“Two site visits today, three reports overdue, and a client asking why their review hasn't been booked.”
AI for health and safety consultants: the admin, not the judgement. Reports out, evenings back.
Visit notes, reports, action chasing and review dates handled by systems, with you still signing every assessment, and a consultancy that doesn't live in your head.
I'm Daniel Andrews. I run a law firm in East Sussex, and I've put much of its admin on systems. If you work as an independent safety consultant, I'll help you get the write-ups off your evenings, while AI stays away from decisions only a competent person should make.
A typical evening, after a day of site visits
- 7pmType up this morning's site walkForty photos and a scaffold issue to describe
- 8pmTurn notes into a client reportFindings and actions, in this client's format
- 9pmChase last month's actionsHas the warehouse fixed the racking yet? Nobody has replied
- 10pmWork out whose reviews are dueAssessments, policies and training dates in three spreadsheets
- 11pmBed, with an incident question waitingA client's worker has been off for eight days. Does it need reporting?
Hard hat by day, laptop by night
The site visit is what you trained for. The write-up is what eats the weekend.
“I went into safety to prevent accidents, not to spend Sundays formatting reports.”
“Half-term went on catching up with write-ups, and the kids noticed.”
“I send the report, then forget to send the invoice for another three weeks.”
“A client wants a risk assessment by Friday. I won't sign one for a site I haven't seen.”
If every client's safety file lives in your head, you've built a job
Most consultants go independent to choose their clients, hours and way of advising. Then the portfolio grows, and every site walk, report and review date depends on your memory.
If a fortnight in bed would leave reviews unbooked and actions unchased, you've built a job, not a business. I explain the bigger idea on my page for professional firms that want their time back.
I'll help you build the business version, starting with the system I used on my own firm: see where the time goes, put the repeat work on systems, and spend the hours you win back on the business. For a consultancy, that means visits, draft reports, action chasing and reviews run by systems, and your method written down for an associate to follow.
What should AI for health and safety do for a small consultancy?
It should handle the admin around your judgement, not the judgement itself. That means turning site notes and photos into a draft report in your format, chasing clients on open actions, booking reviews before they fall due, and keeping incident records in order. The hazards, the controls and the sign-off stay with a competent person: you.
| Job | How it often works now | Set up properly |
|---|---|---|
| Enquiries | Voicemails picked up between sites, returned late. | A short form on sector, headcount and needs, then a call booked. |
| Site visit booking | Juggled by text and email. | Booked online, with a pre-visit checklist sent to the client. |
| Reports and risk assessments | Notes typed up late and formatted by hand. | Captured on site, drafted into your template, then checked and signed by you. |
| Actions and reviews | Chased when you remember. | Each action has an owner and a date, and each review is in the diary. |
| Invoices and chasing | Sent weeks after the visit. | Raised when you sign off the report. |
What does the law say about risk assessments, competence and RIDDOR?
The law requires employers to make a suitable and sufficient risk assessment and, with five or more employees, record the significant findings. They must appoint a competent person to help, preferring someone in-house where there is one. Most RIDDOR reports must be received within 10 days, and over-seven-day injuries reported within 15.
Risk assessments and reviews
HSE's guidance says employers with 5 or more employees must record the hazards, who might be harmed and how, and the controls. Controls must be reviewed to check they work, and HSE says to review them again after changes to staff, processes or equipment. HSE also warns against relying on paperwork, because the priority is controlling risks in practice.
Competence and consultants
Under regulation 7 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, someone counts as competent if their training, experience or knowledge lets them help properly. HSE's page on using a consultant says advice should fit the client's own workplace, because generic advice often misses key risks. It also points employers to the OSHCR register of consultants.
CDM 2015 and RIDDOR
The CDM 2015 dutyholders are clients, designers, principal designers, principal contractors, contractors and workers. Under RIDDOR, the report comes from the responsible person, such as the employer or whoever controls the premises. Injuries keeping someone off normal work for more than three consecutive days must be recorded, and records kept for at least three years.
What HSE and the ICO say about AI
HSE's June 2026 policy statement on AI says health and safety law is goal-setting, so it applies whatever technology is used, AI included. It also says new guidance on applying the law to AI is planned. Accident and occupational health records often hold health data, which is special category data under UK GDPR. Read the ICO's AI guidance before any of it goes near an AI tool.
- Review dates set at sign-off, with a prompt when a client reports new staff, equipment or processes.
- An incident form that asks the RIDDOR questions and works out the 10 and 15-day dates for you to check.
- Every AI-drafted document marked as a draft until you've signed it.
Please note: this general information comes from HSE, ICO and legislation.gov.uk pages. None of it is legal, regulatory or compliance advice. For a particular client or incident, check with your compliance adviser, your professional body such as IOSH, or a solicitor. If you work as an associate of a larger consultancy, check which systems and templates it requires.
Tell me how long a typical report takes from site to inbox, and I'll show you which parts could happen without you.
Book a free 30-minute callWhat I'd set up first for a health and safety consultant
I'd start with what happens after each site visit, because that's where the evenings go.
Site notes to draft report
Findings, photos and actions captured on your phone, then laid out in your report template for you to check.
Actions that chase themselves
Each recommendation gets an owner and a due date, with reminders to the client and an open-items list for you.
Reviews in the diary
Review dates set at sign-off, plus a check-in asking clients about changes that bring a review forward.
One incident intake form
Clients report incidents through one form that alerts you, so details arrive complete, not as a 10pm phone call.
How do I choose an AI health and safety risk assessment tool?
Choose one that treats its output as a draft for a competent person, not a finished assessment. Check it starts from your own templates, records who drafted, changed and signed each version, keeps client data under proper business terms, works on site with poor signal, and lets you export everything if you leave.
- Starts from your methods and templates, not a generic hazard list.
- Keeps a clear trail of who drafted, edited and signed each version.
- Promises in writing not to train its AI on your clients' information.
I'm not naming products, and I sell none: the rule matters more than the tool. Nothing goes out under your name until you've checked it against what you saw on site. For the data side, see my guide to using ChatGPT safely at work.
Why a law firm Managing Partner?
Between raising two children and coaching football, I know how easily write-ups creep into the weekend. For years I worked 60 to 70 hours a week, often until 2am, until a system, not more hours, fixed it. I'm Managing Partner of a two-office law firm in East Sussex with around 30 people. That firm is now four to five times the size it was when I started.
Legal advice and safety advice share a risk: a confident document that's wrong for this client is worse than none. As a practising solicitor, I'm used to checking the detail before anything goes out, though this consultancy gives no legal advice and isn't SRA-regulated. I built it in my own firm first: AI helps draft our marketing, but every piece passes automatic checks and then waits for a person's approval before it's published. Your reports deserve the same arrangement.
This is a new consultancy, so there are no safety clients to point to yet. BNI has been part of my working week for 20 years. Read more about how I work. If you advise builders on CDM, my page for builders covers their side.
Other professions I help
Accountants and bookkeepers
Records chased on a timetable, MTD quarters on one screen and new clients onboarded in one link, so deadline season stops taking your evenings.
For accountants and bookkeepersInsuranceInsurance brokers
Renewals prepared weeks ahead, commercial clients chased for their figures, and claims updates sent before anyone has to ring you.
For insurance brokersMortgagesMortgage brokers
Fact-finds drafted, payslips and bank statements chased, and every case tracked from application to completion without the evening phone calls.
For mortgage brokersFinancial adviceFinancial advisers
Meeting notes and suitability report drafts ready to check, annual reviews booked in good time, and cash flow data in before the meeting.
For financial advisersPropertyEstate and letting agents
Offers put in writing, chains chased, vendor updates drafted and lettings dates tracked, so the agency keeps moving after the last viewing.
For estate and letting agentsDesign and surveyArchitects and surveyors
Fee proposals, revision registers, planning dates and site-photo reports handled by systems you check, so the practice isn't run from the kitchen table.
For architects and surveyorsQuestions from health and safety consultants
Can AI write a risk assessment?
It can draft one, but a draft isn't an assessment. The law asks for a suitable and sufficient assessment of real risks, which takes a competent person who knows the actual workplace.
How often should a risk assessment be reviewed?
The regulations don't set a fixed period. They require a review when the assessment may no longer be valid or something significant has changed. HSE also suggests one after accidents, near misses or problems workers spot.
Can software track RIDDOR deadlines?
Yes. An incident form can ask the deciding questions and calculate the dates. Whether it's reportable, and who reports it, is still for the responsible person to decide, with your advice.
Do you give health and safety advice?
No. I set up the systems around your advice. The competence, the site visits and the sign-off all stay with you.
Leave the write-ups to the system, and keep your evenings
Book a free 30-minute call. Walk me through a week of visits and reports, and I'll point out the first job I'd hand to a system. No jargon and no hard sell.