What is PUWER?
The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) requires users of work equipment to carry out risk assessment and provide work equipment that is suitable for its intended task and can be used without putting persons at risk. The PUWER Regulations cover any machinery, appliance, apparatus, tool or installation for use at work (whether exclusively or not) - effectively it is anything used at work.
Why is PUWER Important?
The 1998 PUWER regulations (updating the original 1992 PUWER Regulations) introduce requirements to ensure that, for reasons of health and safety, inspections are carried out:
- After installation and before being put into service for the first time; or after assembly at a new site or in a new location to ensure that it has been installed correctly and is safe to operate.
- After work equipment has been exposed to any conditions causing deterioration, which is liable to cause a dangerous situation.
At suitable intervals;
- Each time that exceptional circumstances have occurred that are liable to jeopardise the safety of work equipment. The results of these inspections have to be documented and kept until the next subsequent inspection is recorded. So in other words you should have a current inspection report at all times.
- The results of these inspections have to be documented and kept until the next subsequent inspection is recorded. So in other words you should have a current inspection report on file at any one time.
The PUWER regulations now make it an offense to allow work equipment to leave an employers undertaking, or if obtained from another undertaking, be used, unless it is accompanied by physical evidence that the last inspection has been carried out.
Why choose TÜV SÜD for PUWER ASSESSMENT?
TÜV SÜD provide comprehensive machinery assessments against the requirements of the Provision of Use and Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) as well as a variety of professional training courses
As part of our PUWER service we can give advice and assistance on one or all of the following:
- Risk Assessments - A legal requirement of the Management of Health & Safety Regulations and the PUWER, and will be carried out in accordance with EN ISO 12100.
- A Report addressing each of the 24 PUWER Regulations for each individual machine. This will show conformity or highlight non-conformities.
- If there are any areas of concern or recommendations of control methods suggested, EN Standards will be used for the correct control measure where those Standards exist. TÜV SÜD uses for its Risk Assessment, a Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA) System. This is a numerical method, which places the risk in a clearly definable hazard category. This provides the opportunity to extract data and statistics to prioritise the work to be carried out.
- The report will be produced on the TÜV SÜD Risk Management software system.
