employers are implicitly measured against, because it reflects how the regulator itself thinks about competent management.
HSG65 gets recommended constantly and explained rarely. This is what auditing against it actually looks like at a manufacturing site — the twelve areas worth examining, and what evidence each one calls for.
| HSG65 | ISO 45001:2018 | |
|---|---|---|
| Published by | HSE (Great Britain) | ISO (international) |
| Certifiable | ✕ No such thing as HSG65 certification | ✓ Yes, via an accredited body |
| Cost to reference | Free to download from HSE | Purchased licence |
| Structure | Plan, Do, Check, Act | Annex SL clauses 4–10 |
| Best for | A single site putting a system in place | Certification, or a customer that requires it |
| Aligns with other standards | ~ Conceptually | ✓ Shares structure with ISO 9001, 14001 |
For most UK food manufacturers with no certification requirement, HSG65 is the more honest starting point: free, plainly written, and aimed at whether the system works rather than whether the paperwork conforms. Move to ISO 45001 when a customer asks for it, or when you genuinely intend to certify.
This is the structure AuditCore uses for its HSG65 audit standard — 12 sections, 56 questions.
P1. A written policy signed by the most senior person, setting out the organisation and arrangements — not just a statement of intent. Directors visibly leading, and safety weighed when business decisions are made.
P2. A plan with objectives, owners and target dates; the resources to deliver it; legal requirements identified and kept current; statutory inspection dates (LOLER, PSSR, LEV, PAT, fire) scheduled and tracked.
D1. Understanding which risks could cause serious harm. Suitable and sufficient assessments, covering non-routine work, the assessments the law specifically requires, vulnerable workers, and work-related stress as a health risk.
D2. A competent person appointed to assist; training needs mapped to roles; induction and job-specific training before the task, recorded; refresher training before certificates expire; managers trained in their own duties.
D3. Responsibilities allocated and understood at every level, safety performance part of how managers are assessed, and arrangements that ensure rules are actually followed rather than merely published.
D4. Workers consulted before decisions that affect them, a forum that meets and is minuted, concerns raised without fear of blame, and coordination where more than one employer shares the workplace.
D5. Information in a form workers can understand, significant assessment findings communicated to the people they affect, the law poster displayed, and visitors, contractors and drivers briefed on arrival.
D6. The hierarchy of control applied properly; equipment suitable, maintained and guarded; permits for high-risk work; the workplace itself safe; COSHH controlled; work at height avoided where possible; emergency arrangements tested; PPE provided free and worn.
C1. Planned inspections and tours to a schedule, findings assigned and tracked to closure, leading indicators monitored rather than only injury figures, health surveillance where assessed as needed.
C2. Accidents, near misses and work-related ill health reported and recorded; investigation proportionate to potential severity; underlying causes found rather than individual error; RIDDOR reports made in time; corrective actions verified effective.
A1. Formal senior management review at least annually, considering leading and lagging indicators and progress against the plan, and resulting in real changes where performance falls short.
A2. Lessons from incidents, audits and inspections shared and acted on; learning taken from enforcement notices and industry alerts; recurring findings addressed at root cause rather than repeatedly corrected.
Four failures come up far more than the rest, and none of them is about paperwork being absent:
HSG65 ships as a complete audit standard — 12 sections, 56 questions with guidance notes on each. Build an annual programme against it, run the audits, and failed questions raise non-conformances that close through root cause and independent verification. ISO 45001 (21 sections, 81 questions) is included too, so you can move between them without rebuilding anything.
12 sections, 56 questions, with guidance notes. Included in every subscription. 14-day free trial.
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