Your legal obligation
What the law requires from craft fair sellers
Craft fair sellers often work with materials that fall under COSHH regulations - resin, paints, varnishes, adhesives, dyes, and chemical craft supplies that contain hazardous substances. Where these materials are used in production or handled at the fair itself, a COSHH assessment is required. || The display setup at craft fairs - shelving, display stands, hanging artwork, and lighting - creates public safety considerations that need to be assessed. Ensuring that display items are stable, that electrical equipment is safe, and that the stall does not present a hazard to the public or to the craft fair organiser's other exhibitors are all part of the risk assessment picture. || A risk assessment, health and safety policy, and fire safety documentation are all required for a self-employed craft fair seller.
The real problem
Craft fair sellers who make their own products often overlook the COSHH requirements for their craft materials
The making process for many craft products involves chemical substances - resin casting, fabric dyeing, paint mixing, wood staining, and adhesive bonding all involve substances that fall under COSHH. Craft sellers who make their own products have COSHH obligations covering those production materials. CompliantDocs generates documentation from the materials you tell us you use.
2 hours
What it takes to produce craft fair seller compliance documentation. Our service handles it in minutes.
Your trade, specifically
The risks and requirements specific to your work
Craft Fair Sellers operate in dynamic temporary environments where multiple hazards converge daily. You work with sharp hand tools including craft knives, scissors, cutting mats and rotary cutters that cause lacerations and puncture wounds. Chemical exposure includes fabric dyes, resin epoxies, solvent-based adhesives, wood stains and acrylic paints containing volatile organic compounds. Display equipment presents trip hazards and falling stock risks, particularly when stacking shelving units or heavy ceramic pieces. Repetitive strain injuries develop from hours of hand stitching, jewellery making, wood carving and detailed painting work. Fire risks escalate when using heat guns, soldering irons, kiln equipment and working near curtained display areas with limited ventilation. Manual handling of stock boxes, large artwork canvases and pottery items risks back injuries. Electrical hazards emerge from extension leads, craft tool chargers and inadequate PAT testing of equipment. Fair venue environments present additional risks including overcrowding, inadequate emergency exits, poor lighting for detailed work and shared facilities with unknown hygiene standards. Weather exposure occurs at outdoor fairs affecting both you and customers. These specific hazards require documented risk assessment tailored to your actual setup and materials used.
The cost of getting it wrong
What happens without proper documentation
Without proper Health and Safety compliance documents, Craft Fair Sellers face serious legal and financial consequences. The HSE issues Improvement Notices requiring you to implement controls within specified timeframes, with potential prosecution following non-compliance. Unlimited fines apply for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, with recent cases involving sole traders paying £10,000 to £50,000 plus costs. Your public liability and product liability insurance becomes invalid if you cannot demonstrate risk assessments during a claim, leaving you personally liable for customer injuries from your stall setup or product hazards. If a customer suffers injury from inadequate fire safety procedures or unsafe equipment display at your fair stall, you face personal prosecution under Section 3 of the Act. Criminal conviction damages your business reputation and future employment prospects. Local authority enforcement officers conducting fair venue inspections increasingly request individual trader documentation. Operating without these documents represents reckless business practice. CompliantDocs solves this entirely: your done-for-you compliance pack costs 29.99 GBP, takes minutes to download, and provides every document HSE expects to see.