PUWER: What the Work Equipment Regulations Require of Employers

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 — universally known as PUWER — is one of those pieces of health and safety legislation that applies far more broadly than its name suggests. It isn't limited to heavy industrial machinery: PUWER covers any machinery, appliance, apparatus, tool or installation used at work, a definition deliberately broad enough to capture everything from a handheld drill or a stepladder through to a forklift truck or an industrial press.

Because the scope is so wide, PUWER duties apply to almost every employer, not just those running factories or construction sites. This guide sets out what the regulations actually require in practice.

What counts as "work equipment"?

PUWER's definition of work equipment covers any machinery, appliance, apparatus, tool or installation for use at work, and the definition of "use" is equally broad — it covers starting, stopping, programming, setting, transporting, repairing, modifying, maintaining, servicing and cleaning. Equipment an employee brings in themselves for use at work is also covered, not just equipment the employer directly supplies. In practice, this means PUWER duties apply to office paper shredders and kitchen equipment just as much as to power tools and production line machinery — the level of risk differs enormously, but the underlying duty to ensure suitability and safe use doesn't disappear just because a piece of equipment looks low-risk.

The core employer duties

Suitability

Equipment must be suitable for the task it's actually being used for, and for the conditions in which it's being used. Equipment that's perfectly safe for one job can be entirely unsuitable for another — the suitability duty requires employers to think about the specific use, not just whether the equipment works in general.

Maintenance

Work equipment must be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order, and in good repair. Where maintenance has a maintenance log, that log must be kept up to date — a log that exists but hasn't been updated in months is a compliance gap, not just an administrative oversight.

Inspection

Equipment must be inspected after installation and before being put into use for the first time, where its safety depends on the conditions of installation. Equipment exposed to conditions that could cause deterioration must also be inspected at suitable intervals, so that faults are identified and dealt with before they cause harm.

Information and training

Employers must provide adequate health and safety information, including written instructions and warning markings, and must ensure everyone using the equipment has received adequate training covering the correct methods of use, the risks involved, and the precautions to take. Where equipment carries a specific risk, its use must be restricted to people specifically trained and authorised to use it — not left open to anyone who happens to be available.

Guarding dangerous parts

Dangerous parts of machinery must be guarded, with fixed guarding used as the preferred option wherever practical. Where routine access to a dangerous part is genuinely necessary, an interlocked guard — one that prevents the machine from operating unless the guard is closed — may be required instead of a simple fixed guard. Where neither is practical, other protective measures and safe systems of work must be put in place.

Controls

Work equipment needs clearly and appropriately identified controls for starting, stopping, and otherwise controlling it, and a means of isolating the equipment from all its sources of energy where isolation is needed for safe maintenance or emergency shutdown.

Why the training duty is where employers most often fall short

Of the duties above, the training and authorisation requirement is one of the most commonly under-implemented in practice. Buying suitable equipment and setting a maintenance schedule are visible, one-off decisions that tend to get made properly. Making sure every current and new employee who might use a piece of equipment has actually received adequate training — and that this is refreshed if the equipment or the way it's used changes — is an ongoing management task that's much easier to let slip, particularly in workplaces with high staff turnover or informal equipment-sharing between roles.

PUWER duties sit alongside other physical risk categories that many employers already manage, including manual handling and COSHH-controlled hazardous substances — reviewing work equipment as part of the same wider risk assessment cycle, rather than as an isolated compliance task, tends to catch gaps that a standalone equipment audit misses.

Frequently asked questions

Does PUWER only apply to industrial machinery?

No. PUWER's definition of work equipment is broad and covers any machinery, appliance, apparatus, tool or installation used at work, including equipment in offices and everyday hand tools, not just heavy industrial machinery.

What must employers do about equipment employees bring in themselves?

PUWER duties extend to equipment an employee brings in for their own use at work, not only equipment supplied directly by the employer — the same suitability and safety duties apply.

What's the difference between fixed and interlocked guarding?

Fixed guarding is the preferred default and physically blocks access to a dangerous part. Interlocked guarding — which prevents the machine operating unless the guard is closed — is used where routine access to the dangerous part is genuinely necessary.

PUWER's breadth is exactly what makes it easy to underestimate: because it applies to almost everything used at work, it's tempting to assume the highest-risk machinery is covered while lower-profile equipment slips through the gaps. Learnsignal's CPD courses cover UK workplace health and safety compliance across the full range of equipment and physical hazard categories.