Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008

Duty holders

Who has duties under the Regulations

The duties sit with the “responsible person”, defined in regulation 2 as the manufacturer or the manufacturer’s authorised representative.

• The manufacturer designs or builds the machine to sell under its own name, or for its own use in Great Britain.
• The authorised representative is a person established in the United Kingdom with a written mandate to act for the manufacturer.

HSE‘s guidance on machinery says that anyone who places an unmarked machine on the market, such as an importer, must meet the requirements.

Requirements

What the Regulations require

Under regulation 7, no responsible person may place machinery on the market or put it into service unless it is safe. Before doing so, it must:

• meet the essential health and safety requirements in Schedule 2
• compile a technical file
• provide the information needed, such as instructions
• follow the conformity assessment procedure, which for some higher-risk machines involves an approved body
• draw up a declaration of conformity
• affix the UKCA marking

A CE-marked machine that meets the EU procedures is treated as meeting these duties in Great Britain (regulation 12A), and SI 2024/696 made that recognition indefinite. Partly completed machinery comes with assembly instructions and a declaration of incorporation instead (regulation 8).

Designated standards

In Great Britain, a machine built to a designated standard is presumed to meet the requirements that standard covers (regulation 7(4)). The government publishes the list of designated machinery standards, which includes product standards such as BS EN 13000 for mobile cranes.

Lifting

How the Regulations apply to lifting equipment

Lifting machinery has its own section of essential requirements in Schedule 2, which reproduces Annex I of the Machinery Directive. It sets the overloads a crane or hoist must take in its static and dynamic tests, and safety margins for lifting gear: as a general rule, a wire rope must take five times its rated load before it breaks, and a textile sling seven times. Lifting accessories count as machinery in their own right, and so do lifting chains and webbing (regulation 4).

Once a machine is in use, regulation 10 of PUWER makes the employer keep it to the supply requirements that applied when it was first supplied, for equipment first provided after 31 December 1992. Northern Ireland’s version of PUWER uses 21 February 1993.

HSE explains that a business becomes the manufacturer when it assembles a machine on site from parts that were not supplied as a complete product, or makes a very substantial modification, such as one bringing in significant new hazards or new control methods.

Definitions

Key definitions

• Machinery: an assembly of linked parts, at least one of which moves, joined for a specific use and powered by something other than direct human or animal effort, plus the other products listed in regulation 4.
• Placing on the market: making machinery available in Great Britain for the first time, for distribution or use (regulation 3).
• Putting into service: the first time machinery is used for its intended purpose in Great Britain.
• Partly completed machinery: an assembly that cannot do a specific job on its own and is meant to be built into other machinery (regulation 6).

Enforcement

Enforcement and penalties

HSE enforces the Regulations for machinery used at work, and trading standards for other machinery, with the Office for Product Safety and Standards acting for the Secretary of State (Schedule 5). Inspectors can serve improvement and prohibition notices under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. In Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service decides on prosecutions.

Breaching the Regulations is an offence under regulation 22. The most serious breaches carry a fine and up to 2 years in prison, while paperwork and marking failures are tried in the magistrates’ court, with a fine up to level 5. Regulation 23 gives a defence of having taken all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence. In Northern Ireland, HSENI enforces for machinery used at work and the district councils for other machinery.

Guidance

Guidance and sources

The Office for Product Safety and Standards publishes guidance on the Regulations, with separate versions for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. HSE’s leaflet Buying new machinery (INDG271) covers the checks a buyer makes.

Sources and further reading

• Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 on legislation.gov.uk
• SI 2026/867, the changes from 20 January 2027
• Designated standards: machinery
• PUWER regulation 10: conformity with Community requirements

Questions

Common questions

Related

Related services and guides

For relocating or installing production machinery, see our machine movement service, and for lifts, our crane hire and contract lifting service. Call 0800 008 6096 or email office@synergy-lifting.co.uk.