Your legal obligation
What the law actually requires from hairdressers
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 applies to every hairdresser in the UK - whether you run a busy salon, rent a chair, or work mobile from your clients' homes. Being self-employed does not make you exempt, and the HSE is clear on this. || If you use chemicals - bleach, developer, toners, colour, relaxers - you are legally required to have a COSHH assessment in place that identifies those substances, their hazards, and the controls you have to protect yourself and your clients. Hairdressers also face a specific legal requirement around skin dermatitis prevention, because occupational contact dermatitis from repeated chemical exposure is one of the most common work-related diseases in the hair and beauty sector. || Beyond COSHH, you need a written health and safety policy, a general risk assessment, a fire risk assessment, an accident log, and a client consultation and allergy record system. Most hairdressers know they need these documents. The challenge is knowing how to fill them in correctly - and finding the time to actually do it.
The real problem
A blank template is not the same as a completed document
There is no shortage of downloadable health and safety templates online, many of them free. The problem is that a blank template puts all the hard work onto you - and doing it correctly requires knowledge most hairdressers simply do not have time to develop. || A COSHH assessment for a hairdressing salon that uses bleach, hydrogen peroxide, hair dye, toners, and perm solutions needs to identify each substance individually, record the specific hazards, document the exposure routes, and describe the control measures in place. Writing chemicals in the box is not sufficient. An insurer rejecting a claim or an HSE inspector reviewing your paperwork will expect specifics. || When you order through CompliantDocs, you answer a short set of questions about your business. We use those answers to generate documents that are specific to your situation - your business name, your chemicals, your working environment. A mobile hairdresser working from clients' homes has different risks to a three-chair salon on a high street. Your documents reflect that.
3 - 4 hours
The honest time cost of doing this yourself. Filling in a compliant COSHH assessment for a typical hairdressing business takes most people three to four hours if they want to get it right. Add a risk assessment, a health and safety policy, a fire safety document, and the rest of the pack - and you are looking at the best part of a working day. That is a day you are not with clients, not earning, not building your business. For £24.99, we do all of it for you in the time it takes to make a coffee.