PUWER and machinery guarding: the duty holder's guide

PUWER is the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. It puts duties on whoever owns, operates or controls work equipment at work. Regulation 11 of PUWER 1998 is the guarding duty: you must prevent contact with dangerous parts of machinery. It covers almost anything used at work, from a bench grinder to a pallet truck to a minor appliance. The duty follows control of the equipment, so it can land on you for a machine somebody else owns.

HSE publishes the overview and the Approved Code of Practice, and there is no point restating them. This page covers what you have to do as the duty holder.

Who is the duty holder under PUWER?

Regulation 3 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 applies the duties to employers, to the self-employed in respect of equipment they use, and to any person who has control of work equipment, of a person at work who uses it, or of the way it is used.

The last element turns on control of the equipment, which can reach further than ownership. A hired-in telehandler, a machine on a customer's site that your engineer operates, a contractor's abrasive wheel used in your yard: each can put the duty on you.

Two practical consequences:

• Hired equipment is yours to check on arrival. The hire company has duties too. Yours continue while the equipment is in your control.
• A machine you inherited with the building is still work equipment. Age is irrelevant to PUWER. Equipment supplied before the current supply regulations still has to be safe in use.

What counts as work equipment?

Regulation 2 of PUWER 1998 defines it broadly: any machinery, appliance, apparatus, tool or installation for use at work. "Use" is defined as broadly and includes starting, stopping, programming, setting, transporting, repairing, modifying, maintaining, servicing and cleaning.

Because cleaning and maintenance are inside the definition, a guard removed for a five-minute clean is still PUWER's business.

What does PUWER 1998 require for machinery guarding?

Regulation 11 of PUWER 1998 is the guarding duty, and it is written as a hierarchy. You take measures in this order, and you move down only where the one above is impracticable:

Order	Measure
1	Fixed enclosing guards
2	Other guards or protection devices, for example interlocks or light curtains
3	Jigs, holders, push sticks and similar protection appliances
4	Information, instruction, training and supervision

Training somebody to keep their hands clear is the fourth measure, not the first, and a risk assessment that arrives at training alone for a dangerous part will struggle if it is ever examined.

Guards themselves have requirements. They must be suitable, of good construction, adequately maintained, and they must avoid creating a new risk. A guard held on with a cable tie fails on maintenance. A guard somebody props open to reach the workpiece fails on suitability, because it was designed for a way of working that does not match the job.

Inspection, maintenance and the records to keep

These are three separate duties.

Maintenance is regulation 5 of PUWER 1998. Equipment must be maintained in efficient working order and in good repair, and where there is a maintenance log it must be kept up to date.

Inspection is regulation 6 of PUWER 1998. Where safety depends on the installation conditions, equipment must be inspected after installation and before first use, and thereafter at suitable intervals and after exceptional circumstances. The result must be recorded and kept until the next inspection.

Thorough examination sits outside PUWER. For lifting equipment it sits in the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, and it is a different exercise with different intervals and a different competent person.

The records under regulation 6 of PUWER 1998 are dated and specific to a machine, so they either exist or they do not.

Training, and the limits of it

Regulation 9 of PUWER 1998 requires adequate training for health and safety, covering the methods of use, the risks and the precautions. For a machine with a real injury potential that means training on that machine, not a general course. Where the equipment has its own recognised syllabus, such as abrasive wheels, use it.

The guarding hierarchy applies here too. If your controls rest mainly on people remembering, the assessment has stopped too early.

What a PUWER assessment should contain

A PUWER assessment that holds up has four things in it.

• An equipment inventory that matches the floor. Machines that were scrapped are off it, and the new line is on it.
• An assessment per machine, not per category. Two guillotines of different ages are two assessments.
• Findings with owners and dates, because an assessment that lists faults and names nobody is a record of a known problem.
• Evidence the guard survives production pressure. If the same interlock is defeated every August, the control is wrong. Our article on stamping out unguarded machinery risks covers how that happens.

Frequently asked questions

What does PUWER stand for? The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

What is the difference between PUWER and LOLER? PUWER covers all work equipment and how it is provided, used, maintained and guarded. LOLER covers lifting equipment specifically, and adds duties on strength and stability, positioning, marking, and thorough examination at set intervals. A forklift is subject to both: PUWER for its brakes, guards and controls, LOLER for the lifting parts.

Does PUWER apply to equipment I hire? Yes, while it is under your control. Regulation 3 of PUWER 1998 applies the duties to anyone controlling work equipment or the way it is used, so the hire company's duties sit alongside yours.

Does PUWER apply to old machinery? Yes. There is no age exemption. Equipment that predates current supply law still has to be safe in use and adequately guarded.

How often should work equipment be inspected under PUWER? Regulation 6 of PUWER 1998 sets no fixed interval. It requires inspection at suitable intervals and after exceptional circumstances, which means the interval is yours to justify from the risk, the manufacturer's guidance and the use the machine gets.

Who can carry out a PUWER assessment? Someone competent for that equipment. There is no register and no single qualification, so competence is demonstrated by knowledge of the machine type and the standards that apply to it.

Is a risk assessment the same as a PUWER assessment? No. A general risk assessment covers the activity. A PUWER assessment examines the equipment against the regulations, machine by machine.

Where to start

Walk the floor with your inventory and mark the machines whose guarding depends on somebody's behaviour. That list is your priority order.

Many of our consultants are former HSE and local authority regulators, so the read on a guarding question is the enforcement one. See how we work on manufacturing and engineering and metal stockholding sites, or across health and safety more broadly.