Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER)

PUWER, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, covers every machine and tool used at work. This guide covers what it requires and how it works alongside LOLER on lifts and machine moves.

Overview

What PUWER, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, covers

Almost every machine and tool used at work comes under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, known as PUWER. That includes the cranes and skates used to lift and move a machine.

In short

Work equipment must be suitable for the job and kept in good repair.
Equipment leaving or arriving at your site needs proof of its last inspection, where it needs inspecting.
Dangerous parts of machinery must be guarded, or the machine stopped before anyone reaches them.
People who use the equipment must be trained and given the information they need.

Full title	Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
Reference	SI 1998/2306
Current version	The Regulations as amended. legislation.gov.uk lists no outstanding changes to the revised text.
Publisher	The National Archives, on legislation.gov.uk
Status	In force
Legal status	Regulations made under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, with an Approved Code of Practice (L22). Contravening them is a criminal offence.
Extent	Great Britain
Northern Ireland	Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

Duty holders

Who has duties under the Regulations

Under regulation 3, employers have duties for the work equipment they provide for their employees or that their employees use, and self-employed people have the same duties for equipment they use at work. The duties also apply to anyone who controls work equipment or the way it is used, for the part they control.

CNC and production machines standing in a factory with their cables loose, ready to be moved — CNC and production machines in a factory, waiting to be removed.

Duties

What the Regulations require

Part II sets the general duties for all work equipment, and Parts III and IV add rules for mobile equipment and power presses. HSE’s PUWER overview lists the main duties: equipment must be suitable for its intended use, safe to use, maintained in a safe condition, inspected where needed, and used only by people with adequate information, instruction and training.

Maintenance (regulation 5): equipment is kept in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair, and any maintenance log for machinery is kept up to date.
Inspection (regulation 6): if safety depends on how equipment is installed, inspect it after installation and after assembly at a new site. If conditions can wear it to the point of danger, inspect it at suitable intervals and after anything exceptional, and keep each record until the next. Equipment that needs inspecting must not leave your business, or be used after arriving from another one, without physical evidence of its last inspection.
Specific risks (regulation 7): where using equipment is likely to involve a specific risk to health or safety, only the people given the task of using it may use it. Repairs, modifications, maintenance and servicing are done only by people specifically designated for that work, who must have had adequate training for it.
Information and instructions (regulation 8): users, and employees who supervise or manage the use of equipment, have adequate health and safety information available to them and, where appropriate, written instructions. These cover the conditions and methods of use, foreseeable abnormal situations and what to do, and any lessons from experience, in a form they can readily understand.
Training (regulation 9): the same people must have received adequate training in the methods of use, the risks and the precautions to take.
Conformity with product law (regulation 10): equipment covered by the product safety laws listed in Schedule 1 must meet the essential requirements that applied when it was first supplied or put into service.
Dangerous parts of machinery (regulation 11): you need measures that prevent access to dangerous parts, or stop their movement before any part of a person enters the danger zone.
Isolation and stability (regulations 19 and 20): you need a way to cut equipment off from its energy sources where appropriate, and to clamp or brace it where safety needs it.
Working on equipment safely (regulation 22): maintenance is done with the equipment shut down, or otherwise without putting the person doing it at risk.

Mobile work equipment

Employees may only ride on mobile equipment that is suitable for carrying people (regulation 25). Where someone riding on it is at risk if it rolls over, that risk must be minimised, for example by stabilising it or fitting a protective structure, and a fork-lift truck that carries an employee must be adapted or equipped against overturning (regulations 26 and 27).

Lifting

How the Regulations apply to lifting and machine moving

L113, HSE’s Approved Code of Practice for the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER), says PUWER applies to all work equipment, lifting equipment included, and anyone providing lifting equipment must meet PUWER as well. PUWER’s inspection duty in regulation 6 does not apply to equipment for lifting loads; that is thoroughly examined under LOLER instead. Winching a machine across the floor is not lifting under LOLER, but the winch is still work equipment under PUWER.

Machine skates are work equipment under PUWER. Before the move, check each set is rated for the load and in sound condition (regulations 4 and 5). Anyone using the skates must have had adequate training (regulation 9).
Lift trucks and telescopic handlers count as lifting equipment under L113, so LOLER applies to them, together with PUWER’s rules for mobile equipment.

Yellow overhead crane beams laid out on the floor of a large empty warehouse, with a worker in hi-vis standing nearby — Overhead crane units built up on a warehouse floor, ready to be lifted onto their tracks.

Definitions

Key definitions

Work equipment: any machinery, appliance, apparatus, tool or installation for use at work (regulation 2).
Use: any activity involving work equipment, including starting, stopping, setting, transporting, repairing, maintaining and cleaning it.
Inspection: a check by a competent person. It can be visual only, or go further and include tests.
Danger zone: any zone in or around machinery where a person is exposed to a risk to health or safety from contact with a dangerous part of machinery or a rotating stock-bar.

Enforcement

Enforcement and penalties

HSE or the local authority enforces PUWER, depending on the type of workplace. Breaking it is an offence under section 33 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and our guide to that Act covers notices and penalties. In Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service decides whether to prosecute.

In Northern Ireland, HSENI and the district councils enforce the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 (SR 1999/305). HSENI refers cases for prosecution to the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (HSENI’s enforcement guidelines).

Guidance

Codes of practice and guidance

The Approved Code of Practice is L22, Safe use of work equipment, fourth edition, amended in 2018. If you are prosecuted for a breach and did not follow the relevant advice in it, the court will treat the breach as proven unless you show you complied with the law in another equally effective way. HSENI has approved L22 for use in Northern Ireland. HSE’s free leaflet Providing and using work equipment safely (INDG291) gives a shorter summary.

Sources and further reading

Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 on legislation.gov.uk
HSE: PUWER overview
HSE L113, Safe use of lifting equipment (LOLER Approved Code of Practice)
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 on HSENI

Questions

Common questions

When does work equipment need inspecting under PUWER?

Once it is installed or reassembled at a new site, if its safety depends on that installation. After that, on a schedule set by how quickly it can wear to the point of danger, and again after any event that could affect its safety.