Health & Safety 2 min read Reviewed Sept 2026

PUWER

Also known as: Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998

PUWER requires work equipment to be suitable, maintained, inspected and used only by people who have been trained, with adequate guarding and controls.

See how Sync handles PUWER Construction health and safety legislation
The short answer
  • The rules covering any equipment used at work, from a drill to an excavator.
  • It must be suitable, maintained, inspected and used by trained people.
  • It applies to equipment you own, hire or an employee brings in.

PUWER stands for the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. It covers essentially anything used at work: hand tools, power tools, ladders, machinery, plant, vehicles and access equipment.

Its scope is broader than people assume. It applies whether the equipment is owned, hired, leased or brought in by an employee, and the duty sits with the employer whose people use it. Hiring a machine does not move the responsibility to the hire company.

What it requires

Suitable for the job. Right equipment, right task, right conditions. A tool that works fine in a workshop may be unsuitable in a wet or confined location.

Maintained in good repair. With a maintenance log where the equipment has one, and taken out of use when it is defective.

Inspected where safety depends on installation conditions or where deterioration is foreseeable. Unlike LOLER, PUWER does not set fixed intervals. The frequency comes from the risk assessment, the manufacturer’s guidance and how hard the equipment is worked.

Used only by trained people, with additional training for anything higher risk, and with supervision where competence is still developing.

Protected against specific hazards, which is where guarding, emergency stops, isolation, stability and adequate lighting come in.

The everyday failures

Missing or defeated guards is the classic, usually because the guard slowed the job down. Removing a guard moves the control from an engineering measure to a behavioural one, which is a large step down the hierarchy of control.

Abrasive wheels are a recurring one. They need the right wheel for the machine, correct mounting by a trained person, and the guard in place. Disc cutters used freehand without the guard cause severe injuries every year.

The third is training that exists in the abstract. Someone was shown the machine once, a while ago, by a colleague, and there is no record. When an injury happens, the absence of that record is what turns a defensible position into an indefensible one.

Keeping operator training against the person, inspection records against the equipment, and both visible before they expire is the practical answer. Where a task needs a specific method as well, the RAMS and the toolbox talk carry it to the crew. That combination is what Sync’s credential management supports.

Common questions

Does PUWER apply to hired equipment?

Yes. The duty sits with the employer whose people use the equipment, regardless of who owns it. Taking a machine on hire does not transfer the duty to the hire company. You still have to satisfy yourself it is suitable for the task, in good condition, and used by someone trained on it.

What about an employee's own tools?

Still covered. If equipment is used at work, PUWER applies, even where the worker supplied it themselves. That includes the battery tools people bring from home, which is a routine gap on smaller sites.

How often does equipment need inspecting?

PUWER does not set fixed intervals in the way LOLER does. Inspection is required where safety depends on installation conditions or where the equipment is exposed to conditions causing deterioration. The frequency comes from your own risk assessment, the manufacturer's guidance and how hard the equipment is worked.

Does PUWER cover lifting equipment?

Yes, and LOLER then adds further duties on top for the lifting itself. A telehandler needs to meet PUWER as work equipment and LOLER for its lifting operations. The two are complementary rather than alternatives.

More Health & Safety terms

All 14 in this category
Confined space A confined space is a largely enclosed place where there is a foreseeable risk of serious injury from hazardous conditions such as lack of oxygen or gas. COSHH COSHH is the UK law requiring employers to assess and control exposure to hazardous substances such as dust, fumes and chemicals. CSCS card A CSCS card evidences that the holder has the training and qualifications for the job they do on site, and has passed the health and safety test. Hierarchy of control The hierarchy of control is the order in which risk controls should be considered, from eliminating the hazard down to relying on PPE. Hot works Hot works are any tasks generating heat, sparks or flame, such as welding, cutting, grinding or soldering, that could start a fire. LOLER LOLER covers lifting equipment and lifting operations, requiring them to be strong enough, properly planned, and thoroughly examined at set intervals.

Keep the paperwork where the work is

Sync keeps your health and safety records against the projects they belong to, with review dates tracked, so the current version is there when someone asks for it.

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