The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 — usually shortened to the "Workplace Regulations 1992" — are the UK law that sets the baseline standards for the physical workplace itself: the building, its environment, and the welfare facilities inside it. Where PUWER governs the equipment people use and LOLER governs equipment that lifts, the Workplace Regulations 1992 govern the space people work in — its temperature, lighting, floors, and the toilets, washing facilities, clothing storage and changing rooms an employer has to provide. This guide sets out what the regulations actually require, who they apply to, and — because it is the part most workplaces get wrong — what "suitable and sufficient" storage for clothing and changing facilities means in practice.
If you are already familiar with work equipment law, see our guide to PUWER, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations — the two sit alongside each other under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, but cover different things: PUWER is about equipment, the Workplace Regulations are about the workplace.
What the Workplace Regulations 1992 are, and who they apply to
The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/3004) came into force on 1 January 1993 and implement EU Directive 89/654/EEC on minimum safety and health requirements for the workplace. They apply to almost every workplace in Great Britain — offices, shops, factories, warehouses, schools, hospitals and hotels among them — and to virtually every employer, the self-employed, and anyone in control of a workplace to any extent, including landlords and building owners of premises let to others.
They do not apply to construction sites covered by construction-specific regulations, to ships, to below-ground workings in mines, or to domestic premises. HSE publishes the Approved Code of Practice and guidance for the regulations as L24, and the regulations themselves are on legislation.gov.uk.
The building and environment duties (Regulations 5–19)
The first block of duties covers the physical building and its condition:
- Regulation 5 — Maintenance. The workplace and the equipment, devices and systems in it must be maintained in efficient working order and good repair.
- Regulation 6 — Ventilation. Enclosed workplaces need a supply of fresh or purified air.
- Regulation 7 — Temperature. A reasonable temperature during working hours — HSE's guidance figure is at least 16°C, or 13°C where the work involves severe physical effort.
- Regulation 8 — Lighting. Suitable and sufficient lighting, natural so far as reasonably practicable.
- Regulation 9 — Cleanliness. Floors, walls and ceilings kept clean, with waste not allowed to accumulate outside suitable receptacles.
- Regulation 10 — Room dimensions and space. Enough free space to work safely, comfortably and without unnecessary risk to health.
- Regulations 11–19 — workstations and seating, floors and traffic routes kept in sound condition and free of obstruction, protection from falls and falling objects, safety of transparent or translucent doors, windows and skylights that can be opened safely, the ability to clean windows safely, sensible organisation of traffic routes, safe construction of doors and gates, and safe escalators and moving walkways.
None of this is exotic: it is the standard a competent employer already keeps a warehouse or workshop to, made explicit as a legal minimum rather than good practice.
The welfare duties (Regulations 20–25)
The second block is about the people, not the building fabric:
- Regulation 20 — Sanitary conveniences. Suitable, sufficient and clean toilets, in ventilated and lit rooms, separate for men and women unless each is in a lockable room for sole use.
- Regulation 21 — Washing facilities. Clean, adequate washing facilities with hot and cold (or warm) running water, soap and towels or a dryer, close to toilets and changing rooms.
- Regulation 22 — Drinking water. An adequate, readily accessible supply of wholesome drinking water, with cups or a fountain, unless the supply is a jet everyone can drink from directly.
- Regulation 23 — Accommodation for clothing. Suitable and sufficient space to store the clothing people don't wear at work, and the special clothing they do — kept secure, in a place that lets it dry, and separate from clothing worn on-site where that clothing could get dirty, damaged or contaminated.
- Regulation 24 — Facilities for changing clothing. Suitable and sufficient changing facilities wherever a worker has to change into work-only clothing, or into and out of special protective clothing, for reasons of health or propriety — with separate or separately-used facilities for men and women wherever needed for propriety.
- Regulation 25 — Rest and eating facilities. Suitable rest facilities, and somewhere non-smokers can rest away from smoke, plus suitable facilities to eat meals where meals are regularly eaten at work.
Regulation 23 in practice: storing what people wear
Regulation 23 is easy to state and commonly under-delivered. "Suitable and sufficient" storage for personal clothing means every worker who needs it has somewhere secure and dry to keep the coat, bag and outdoor clothing they arrive in, and — separately — somewhere to keep any special or protective clothing the job requires, kept apart from what could dirty or contaminate it. In a warehouse or workshop that almost always means a bank of individual, lockable compartments rather than a coat rail or a shared cupboard: a shared space does not give each worker secured, individual storage, and it does not keep site-worn PPE away from what someone is going home in.
This is the regulation most directly served by a proper locker installation. Our lockers range covers metal, staff, workplace and school lockers in the door and compartment configurations that answer Regulation 23 for offices, warehouses and industrial sites — sized and specified against the storage need rather than sold as a generic box.
Regulation 24 in practice: somewhere to change
Regulation 24 only bites where changing is actually necessary — for health reasons (protective clothing, PPE that must not be worn outside the workplace) or for propriety (privacy while changing). Where it applies, the facility has to be suitable: adjacent to where the clothing is stored under Regulation 23, with somewhere to sit while changing, and separate provision for men and women wherever the change is needed for propriety rather than being incidental. A changing area that is just floor space next to the lockers does not, on its own, satisfy "suitable" — HSE's L24 guidance expects seating as part of the facility.
That's the specific gap our cloakroom benches range is built to close — bench seating designed to sit alongside a locker bank rather than as generic furniture, in single- and double-sided formats for the room layouts a changing area actually has.
How this sits alongside PUWER, LOLER and the rest
The Workplace Regulations 1992, PUWER 1998 and LOLER 1998 are all made under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and a single site is normally subject to all three at once, each covering a different thing: the Workplace Regulations cover the building and its welfare facilities, PUWER covers the equipment people use, and LOLER adds extra duties on top of PUWER for equipment that lifts. None of them replaces the others, and a locker bank or a changing bench sits squarely inside the Workplace Regulations rather than either of the equipment regimes.
Enforcement
The Workplace Regulations are enforced the same way as the rest of UK health and safety law — by HSE or, for many offices, shops and other non-industrial premises, by the local authority. An inspector can issue an improvement notice requiring a specific breach to be fixed by a set date, or a prohibition notice stopping an activity until a serious risk is addressed; a persistent or serious breach can lead to prosecution. In practice, welfare-facility breaches — inadequate toilets, no drinking water, nowhere secure to store clothing — are among the more commonly cited findings in HSE improvement notices for non-industrial premises, because they are visible on a routine visit and straightforward to evidence.
A short compliance checklist
- Temperature at least 16°C (13°C for strenuous work), with a working thermometer somewhere staff can check it.
- Toilets and washing facilities that are clean, ventilated, lit, and private.
- An accessible supply of drinking water, clearly marked if any nearby tap is not drinking water.
- Individual, secure, dry storage for the clothing staff arrive in — Regulation 23.
- A changing facility with seating, adjacent to that storage, wherever staff need to change for health or propriety reasons — Regulation 24.
- Rest and eating facilities away from the work itself, and away from smoke.
- Floors, traffic routes and doors kept clear, sound and in good repair, as a standing maintenance item rather than a one-off check.
Frequently asked questions
What are the Workplace Regulations 1992?
They are the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/3004), the UK law setting minimum standards for the physical condition of a workplace and the welfare facilities — toilets, washing, drinking water, clothing storage, changing rooms, rest facilities — an employer must provide.
Do the Workplace Regulations 1992 apply to my business?
Almost certainly, if you employ people in Great Britain in a building — offices, shops, factories and warehouses are all covered. The main exclusions are construction sites, ships, below-ground mine workings and domestic premises.
What is the minimum temperature under the Workplace Regulations 1992?
HSE's guidance figure is at least 16°C for most indoor work, or 13°C where the work involves severe physical effort. The regulations themselves require a "reasonable" temperature; the figures are HSE's benchmark for what that means in practice.
Do the Workplace Regulations 1992 require lockers?
They require "suitable and sufficient" accommodation for clothing under Regulation 23 — secure, dry storage for what staff arrive in and, separately, for any special or protective clothing. Individual lockers are the most straightforward way most workplaces meet that duty, though the regulations do not name lockers specifically.
Is a changing room a legal requirement?
Only where changing is actually necessary — for health reasons (protective clothing) or propriety. Where it is, Regulation 24 requires a suitable, adjacent facility, normally with seating, and separate or separately-used provision for men and women where propriety requires it.
What is the difference between the Workplace Regulations 1992 and PUWER?
The Workplace Regulations cover the building and its welfare facilities; PUWER covers the equipment people use at work. A site needs to comply with both, and they are enforced the same way.
Who enforces the Workplace Regulations 1992?
HSE or the relevant local authority, depending on the type of premises. Enforcement can range from advice, to an improvement or prohibition notice, to prosecution for serious or persistent breaches.
Related duty: where employers provide protective equipment they must also provide somewhere to keep it — our guide to the PPE at Work Regulations 1992 explains how regulation 8 works alongside the welfare rules above.