Safe equipment
Contents
Your legal responsibility
You must ensure equipment used by your employees at work is safe for use. This includes equipment that you have control over but don't own.
Which laws apply?
- The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
- The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999
(These are known as PUWER.)
Equipment covered by the regulations
Generally, PUWER covers any equipment at work that an employee may use, repair, modify, maintain, clean or transport. These can include hammers, knives, ladders, drilling machines, power presses, circular saws, photocopiers, lifting equipment (including lifts), dumper trucks, motor vehicles, and any equipment that belongs to the employees that they're allowed to bring.
What you need to do
You must ensure that any equipment you provide for use at work is appropriate for its intended purpose, safe to use, installed correctly and kept in good condition through regular maintenance and inspections.
It must only be used by those who have received proper information, instruction, and training.
The equipment must include suitable health and safety features, such as guards, emergency stop buttons, isolation systems, clear markings, and warning devices.
Mobile work equipment
PUWER contains specific responsibilities for mobile work equipment such as forklift trucks and dumper trucks. If mobile work equipment is used for carrying people, you must make sure it's suitable for this purpose. You must reduce the risks involved to protect the people being carried, the operator and anyone else.
Power presses
You should examine power presses, and their associated guards or protection devices, regularly. You should also inspect them daily when used to ensure that it's safe. Only a competent person should examine them. That competent person should keep records of inspections.
More information
The Health and Safety Executive has guidance available to help employers understand their obligations under PUWER.
What is the law guide
The Desktop Lawyer law guide aims to present the law to you in a comprehensive yet jargon-free and easy-to-read format. Our law guide is constantly kept up to date with changes in business and family law by our team of in house solicitors, and includes information across all the legal jurisdictions in the UK.
Our law guide is free to use. Where we provide documents related to this area of law, or where they may help you with any legal issue in this area, they will be listed to the right of this message.