Regulations Provision and Use of Work Equipment

L 22 Safe use of work equipment. Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. Approved Code... 

Guards are physical barriers which prevent access to the danger zone. The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) require employers to take effective measures to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery. These regulations also apply to contact with a rotating bar which projects beyond the headstock of a lathe. 

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992- cover the provision of safe work equipment and its safe use. The term work equipment includes chemical reactor systems. The regulations include the requirement to prevent exposure of persons to specified hazards, including the unintended or premature explosion of the work equipment. 

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 in its requirement to determine safety of use so far as is reasonably practicable The Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 1992 in the essential safety requirement to eliminate or reduce risks as far as possible. 

The Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 1992 (SMSR) - which relates to the safety standards of new plant and machinery which has been purchased since 1 January 1993. One of its aims is to promote the freer movement of goods between Member States using safety standards as the criteria. 9 The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) -which is concerned with the use of plant and equipment that had been purchased for use at work before 1 January 1993, i.e. existing plant at that date. 

The current legislation that lays down requirements for the use of any equipment at work is the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER). These Regulations take over the greater part of the requirements contained in the now largely defunct Factories Act 1961 (FA) but extend to include every item of plant, equipment or tool used at work. However, the... 

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) require, amongst other things, that all machinery is suitable for its intended use and is properly maintained, and that employees, including those using, mounting and managing the operation of abrasive wheels, are fully informed and properly trained in their use. 

This level of duty Is more often used than the absolute duty as far as the provision of safeguards is concerned and, in many ways, has the same effect. A duty that the employer ensure, so far as is practicable, that any control measure is maintained in an efficient state means that if the duty is technically possible or feasible then it must be done irrespective of any difficulty, inconvenience or cost. Examples of this duty may be found in the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (Regulation 11(2) (a and b)) and the Control of Lead at Work Regulations where Regulation 14 states, Every employer who provides any control measure. .. shall ensure, so far as is practicable, that it is maintained in an efficient state. .. and in good repair . 

Table 1.8 shows the number of prosecutions by HSE over the same three-year period. HSE presents 80% of all prosecutions and the remainder are presented by Local Authority Environmental Health Officers. For construction, most of these prosecutions are for infringements of the various Construction Regulations and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations. 

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