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PUWER stands for the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. In broad terms, the regulations require risks to people's health and safety from equipment that they use at work to be prevented or controlled. The primary purpose of these regulations is to ensure that work equipment should not result in health and safety risks, regardless of its age, condition or origin.
These regulations place duties primarily on employers. They also place duties on others, including people with control of:
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duties therefore extend to the self employed and those who hire out work equipment. This includes owners, operators and contractors in respect of their duties covering both their employees and, as people having control of work equipment, other workers who may be affected.
What is covered by "work equipment"?
Work equipment is broadly defined and covers a wide range of equipment. It covers vehicles used for work, but not private cars.
The regulations also cover the situation where employees use their own tools.
Regulation 4 places a duty on every employer to ensure that work equipment is suitable for the purpose for which it is used or provided. In selecting the work equipment, the employer must also take account of the environment in which the equipment is to be used.
Employers must also ensure that work equipment is used only under suitable conditions. "Suitable" means suitable in any respect which it is reasonably foreseeable that it will affect the health and safety of any person.
Regulation 5 requires employers to ensure that work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and good repair. The term "efficient" relates to how the condition of the equipment might affect health and safety and not productivity.
Regulation 6 requires that work equipment exposed to conditions that may cause deterioration which is liable to result in dangerous situations is inspected: at suitable intervals; and each time that exceptional circumstances occur which are liable to jeopardise the safety of work equipment.
Employers have to ensure that persons who determine the nature of the inspections required and who carry out inspections are competent to do so.
The purpose of the inspections is to ensure that any deterioration can be detected and fixed in good time. This requirement builds on and acts as an audit of the operator/user checks, which should be carried out as part of good practice and maintenance procedures. The general principle is that inspection is necessary when equipment or parts will deteriorate which may lead to danger, and this deterioration will not be picked up through operator checks and normal servicing regimes. The requirement should only be applied where there is significant risk and not to everyday risks.
There are also duties to inspect the installation of work equipment.
A fundamental requirement under Regulation 6 is that every employer must ensure that the result of an inspection is recorded and kept until the next inspection is recorded.
Regulation 7 requires employers to ensure that where the use of work equipment is likely to involve a specific risk, the use, repair, modifications, maintenance or servicing of such equipment is restricted to those persons who have been specifically designated to perform operations of that description. It is further required that employers must provide adequate training to perform such tasks safely.
The hazards associated with the use, maintenance, repair, etc of the work equipment need to be identified when a suitable and sufficient risk assessment is carried out - the cornerstone of health and safety regimes nowadays.
Regulation 8 requires that managers, supervisors and users of work equipment must be provided with adequate health and safety information and, where appropriate, written instructions relating to work equipment.
Regulation 9 requires that managers, supervisors and all users of work equipment must receive adequate health and safety training in using the equipment, any risks which may arise from such use, and the precautions to be taken.
In addition to these general requirements which apply to all work equipment, there are specific duties regarding mobile work equipment including vehicles. Employers should ensure that where mobile work equipment is used for carrying people, it is suitable and safe for this purpose. Measures should also be taken to reduce the risks, for example, from the vehicle rolling over to the safety of the people being carried, the operator and anyone else.
Vehicles designed primarily for use on public roads will normally comply with PUWER if they already adhere to the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986. More specific road traffic legislation will take precedence when these vehicles are used on public roads.
Forklift trucks are the most widely used item of mobile mechanical handling equipment and are involved in many incidents.
In addition to the requirements in relation to mobile work equipment, which apply to some forklift trucks, Regulation 27 requires duty holders to ensure that forklift trucks fitted with vertical masts, which carry workers, are adapted to reduce, to as low as is reasonably practicable, the risk to safety from overturning.
There is no specific requirement in PUWER to carry out a risk assessment. However, the requirement under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 to carry out a risk assessment must still be done to meet the requirements of PUWER.
Failure to comply with the provisions of PUWER is a criminal offence. The maximum penalty in the magistrates' court is £5,000. Conviction in the crown court, in respect of more serious offences, carries an unlimited fine.
For quick guidance on the regulations go to the HSE's simple guide to PUWER.
For more detailed information on the safe use of work equipment, please refer to the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 Approved Code of Practice and Guidance L22, available from HSE Books. The HSE also has a list of relevant publications on PUWER and related legislation.
Poppy Williams is a solicitor for DLA Piper UK LLP.
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