Work equipment instructions

Information and instruction on use of the work equipment - including instruction sheets, manuals or warning labels from manufacturers or suppliers. Adequate training for the purposes of health and safety in the use of specific work equipment. 

Employers and the self-employed must ensure that work equipment is suitable maintained inspected if necessary provided with adequate information and instruction and only used by people who have received sufficient training. 

Work equipment needs to be properly maintained so that it continues to operate safely and in the way it was designed to perform. The amount of maintenance will be stipulated in the manufacturers instructions and will depend on the amount of use, the working environment and the type of equipment. High speed, high hazard machines, which are heavily used in an adverse environment like salt water, may require very frequent maintenance, whereas a simple hand tool, like a shovel, may require very little. 

Manufacturers specifications and instructions in respect of relevant work equipment establishing its suitability to comply with Regulation 5... 

Any persons who supervise the use of work equipment should also receive information, instruction and training. The training of young persons is especially important with the need for special risk assessments under the Management Regulations. 

Employers using work equipment need to check that any new equipment has been made to the requirements of the relevant Directive, has a CE marking, suitable instructions and a Certificate of Conformity. 

Work equipment must be used in accordance with training and instructions. 

Suitable information and instruction must be given to those who use the work equipment but the obligation has been extended to cover foreseeable abnormal use of the equipment (reg. 8). Any such information and instruction must be comprehensible to the recipients making allowance for different assimilation abilities and also those whose first language is not English. Similarly, operators must be trained (reg. 9) to use the equipment safely and any supervision provided must be familiar with and competent in its safe use. 

In order to reduce the risks associated with work equipment, all persons, including operatives, supervisors, service engineers and cleaners, must be provided with adequate information and instruction covering the safe use of the work equipment. 

From the user - it is sometimes the case that larger companies will have a training department that will ensure that professional and competent trainers provide initial and routine information, instruction and training to all those who use work equipment... 

Users and supervisors of work equipment must have available to them adequate health and safety information and, where appropriate, specific written instructions pertaining to the use of the equipment (Regulation 8). User and supervisor training, including work methods, risks and precautions, are covered in Regulation 9. Some specific training which is referred to in the Approved Code of Practice includes young persons, and operators of self-propelled work equipment and chainsaws. 

Exposure of a person using work equipment to specified hazards must be prevented by the employer as far as is reasonably practicable, or adequately controlled where it is not (Regulation 12). The protection is to be by provision of personal protective equipment or of information, instruction, training and supervision so far as is reasonably practicable, and is to include measures to minimise the effects of the hazard as well as to reduce the risk. The specified hazards are ... 

If operating procedures need to be developed from scratch, this could account for a considerable portion of the pre-startup work. If current, valid standard operating procedures exist, and the toll is only introducing a new set of batch instructions, the task becomes simpler. However, it is recommended that the new batch instructions are reviewed simultaneously with the existing startup, shutdown, normal and emergency operating procedures for the equipment to help ensure potential process deviations are examined and addressed. 

These have been partly covered in Section 19.7.2. All gas-fired equipment should be designed to ignite, operate and shut down in a safe manner. Instructions to this effect should be clearly displayed. This is a requirement of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. In addition, such plant should comply with all relevant standards. 

The guidance notes can be produced either as a composite handbook containing task instmctions for all types of plant and equipment for each trade group, or as specific task/advice notes for each asset of the service requirements of the plant equipment. When used, the handbook method provides the necessary work instructions for all similar types of plant and equipment throughout the location. This method of operation reduces the number of task/advice notes issued and therefore the system s workload, as well as the demands placed on the administration of the system. Either method eliminates the requirement of entering work instmctions, etc. on the work docket/advice notes before they are issued. 

Many accidents occur because the operator or maintenance person does not understand the hazards involved or has not been instructed on the precautions to be taken. The policy document should identify the main hazards within the company with advice on which rules must be obeyed while carrying out a hazardous task. General rules should also be included to cover items such as untidy work areas, replacement of guards, the use of protective cloth-ing/equipment where appropriate, safe working practices in handling goods and materials, etc. It is essential that on the introduction of new products, processes, operations or plant and equipment that any hazards associated with these are brought to the attention of all concerned. 

A whole range of precautions may be based on the principles summarized earlier. However, general precautions, applicable to the majority of work situations, are listed in Table 5.13, many of which are included in legal requirements. For example, in the UK The Fire Precautions Act 1971 specifies requirements for fire resistance of surfaces and building structure, assessment of risk, means of escape, means for giving warning, firefighting equipment, and fire instruction and drills. 

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