What is PUWER? The work equipment regulations explained for UK kitchens

PUWER is the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, the law that makes employers in Great Britain ensure every piece of equipment used at work is suitable, maintained, inspected where needed, guarded, and used only by people who have been trained and told how to use it. In a kitchen that covers the meat slicer and the dough mixer, and also the knives, the dishwasher and the step ladder. Northern Ireland has its own 1999 version with the same regulation numbers.

PUWER at a glance

• "Work equipment" means almost anything used at work: HSE's ACOP lists "knives" and "meat cleavers" alongside drills and forklifts.
• The core duties are in regulations 4 to 9: suitable equipment, maintenance, inspection where safety depends on it, restricted use for risky kit, information and training.
• Regulation 11 sets a guarding order for dangerous machine parts: fixed guards first, then other guards, then push-sticks and jigs, then training.
• PUWER sets no minimum age for using a slicer or mixer. Under-18s are covered by the young-worker risk assessment rules instead.
• Breaking PUWER is a criminal offence. Two food businesses were fined £100,000 and £333,333 in September 2026 for unguarded machinery.

What does PUWER stand for, and what counts as work equipment?

PUWER stands for the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations. Regulation 2 defines work equipment as "any machinery, appliance, apparatus, tool or installation for use at work (whether exclusively or not)". The word "use" is just as wide: "any activity involving work equipment", including "starting, stopping, programming, setting, transporting, repairing, modifying, maintaining, servicing and cleaning".

That last word matters in a kitchen more than you'd think. Cleaning the slicer is use of the slicer, so every PUWER duty applies while the blade is being wiped.

HSE's Approved Code of Practice, L22 Safe use of work equipment (fourth edition 2014, amended 2018), lists the range. It starts with "'toolbox tools' such as hammers, knives, handsaws, meat cleavers etc" and runs through single machines, lifting equipment and ladders to whole production lines. HSE's brief guide, INDG291 Providing and using work equipment safely, adds that "if you allow employees to provide their own equipment then it will also be covered by PUWER". A chef's own knife roll counts.

Who PUWER applies to

Regulation 3 puts the duties on:

• every employer, for equipment "provided for use or used by an employee of his at work";
• a "relevant self-employed person", for equipment they use at work;
• anyone who "has control to any extent" of work equipment, of people using it, or of the way it's used, "to the extent of his control". A contractor running a machine on your site can pick up duties this way.

It doesn't apply to someone selling or hiring out equipment under a sale or hire-purchase agreement. Their duties sit in product-supply law.

Where did PUWER come from?

The first Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (SI 1992/2932) came into force on 1 January 1993. Their guarding and control rules applied to older equipment from 1 January 1997. The current Regulations, SI 1998/2306, came into force on 5 December 1998 under regulation 1. HSE's PUWER overview says the main change in 1998 "was in the coverage of mobile work equipment, woodworking equipment and power presses". Regulation 10 was rewritten from 17 September 2002 by the Health and Safety (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2002.

Which PUWER law applies in each UK nation?

The NI Regulations use the same numbering, from regulation 4 (suitability) to regulation 24 (warnings).

The PUWER regulations, one line each

PUWER has 39 regulations. Parts III and IV (regulations 25 to 35) cover mobile equipment such as forklifts and power presses for metal, which few food businesses have. The table covers the general duties in Part II that apply to every kitchen, with the equipment where each one bites.

The main PUWER duties, step by step

Suitability (regulation 4)

Regulation 4 says equipment must be "so constructed or adapted as to be suitable for the purpose for which it is used or provided". When choosing it you have to consider "the working conditions and to the risks to the health and safety of persons" where it'll be used. And it can only be used "for operations for which, and under conditions for which, it is suitable". Suitable means suitable "in any respect which it is reasonably foreseeable will affect the health or safety of any person".

INDG291 turns that into a buying check: make sure the machine is "complete, with all safeguards fitted, and free from defects", that every static machine "has been installed properly and is stable", and "Choose the right machine for the job."

Maintenance (regulation 5)

Regulation 5 requires equipment to be "maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair". Where a machine has a maintenance log, the log must be kept up to date. PUWER doesn't require a log where there isn't one.

HSE's Catering Information Sheet No 12, Maintenance priorities in catering, is blunt about where catering goes wrong: "Most machinery accidents are caused by incorrect cleaning and reassembly of slicing machines and poor maintenance of guards." Its fix is to "Replace guards following cleaning and maintenance. Check guards before use." A daily equipment pre-use check is the simplest way to show you do the second part.

Inspection (regulation 6)

Regulation 6 has two triggers. Where safety "depends on the installation conditions", equipment must be inspected after installation and before first use, and after it's assembled at a new site. Where equipment is "exposed to conditions causing deterioration which is liable to result in dangerous situations", it must be inspected "at suitable intervals" and after "exceptional circumstances", such as damage or a long period out of use.

Regulation 2 defines inspection as "such visual or more rigorous inspection by a competent person as is appropriate", including testing where that's needed. The results must be "recorded and kept until the next inspection under this regulation is recorded". Equipment leaving your business, or brought in from someone else's, must come with "physical evidence" of the last inspection, so ask for it when you hire a machine.

Lifting equipment, including passenger and goods lifts and dumbwaiters, is taken out of regulation 6 and examined under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 instead.

Specific risks (regulation 7)

Where using equipment "is likely to involve a specific risk to health or safety", regulation 7 restricts its use "to those persons given the task of using it". Repairs, modifications, maintenance and servicing are restricted to people "specifically designated" for that work, who must have "adequate training" for it. In practice: name who may use the slicer, and name who may take it apart and sharpen it.

Information and instructions (regulation 8)

Regulation 8 says users, and the employees who supervise them, must have "adequate health and safety information and, where appropriate, written instructions". They must cover how and where the equipment may be used, "foreseeable abnormal situations and the action to be taken", and "any conclusions to be drawn from experience in using the work equipment". It all has to be "readily comprehensible to those concerned", so a manual in a language your porter doesn't read doesn't count.

Training (regulation 9)

Regulation 9 requires "adequate training for purposes of health and safety, including training in the methods which may be adopted when using the work equipment, any risks which such use may entail and precautions to be taken". The same duty covers anyone who "supervises or manages the use" of the equipment, so the head chef needs it too, not just the new starter.

HSE's training and competence page lists the routes it accepts, from "simple in-house instruction and demonstration, with supervision" to externally provided training "usually with a competence assessment". PUWER doesn't require a certificate. A trial shift counts as work too: one kitchen assistant on r/KitchenConfidential described being shown to push salami into a slicer by hand during theirs, which is the kind of gap regulations 9 and 11 are there to close. Our in-house work equipment training guide gives a session agenda.

Guarding dangerous parts of machinery (regulation 11)

Regulation 11 is the one most prosecutions cite. Employers must take effective measures "to prevent access to any dangerous part of machinery" or "to stop the movement of any dangerous part of machinery... before any part of a person enters a danger zone". The measures come in a fixed order, and you only move down a step "where or to the extent that it is not" practicable to use the one above:

1. fixed guards "enclosing every dangerous part";
2. other guards or protection devices, such as interlocked lids;
3. "jigs, holders, push-sticks or similar protection appliances";
4. with each of these, "such information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary".

Guards must be suitable, strong, maintained, "not be easily bypassed or disabled", be far enough from the danger zone, and not "unduly restrict the view of the operating cycle" where the operator needs to see the work. L22 names food slicers as an example of a machine where the operator needs a view, and says that if the process can't be seen "there is a temptation for the operator to remove or disable guards or interlocks".

Isolation, controls and stability (regulations 14 to 20)

Controls must be "clearly visible and identifiable", emergency stops must be "readily accessible" where they're needed, and regulation 19 requires "suitable means to isolate it from all its sources of energy" that are "clearly identifiable and readily accessible". Reconnecting the power mustn't put anyone at risk. Unplugging the slicer before you clean it is regulation 19 in action. Regulation 14 adds that starting or re-starting must need "a deliberate action" on a control, so a machine shouldn't spring back to life when a door shuts or the power returns.

Which PUWER duties apply to your kit? A decision table

Answer each question for each item. A yes sends you to the duty above.

Kitchen equipment under PUWER

HSE's food processing machinery page lists the British Standards for safe design. Under "Catering machinery" it names "Slicing machines - BSEN 1974:1998", "Vegetable cutting machines - BSEN 1678:1998" and "Food processors and blenders - BSEN 12852:2001". Under bakery machinery it lists "Dough mixers - BSEN 453:2000" and "Planetary mixers - BSEN 454:2000". If you're buying second-hand, ask which standard the machine was built to.

Gas appliances also have their own regime, covered in our gas safety check guide, and electrical safety sits under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (see our electrical risk assessment). PUWER still applies to the same appliance as work equipment, which is why the kebab-shop case below has a PUWER charge alongside the gas ones.

PUWER vs LOLER: dumbwaiters, goods lifts and cellar hoists

Lifting equipment is still work equipment, so PUWER applies to it. The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER), in force since 5 December 1998, add a second layer on top. HSE's LOLER overview puts it this way: "In most cases, lifting equipment is also work equipment so the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) will also apply (including inspection and maintenance)." Northern Ireland has its own Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999.

HSE's leaflet INDG422 lists "Workplace passenger and goods lifts" and "Dumb waiters" as equipment covered by LOLER. A beer cellar hoist is lifting equipment too: the operation manual for one maker's cellar lifts (Penny Hydraulics, manufacturer) says "Your lift is subject to the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER)".

The intervals come from HSE's thorough examination page and its lift owners' leaflet INDG339, which says a lift needs examining "at least every six months if the lift is used at any time to carry people, every 12 months if it only carries loads". So if anyone ever rides the dumbwaiter or the goods lift, it's on the six-month cycle. The servicing contract doesn't count: HSE's FAQs say the competent person "should not be the same person who services / maintains the equipment".

What suppliers must do: the Supply of Machinery Regulations 2008 and UKCA

New machinery has to be safe before it reaches you. Under regulation 7 of the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008, the "responsible person" (usually the manufacturer or importer) must not place machinery on the market "unless it is safe". Before supplying it they must meet the essential health and safety requirements, compile a technical file, give "the information necessary to operate it safely, such as instructions", draw up a declaration of conformity and fix the marking.

For Great Britain, GOV.UK's product marking table says legislation "came into force on 1 October 2024 to continue recognition of the CE marking", so new machinery can carry UKCA or CE. In Northern Ireland the same table lists CE, or UKNI and CE.

None of this moves your duty. PUWER regulation 10 makes the employer ensure equipment "conforms at all times with any essential requirements" that applied when it was first supplied. Keep the declaration of conformity with the manual. You'll also need it under LOLER regulation 9 to skip the first examination of new lifting equipment, where the declaration was made "not more than 12 months before" it goes into service.

Can under-18s use a meat slicer or mixer?

PUWER doesn't set an age. L22 says so directly: "PUWER does not contain any specific requirements relating to the age of people using work equipment, since all employees should be competent to use work equipment with due regard to health and safety, regardless of their age."

The age rules sit in regulation 19 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. In Great Britain it says an employer must protect young persons from risks resulting from "their lack of experience, or absence of awareness of existing or potential risks or the fact that young persons have not yet fully matured", and mustn't employ them for work involving risks they can't "recognise or avoid" because of that, unless the work is needed for their training, they're supervised by a competent person, and the risk is reduced "to the lowest level that is reasonably practicable". L22 adds that "Even when they have been trained, young people may need more supervision".

Some employers set their own minimum. Moray Council's Catering Safety Handbook says no one may operate its slicer "unless they are at least 18 years of age and have been trained or are being trained under supervision". That's Moray's own rule. PUWER sets none. Northern Ireland has the same young-person duty in regulation 19 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000.

What records does PUWER expect?

PUWER itself doesn't require a written risk assessment. That duty, and the written record for employers with five or more employees, comes from regulation 3 of the Management Regulations. Our work equipment risk assessment templates show one built around PUWER's headings.

Enforcement, penalties and real cases

Who enforces and what powers they have

In most restaurants, cafés, pubs and shops in Great Britain, PUWER is enforced by the council's environmental health team (see what an environmental health officer does). In food factories it's HSE. In Northern Ireland, catering premises fall to the district council. An inspector can serve an improvement notice under section 21 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, with a deadline to put things right, or a prohibition notice under section 22 that stops a dangerous machine being used straight away.

Penalties in each nation

Breaking PUWER is an offence under section 33(1)(c) of the 1974 Act, triable either way, with maximum penalties in Schedule 3A:

Prison applies to individuals. Under section 37, a director or manager whose "consent or connivance" or "neglect" led to the company's offence is guilty too. The Sentencing Council's guideline for organisations breaching health and safety regulations applies in England and Wales only, with an offence range of "£50 fine – £10 million fine" read against turnover. In Scotland and Northern Ireland we found no sentencing guideline for health and safety breaches.

Because the offence is triable either way, the six-month limit for summary prosecutions doesn't apply in any nation: section 127(2) of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 disapplies it in England and Wales, article 19(2) of the Magistrates' Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 does the same in Northern Ireland, and in Scotland section 136 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 only covers offences "triable only summarily".

Some PUWER duties are absolute, such as maintenance under regulation 5. Others, like guarding under regulation 11, turn on what's "practicable". Where a duty says "reasonably practicable", as regulation 12 does, section 40 puts the burden on you to prove you couldn't do more.

Three cases from the official record

• A juice maker, an unguarded mash pump (2026). HSE's press release on Daily Dose Ltd says a 25-year-old worker at its Corby factory lifted a hopper lid to clear vegetable pulp by hand on 3 December 2024, and "the rotating worm screw within the hopper caught his gloved hand". The company pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 11(1) and was fined £100,000 with £8,776 costs at Birmingham Crown Court on 16 September 2026.
• A bakery, a conveyor that restarted during cleaning (2026). HSE's press release on David Wood Baking Limited says a worker cleaning a sausage roll line in Sheerness on 1 December 2023 passed her hand through an unguarded conveyor roller. "Although the conveyor line had initially been switched off, it began to operate while she was cleaning it." The company pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 11(1) and was fined £333,333 with £7,644 costs at Medway on 1 September 2026.
• A kebab shop, a fryer that should have been off (2019). The Vale of Glamorgan Council's press release on the Llantwit Major case says the director kept using a fryer a Gas Safe engineer had classed "immediately dangerous". Alongside two gas offences, he admitted "failing to maintain the fryer in a good state of repair and safe condition under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998". He was fined £1,095 with £350 costs and a £111 victim surcharge, and the company was fined £120, at Cardiff Magistrates' Court.

Two of the three injuries happened while someone was cleaning or clearing a machine, which CAIS12 calls the main cause of catering machinery accidents.

Myths and facts

The first two are things kitchen staff say online, from our read of X and Reddit's r/KitchenConfidential in October 2026. The rest are common misreadings of the Regulations.

How to check you're doing PUWER properly

For each machine, after any new purchase, move, breakdown or near miss:

• it's suitable for what you use it for, and nobody's improvising with it;
• guards, interlocks, holders and pushers are fitted, working and used;
• it's on an inspection or maintenance schedule if wear could make it dangerous, and the last result is recorded;
• you've named who may use it and who may strip, clean or sharpen it;
• each of those people has been trained and you can show it;
• the isolator or plug is easy to reach, and staff isolate before cleaning;
• the maker's instructions are on site in a form staff understand.

What has changed recently, and what's next?

• HSE enforcement on food machinery. The two HSE prosecutions above were both sentenced in September 2026, and both were for regulation 11(1).
• L22. HSE's ACOP is the fourth edition (2014), amended in 2018. Under section 17 of the 1974 Act, breaking it isn't an offence in itself, but a relevant provision is admissible in evidence in a prosecution.

legislation.gov.uk shows "no known outstanding effects" for the 1998 Regulations as of 14 October 2026. We found no announced change to PUWER in Great Britain or Northern Ireland. PUWER is health and safety law and sits outside employment law, so the Employment Rights Act 2025 timetable doesn't change any duty on this page.

Related pages

Accident reporting covers what to do when a machine injury is reportable, and our kitchen equipment cleaning checklist turns the isolate-dismantle-clean-reassemble routine into a daily record.

Frequently asked questions

Does PUWER apply to hand tools like knives?

Yes. The regulation 2 definition includes any "tool", and L22 names "knives" and "meat cleavers" among the equipment covered. For a knife, the duties that matter most are suitability (the right knife for the job), maintenance and training.

How often should PUWER inspections be done?

Regulation 6 says "at suitable intervals" and doesn't set a number. You decide the interval from how quickly the equipment deteriorates, the maker's advice and what's gone wrong before, and you inspect after anything exceptional, such as damage or a long time out of use.

Who can carry out a PUWER inspection?

A "competent person". PUWER doesn't define the term. INDG291 says this "could be an employee if they have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to perform the task". HSE's equipment FAQs add that inspections should take account of "any manufacturer's recommendations, the advice of others (such as trade associations and consultants)".