These regulations, often abbreviated as PUWER, impose obligations on people and companies who own, use or control work equipment. PUWER is also responsible for companies and organizations whose employees use work equipment, whether they own it or not.
PUWER requires that equipment intended for use in the workplace:
- fit for intended use
- safe to use, safely stored and tested for correct installation and subsequent failure
- used only by persons who have received appropriate information, instructions and training
- accompanied by appropriate health and safety measures such as protective devices and controls. These generally include safety devices, emergency shut-off devices, adequate means of isolating energy sources, clearly visible signs and warning devices.
- used to meet the special requirements of mobile work equipment and mechanical presses
Some work equipment is subject to other health and safety rules than PUWER. For example, lifting equipment must meet LOLER requirements, pressure equipment must meet pressure system safety regulations, and personal protective equipment must meet PPE regulations.
What is work equipment?
Work Equipment means any equipment, plant, equipment, tool or installation intended for use in the course of work (whether owned or not). This includes equipment provided by employees for their own use in the workplace. Therefore, the range of working equipment is quite wide. The use of work equipment is also interpreted very broadly and includes “...any activity related to work equipment, including starting, stopping, programming, setting up, moving, repairing, modifying, servicing, assisting and cleaning.
What should you do?
If your business or organization uses work equipment or is involved in the supply of work equipment to third parties (for example, on hire), you must manage the risks associated with that equipment. This means that you should
- ensure that the equipment is designed or adapted to the purpose for which it is used or supplied.
- Consider working conditions and occupational health and safety risks when selecting work equipment
- ensure that work equipment is used only for appropriate purposes
- ensure that work equipment is in working order and in good repair
- If the car has a service log, update it
- If the safety of work equipment depends on the installation method, it should be checked after installation and before starting.
- If work equipment is exposed to deteriorating conditions that could lead to hazardous conditions, it should be inspected to ensure defects are identified promptly and health and safety risks are minimised.
- ensure that all persons who use, control or monitor work equipment receive adequate and clear health and safety information. If applicable, this includes written instructions for its use, as well as appropriate markings and warnings on the equipment.
- shall ensure that all persons operating, supervising or monitoring work equipment receive adequate training covering the correct use of the equipment, the risks arising from its use and the precautions to be taken.
- If the use of work equipment may present a particular risk to health and safety (eg carpentry equipment), ensure that use of the equipment is restricted to persons trained and designated for use.
- must take effective measures to prevent access to dangerous parts of the equipment. This is usually a fixed guard, but where regular access is required, interlocked guards (sometimes with a locked guard) may be necessary to stop the movement of hazardous parts before a person reaches the hazardous area. When this is not possible, such as in the case of a circular saw blade, it should be protected as much as possible and a secure operating system should be used. These protective measures must follow PUWER Regulation 11(2) and the PUWER approved code of practice and guidance or hierarchy for the safe use of carpentry equipment;
- take measures to prevent or control hazards to people as a result of falling or throwing parts and materials from work equipment, breaking or destroying work equipment.
- Ensure that hazards associated with extremely high or low temperatures of work equipment or materials processed or used are avoided to prevent injury.
- ensure that work equipment is equipped for starting, stopping and operating as specified and that these controls are secure
- Where necessary, provide adequate means to isolate work equipment from all sources of energy (including electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic and gravity).
- Secure work equipment with clamps or other means to avoid injury.
- shall take appropriate measures so that, when maintenance of work equipment is disabled, it can be carried out safely without exposing the health and safety of those performing the maintenance work to risk.
When supplying new work equipment for use on a job site, you must ensure that it meets the essential requirements of any relevant procurement legislation (for new machinery this means the Supply of Work Regulations). machines (safety)). You should check this out.
- bears the conformity mark of conformity and the manufacturer's information mark
- comes with a declaration of conformity
- Comes with English instructions
- It has no obvious defects and remains so throughout its life
When providing mobile work equipment, you must provide the following:
- where workers are transported, the equipment is fit for purpose
- The risk of falling is minimized and the person being transported is protected in the event of a fall or trip. This should include protection against crushing by fitting appropriate restraints and a rollover protection system.
- self-propelled vehicles can be operated safely with braking devices, sufficient driver visibility and, where necessary, lighting.
- measures are taken to avoid any risk associated with drive shafts of control units attached to mobile work equipment by using suitable protective equipment.
When supplying mechanized metal cold presses, you should carefully inspect them and the safety precautions before putting them into service for the first time and periodically thereafter. This means that you must ensure that inspections and tests of safety devices and protective equipment are carried out frequently by an authorized person and that records of these inspections, inspections and tests are kept.
What you need to know
The Supply and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 replaced the original PUWER Regulations which were first introduced in 1992. The main change affected portable work equipment, woodworking equipment and power presses, allowing the power press regulations of 1965 and a number of other older regulations to be repealed. regulations, including woodworking equipment regulations.
The Supply and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, as amended by the Health and Safety at Work (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2002, are supported by an Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) and additional free advice available from the HSE. There are other ACOPs that support PUWER, including woodworking machines and electric cold metal presses. If the work equipment is also lifting equipment, there is another ACOP that supports LOLER and PUWER.
Although ACOPs are not legislation, they are established under section 16 of the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSW Act) and therefore have a special status, as set out in the introduction to the PUWER ACOP;
"Following the guidelines is optional, and you can take other measures. But if you follow the instructions, you'll usually do enough to comply with the law. Health and safety inspectors are committed to ensuring compliance with the law and can refer to these guidelines as examples of good practice.
These ACOPs support PUWER and the general provisions of section 2 of the HSW Act, as well as other regulations, including the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations and the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations.
Other, more specific laws may also apply (eg LOLER when using lifting equipment at work). In some cases it may be more appropriate for equipment used in the workplace to be regulated by other, more specific legislation (eg the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations and the Electrical Work Regulations). Therefore, in addition to the requirements of PUWER, it may be necessary to ensure compliance with the requirements of other regulations; eg workplace (health, safety and welfare) regulations relating to the risks associated with mobile work equipment to pedestrians at work.
Although PUWER has a wide range of applications, in most cases there is a general exemption for the use of ship's operational equipment, as there are other provisions in commercial shipping legislation for the safety of this equipment.
Most new work equipment, ie machinery, is also subject to the Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008. Machinery and certain other work equipment subject to this Regulation must be subject to conformity assessment, correct conformity marking and correct marking. before placing on the market or putting into service. Understand.
- Equipment that must be placed on/behind other equipment or structure before it can be used
- Safety components that are independent in the market
- lifting equipment/accessories
- Partly completed equipment (components that are quasi-equipment but cannot perform a specific function on their own) are also subject to the Supply of Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2008. They should be accompanied by detailed instructions and registration for safe installation. Announcement:
