Health and Safety Training for Directors: Law and Options

No UK law names a course directors must take. But directors can be prosecuted personally when their company breaks health and safety law through their consent, connivance or neglect. And where a death follows a gross failure by senior management, the company can be convicted of corporate manslaughter. Training is how a director learns what the board must do to prevent both. For construction directors, CITB's one-day Director's Role for Health and Safety is the closest fit.

You can be prosecuted personally

Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 is the one to know. If your company commits an offence with your consent or connivance, or because of your neglect, you're guilty of it too. The same goes for managers, company secretaries and similar officers.

Neglect is the part that catches people out. HSE says case law has confirmed you can't avoid a neglect charge by arranging things so you never hear about problems. Not knowing is no defence if you should have known.

The penalties are personal:

• Up to two years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both. The Sentencing Council's guideline starts at 18 months in custody for the most serious cases.
• Disqualification as a director for up to 15 years under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.
• Gross negligence manslaughter, where a director's own grossly negligent conduct causes a death. The maximum is life imprisonment.

HSE's guidance for boards gives an example. A director of a recycling firm with about 30 staff was jailed for 12 months for manslaughter after a worker was killed maintaining machinery. Investigators found no safe system of work, and inadequate instruction, training and supervision.

What corporate manslaughter means for the board

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 targets the company, not individuals. A company is guilty if the way its activities are managed or organised causes a death and amounts to a gross breach of its duty of care. Senior management's failings must be a substantial element of that breach. Gross means falling far below what can reasonably be expected.

You can't be convicted under the Act yourself. That's why section 37 and gross negligence manslaughter matter to directors individually.

For the company, the fine is unlimited. The sentencing guideline sets ranges from £180,000 to £20 million, depending on size and seriousness. Even a micro business turning over less than £2 million faces £180,000 to £800,000. The court can also order the company to publish details of its conviction. The guideline tells courts to weigh inadequate training, supervision and reporting when judging how far a company fell short.

What HSE and the IoD expect from directors

HSE and the Institute of Directors publish joint guidance, Leading health and safety at work (INDG417). It applies to directors of organisations of every size. In a corporate manslaughter case, a jury may take it into account.

It rests on three principles. Strong and active leadership from the top, worker involvement, and assessment and review. It turns them into board actions under Plan, Do, Check, Act. The main ones are:

• Agree a health and safety policy that sets out the board's own role.
• Make sure health and safety is properly resourced, backed by competent advice and risk assessments.
• Get regular reports on both training progress and incidents, like accident and sickness absence rates.
• Review health and safety performance at least once a year.

On training, the guide says training some or all of the board can help it understand the issues. Its checklist asks each board how it knows all staff, "including the board", are trained and competent.

Which training suits directors

A director needs a different course from a site worker. The aim is to understand your duties, what to ask for and how to check the answers. It isn't about operating kit or running a site.

Course	Run or awarded by	Length	Best for
Director's Role for Health and Safety (DRHS)	CITB Site Safety Plus	1 day, classroom or remote	Construction directors and senior managers
Leading Safely	IOSH, through approved providers	About 5 hours, in person or online	Senior leaders in any sector
HSE Certificate in Health and Safety Leadership Excellence	NEBOSH, developed with HSE	7 taught hours plus about 3 hours' reading	Senior leaders who want an assessed qualification
Site Management Safety Training Scheme (SMSTS)	CITB Site Safety Plus	5 days	Directors who also manage sites day to day

Course details from each body's own website, accurate as of September 2026.

For most construction directors, the DRHS is the natural start. CITB built it for directors in the built environment, and expects delegates to know the 1974 Act, CDM 2015 and the 1999 Management Regulations already. The CITB DRHS certificate lasts five years. None of these courses is a legal requirement. Each is evidence that you took your duties seriously.

What we offer, and what we don't

We don't run a director or board-level course. If that's what you need, book one of the courses above with an approved provider.

What we do is train the workforce your board is responsible for. Our employer training plans give your staff online CPD courses with dated certificates, so you can see who's done what. For new starters or a refresher, our Health and Safety in the Workplace for Employees course covers slips, trips and falls, COSHH, fire safety, first aid and manual handling. For the wider duties behind all this, read our guide to health and safety compliance.

This week, put health and safety on the next board agenda, book a director course, and ask to see your workforce training records.

Frequently asked questions