Saeed Azarshab

Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998

Regulations · England-focused reference · Editorial source review:

PUWER governs the suitability and safe use of work equipment, from hand tools to machinery. It requires appropriate selection, maintenance, protective measures and user competence. Hiring equipment or seeing a conformity mark does not remove the need to assess its condition and intended site use.

Independent explanation, not an official approval or project-specific legal/design advice.

When to use this guide

  • Selecting, hiring, purchasing or lending equipment for construction work.
  • Moving machinery to a new environment or changing how it is used.
  • Finding damaged guards, unreliable controls or overdue maintenance.

What to check

Use these prompts with the responsible project team. Ticking a box does not certify compliance.

You can tick these prompts while reviewing the project.

Download checklist (TXT)

Keep these records

  • Equipment register with identification, intended use and maintenance responsibility.
  • Inspection, service and defect-repair records appropriate to the equipment.
  • Operator instruction, competence and authorisation records.

Common mistakes

  • Assuming hired equipment arrives suitable for every site condition and operator.
  • Removing a guard to speed up work or accepting a conformity mark instead of a safe-use assessment.

When to get specialist help

Remove unsafe equipment from use and seek competent maintenance or machinery-safety advice when protective measures, suitability or safe isolation are uncertain.

Scope and edition

Sources reviewed 17 October 2026. Great Britain application includes England. PUWER can apply alongside LOLER and other equipment-specific rules; this entry is not a machinery design or maintenance instruction.

Use the official source to check the current text, amendments not yet incorporated, commencement and project-specific transition. A published future edition is not automatically the rule applying to your work.

Official sources

  • PUWER 1998 — latest available legislationGreat Britain work-equipment duties and specific provisions.https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/2306/contents
  • HSE: PUWER guidanceOfficial overview and routes to inspection, maintenance and competence guidance.https://www.hse.gov.uk/work-equipment-machinery/puwer.htm

Source links lead to external official websites. We provide original explanatory notes and do not reproduce paid standards.

About this library

Independent, plain-English reference notes by Saeed Azarshab. The library covers the 42 subjects listed here; it is not every law affecting construction, an official government publication or a project-specific compliance decision. Building Regulations, Approved Documents, workplace safety duties and planning permissions have different roles.

Editorial source review: . Check the current official text, commencement dates, outstanding amendments and transitional arrangements before relying on a requirement. Publication date is not necessarily the date a rule applies. A relevant competent professional or authority must resolve project-specific questions.

Sources and lawful reuse

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated. These are original practical summaries, with links to the official material. No government endorsement is implied. We do not host copies of proprietary BS, ISO or Eurocode standards, third-party diagrams or publisher layouts. Check each source’s rights notice before reuse.

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