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PUWER eLearning
Online PUWER training covering what counts as work equipment, what makes it suitable, and the guards, checks and training the Regulations expect before anyone uses it.
Who it is for
Who this puwer course is for
PUWER covers almost anything used at work: machinery, hand tools, ladders, lifting gear, vehicles. If your people use equipment, PUWER applies to you, and most breaches come down to guarding, maintenance or training.
- Manufacturing, engineering and workshop staff
- Maintenance and engineering teams
- Supervisors responsible for machinery and tools
- Site and facilities managers
- Anyone who selects or buys work equipment
- Health and safety representatives
Course content
What the puwer course covers
Six short modules covering the duties PUWER places on employers and the practical checks that keep equipment safe to use.
What PUWER covers
The breadth of work equipment, and where other regulations take over.
Suitability and selection
Choosing equipment suitable for the task, the place and the person using it.
Guards and protection devices
The hierarchy of guarding, and why removed guards are the most common serious breach.
Maintenance and inspection
Keeping equipment in efficient working order, and when formal inspection is required.
Information, instruction and training
What users, supervisors and maintainers each need to know.
Controls, markings and warnings
Stop and emergency stop controls, isolation, and clear markings.
Outcomes
What you will be able to do afterwards
- Say whether a given item counts as work equipment under PUWER
- Judge whether equipment is suitable for the task and the user
- Recognise inadequate or defeated guarding
- Explain what maintenance and inspection PUWER requires
- Identify the training a user or maintainer needs
- Check that controls, isolation and markings are adequate
Your legal duty
The law behind puwer training
The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 require work equipment to be suitable for its purpose, maintained in efficient working order, inspected where necessary, and used only by people who have received adequate training. Guards and protection devices must be provided where there is a risk from dangerous parts.
PUWER applies alongside other regulations rather than instead of them. Lifting equipment also falls under LOLER, and specific hazards such as noise, vibration and hazardous substances have their own regimes.
- Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER)
- Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 - for lifting equipment
- Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 - sections 2 and 7
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 - risk assessment
Practicalities
How the course works
For employers
PUWER training for a team
PUWER awareness is a standard requirement for anyone on a shop floor. Training everyone gives supervisors a shared language for challenging unsafe equipment.
- One invoice instead of a card payment per person
- Licences allocated as people join, so induction is covered
- Completion and expiry reporting for your records
- Renewal reminders before certificates lapse
- Bespoke versions built around your own procedures
Lifting equipment carries additional duties under LOLER on top of PUWER. See the LOLER course →
PUWER eLearning: common questions
Almost anything used at work: machinery, hand tools, ladders, vehicles, lifting gear and installations. The course explains the breadth and where other regulations take over.
Yes. PUWER applies to equipment in use, not only to new purchases, which is why older machinery is a common source of breaches.
No. PUWER requires inspection where safety depends on the installation conditions or where equipment is exposed to deteriorating conditions. The course explains how to judge which items need it.
PUWER covers work equipment generally. LOLER adds duties specific to lifting equipment and lifting operations, including thorough examination. Equipment that lifts is covered by both.
About 30 minutes, with no time limit: start it, pause it, and come back whenever suits. The certificate is issued the moment you finish.
Yes. It runs in a browser on any modern phone, tablet or computer, with nothing to install.
Yes. Open a business account and we invoice you for the licences, which you allocate as people need them, with completion reporting included.
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