Running a secondary school science department is one of the most complex and diverse leadership roles that exists in schools, particularly when compared to other middle leadership roles. The workplace health and safety responsibilities, in particular, has some very real legal (and human) consequences when science leaders do not understand their responsibilities. Yet, while school systems put significant resources into leadership training, there is very little in the way of training people to manage such complex legal issues. The Science Safety Essentials is an attempt to fill this gap by creating a set of documents that provides out-of-field science teachers and new science leaders with the essential information that they need in order to do their job in a way that is both safe and informs them of their legal responsibilities. This article provides a brief explanation of the Science Safety Essentials.