PUWER Regulations

Glossary

Lifting equipment, forklift trucks, woodworking machinery, drilling machines — work equipment like this keeps countless industries running. It also carries real safety risks, whether those stem from the design of the machine, a patchy maintenance history, or the way it gets used day to day. That is why work equipment has to be properly regulated under PUWER. This article covers what the abbreviation means, what the regulations actually require, and why they matter to both employees and employers.

Key Takeaways

• The Provisions and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) are a set of guidelines under the UK Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
• PUWER includes all types of workplace equipment and applies to all workplaces in the UK.
• By following PUWER, companies can ensure the health and safety of their employees at work.
• ToolSense, an asset management solution, can help businesses implement and follow PUWER Regulations.

What Are the PUWER Regulations?

PUWER stands for the Provisions and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. The regulations spell out the duty that employers and employees share: keeping work equipment safe to operate at all times. They apply to any UK business that uses work equipment on its premises. And the responsibility does not sit with the company alone — under PUWER, the people who actually operate the equipment carry it too. The regulations are not laws in their own right, but they hold a special status under the Health and Safety at Work Act. Follow the guidelines and you comply with the law while keeping workers safe.

What Do the PUWER Regulations Cover?

HSE PUWER Regulations set several requirements on the equipment used in a workplace:

• The equipment is suitable for its intended use
• The equipment is used only by a competent person who has received adequate training
• The equipment is safe for use
• The equipment is properly maintained and inspected
• The equipment is installed correctly
• Suitable health and safety measures are in place, such as personal protective equipment

What Equipment Is Covered by PUWER?

Work equipment is a broad term that covers any machinery or tool used on the job. The exact list depends on the industry, but equipment falling under PUWER in the UK can include woodworking machinery, drilling machines, toolbox tools, lifting equipment, power presses, and more. Using that equipment can mean any of the following:

• Installing
• Starting and stopping
• Maintaining
• Servicing
• Repairing
• Modifying
• Cleaning
• Transporting

How do I Know if this Regulation Applies to Me?

The PUWER Regulations apply to every business in the United Kingdom that uses work equipment. That covers a wide spread of workplaces:

• Factories, workshops, and plants
• Offices
• Shops
• Restaurants
• Hospitals
• Care homes
• Schools and colleges
• Hotels
• Cinemas and theatres
• Nightclubs
• Offshore installations
• Construction sites
• Common areas of shared buildings

And again, the duty is not limited to the companies that own the equipment. It reaches the employees who work with it as well.

Regulations and Legislations in Link to PUWER

As noted above, the 1998 PUWER legislation is not itself a law. It is a set of guidelines under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA). The HSWA covers every type of workplace and obliges employers to provide a safe and healthy environment for their staff. It brings together a range of codes, regulations, statutes, and guidelines for workplace safety.

First Steps in Implementing PUWER

Before you can implement PUWER successfully, you need a complete, current list of all your assets. This is a foundational part of your risk assessment: it ensures every piece of work equipment is accounted for in future health and safety inspections and gets a thorough examination.

Identify the Asset

Write a brief summary of every asset in your company. This gives you a clearer overview of what you own and what each item is used for.

Asset Owners

Note whether your business owns the asset outright, or whether it belongs to an employee or a leasing company. Either way, the detail belongs in your asset overview.

Date of Purchase

If the company owns the asset, record its date of purchase in the list.

Asset Location

Include each asset's location so you can pinpoint where everything is at any given moment.

Asset Operator

An asset should only be operated by employees who have received adequate training. Whether that is one person or a group, name the operator in your asset list.

The Manufacturer’s Warranty Information

Always capture the manufacturer's warranty information. It becomes critical the moment a failure or breakdown occurs.

Maintenance Information

Finally, include detailed maintenance information so the employees and technicians carrying out inspections and repairs can consult the list directly.

What Is a PUWER Inspection?

Under PUWER regulation 6, safety inspections have to be carried out on all types of work equipment to protect people's health and safety. That can mean a visual inspection or a thorough inspection of the asset. Either way, a qualified person must perform it, and the records must be kept for future inspections and reference.

Different Types of PUWER Inspections

A visual inspection happens more often and is generally less extensive than a thorough examination. The asset — or parts of it — is checked by eye to confirm it is in good condition and shows no obvious signs of deterioration.

A thorough examination goes further. It involves an element of testing and confirms whether the asset is fully functional and safe to use. These run less frequently than simple visual checks for a reason: their invasive nature can damage the asset over time if you repeat them without need. Run too often, the very measure meant to keep people safe can create unsafe conditions and adverse health effects instead.

Inspection Records

PUWER obliges a company to keep records of all inspections, maintenance procedures, and service histories. It is also worth recording training, risk assessments, and action plans, even where those are not strictly PUWER inspection requirements. Records for risk assessments are a legal requirement and must be kept until the next assessment. Records of tests and inspections must be kept at least until the next inspection, though holding them longer is often useful. Records of accidents or incidents are a legal requirement too and have to be kept for at least 3 years. Keeping records of safety training is not required, but it is sensible to retain them for as long as the certificate is valid.

How Frequently Should PUWER Inspections Be Carried Out?

PUWER regulation 6 sets out several circumstances that trigger an inspection. One should always be carried out when:

• A new piece of equipment was just installed, before its first use
• Serious damage is suspected or confirmed
• An accident has occurred
• Modifications were made to the machine
• The nature of its use has changed

Outside those triggers, PUWER inspections are required at suitable intervals. How long those intervals run depends on the type of equipment, the environment it operates in, and the individual risk assessment for the machine.

Why PUWER Training Is Mandatory

To cut health and safety risks, the Provisions and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 require employees to receive adequate training. That applies both to the people who use work equipment and to those overseeing and managing its use. At a minimum, these groups need general health and safety training plus suitable refresher units. Employees who carry out risk assessments — and those responsible for purchasing new work equipment — also need training so they can properly judge the health and safety risks tied to that equipment. The training can be delivered internally or outsourced, but either way the records must be kept for the next health and safety inspection.

Trained employees can take the right precautions while handling equipment or potentially hazardous materials, use safety devices correctly, and wear the appropriate personal protective equipment. Together with continued maintenance, those measures prevent workplace accidents and keep people safe.

Employers’ and Employees’ Duties Under PUWER

To protect the health and safety of everyone at work, PUWER assigns specific responsibilities to both employers and employees. To comply with the Provisions and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, an employer must follow these rules:

• The work equipment must be maintained in good condition
• The work equipment must be suitable for its intended use
• The work equipment must be used under the conditions and for the purpose of its intended use
• The work equipment must be inspected regularly by a competent person to ensure it remains safe to use
• Employees that use work equipment must be provided with adequate training and information regarding their safety
• The work equipment must be selected according to the working conditions
• Appropriate records must be kept in accordance with PUWER

PUWER does not spell out employees' duties in detail, but the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 set out the general obligations workers carry. Employees must cooperate with others and take reasonable care of themselves and anyone else affected by their actions. PUWER also notes that more specific responsibilities and legal duties fall on employees in management, engineering, or maintenance positions.

PUWER Risk Assessment

Both the Health and Safety at Work Act and PUWER require risk assessments. The point is to work out what could go wrong in the workplace and cause accidents or injuries, so that employers and employees can put the right safeguards in place. A solid assessment weighs people, equipment, premises, and procedures. Before you start, it helps to separate a hazard from a risk. A hazard is a source of potential harm to something or someone. A risk describes the likelihood — high, medium, or low — of that hazard actually causing harm, along with how serious the harm could be.

A risk assessment under work equipment regulations follows five steps:

1. Identify the workplace hazards.
2. Determine who or what could potentially be harmed and how.
3. Decide how likely and severe the harm would be, and determine appropriate precautions.
4. Note down the results of your assessment and save the records for future inspections.
5. Review your assessment at the next due date and update your outcomes.

What Is the Difference Between PUWER & LOLER?

The Provisions and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) set general guidelines for every type of equipment used in a workplace. The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) are specific to lifting equipment and the operations that use it. Both aim at workplace safety — the difference is scope: LOLER targets a specialised field, while PUWER covers the general workplace setting.

Some Safety Statistics

To put the importance of HASWA and PUWER in context, here are some UK figures from 2021 and 2022:

• 123 employees were killed in work-related accidents
• 565,000 workers were injured at work
• 1.8 million workers are suffering from work-related illnesses, such as work-related depression or anxiety, musculoskeletal disorders, or COVID-19 due to suspected exposure at work
• 36.8 working days were lost because of workplace injuries or work-related illnesses

Conclusion

PUWER and other work equipment regulations sit at the heart of workplace safety. They may not be laws, but companies across the United Kingdom still need to implement these guidelines properly to keep staff safe while they work with equipment. The challenge grows with the size of the fleet — when a business owns a large number of assets, rolling out new rules and keeping every machine properly maintained can feel overwhelming.

A modern asset management solution like ToolSense helps companies put PUWER guidelines into practice. Once you have completed the first steps of your risk assessment and pulled together a full list of your assets, ToolSense's Excel import brings all of that equipment straight into the platform. From there, ToolSense builds an individual lifecycle folder for each asset, holding everything your employees need to know about the machine — maintenance history, warranty information, instructions, and more. You can also create a custom PUWER checklist per asset, so maintenance technicians can tick off their progress without missing important details.

Because ToolSense is cloud-based, your team is no longer tied to a desk; they can reach key files and information from anywhere using a smartphone or tablet. Layer in modern IoT solutions, such as trackers, sensors, or QR codes and you can track runtimes, downtimes, and usage across every asset. Work orders run through the software too, which makes ToolSense a single home for asset tracking, maintenance, and compliance with the guidelines that matter.

FAQ

What does PUWER stand for?

PUWER stands for Provisions and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, which is part of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

What equipment is regulated by PUWER?

PUWER covers all types of equipment used in the workplace, whether that be a restaurant, a construction site, or a factory. It involves equipment provided by the company, owned by employees, or leased from a supplier.

What is the difference between PUWER and LOLER?

Both PUWER and LOLER are regulations that cover work equipment. Whereas LOLER specifies equipment for lifting operations, PUWER sets guidelines for work equipment in general.

What is Regulation 10 of PUWER?

In Regulation 10 of PUWER, it is stated that the employer has to ensure that a piece of work equipment conforms to any essential requirements at all times.

What is Regulation 5 of PUWER 1998?

Regulation 5 of PUWER states that the employer has to ensure a piece of work equipment is kept in an efficient state and working order and in good repair.