How getting the basics right protects your people, your FCA standing, and your reputation
Financial services firms are, understandably, laser-focused on regulatory compliance under the FCA. Conduct rules, capital requirements, SYSC obligations — these dominate the compliance agenda. But there’s a legal duty that sits alongside all of this, applies to every employer regardless of sector, and is too often treated as an afterthought: health, safety and fire compliance.
The good news is that firms who get this right don’t just tick a legal box. They protect their people, strengthen their governance story, and build a reputation that clients, regulators and insurers all take note of.
It’s a Legal Duty, Not an FCA Add-On
Health and safety obligations come from the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and related regulations, enforced by the HSE — not the FCA. But that doesn’t make them optional for regulated firms. Every employer, whatever their sector, has to manage risk to staff, visitors and premises. For financial firms with offices, meeting rooms, client-facing spaces and remote or hybrid teams, that means real, practical obligations: fire risk assessments, evacuation procedures, workstation and display screen assessments, and clear accountability for who owns this within the business.
Where It Quietly Supports FCA Compliance
While the FCA doesn’t set health and safety rules directly, strong H&S and fire safety practice feeds into areas the FCA does care about:
- Systems and controls (SYSC): Robust H&S governance is evidence of the ‘adequate policies and procedures’ the FCA expects firms to maintain across all areas of operation.
- Operational resilience: Fire safety, evacuation planning and premises risk management are core to business continuity — a firm that can’t safely occupy its premises can’t serve its clients.
- Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SM&CR): H&S is a clear test case for accountability. A named senior manager owning health and safety, with proper oversight, is exactly the kind of governance the SM&CR is designed to encourage.
- Fit and proper conduct: Regulators and auditors increasingly view how a firm treats its people — including their basic safety — as a signal of overall culture and conduct.
The Reputational Upside
Beyond compliance, there’s a straightforward business case:
- Client and investor confidence: Institutional clients, due diligence teams and insurers increasingly ask about premises risk management and staff safety as part of onboarding and renewal.
- Talent attraction and retention: A visible commitment to a safe working environment is a genuine differentiator in a competitive hiring market.
- Crisis avoidance: A fire, injury or enforcement notice at a financial firm doesn’t stay a health and safety story — it becomes a governance and conduct story, reported alongside your regulatory standing.
- Insurance and cost control: Demonstrable risk management supports better terms on premises and liability cover, and reduces the cost of incidents when they do occur.
Practical Steps for Financial Firms
- Commission a fire risk assessment for every premises you occupy, and keep it current as your workforce or layout changes.
- Assign clear ownership of H&S at senior management level, in line with SM&CR-style accountability.
- Maintain simple, auditable records — risk assessments, training logs, fire safety checks — that can be produced quickly for due diligence or insurance purposes.
- Build H&S and fire safety into your governance reporting, not as a standalone HR task but as part of operational risk oversight.
- Review arrangements annually, or whenever premises, headcount or working patterns change.
The firms that treat health, safety and fire compliance as part of good governance — rather than a distraction from it — are the ones best placed to protect their people, satisfy due diligence, and demonstrate the kind of culture regulators and clients want to see.
CompliSafe works with financial and professional services firms across London and the South East to put practical, proportionate health, safety and fire safety arrangements in place — built to be audited, not just filed away.
