Safety legislation - does you machinery comply?

With some companies not having yet complied with safety legislation deadlined over a year ago, a safety consultant warns of the consequences of ignoring future safety legislation deadlines.

Bringing the workplace into compliance with new regulations or legislation can be a time-consuming and costly process.

With the compliance dates often being set several years into the future it is easy to be tempted into thinking that there is plenty of time.

Unfortunately, like Christmas, the deadline always seems to arrive much faster than expected, resulting in a massive effort to complete necessary work on time.

However, with careful planning the workload and costs involved in compliance can be managed through a staged process.

For example, PUWER 98 (provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998), which applies to machinery and equipment in all industry sectors, set an initial deadline of 5th December 2003, i.e a full five years in which to undertake necessary work.

Nevertheless, there are still some businesses that have not yet brought the specified equipment into compliance.

This first stage of compliance has focussed on woodworking machinery and relates to retrofitting of braking on circular saw benches, dimension saws, powered and hand-fed cross-cut saws, single end and double-end tenoning machines incorporating a circular saw and/or tenoning attachment.

If you operate any of these machines and have not yet brought them into compliance, you are in contravention of the Regulations and should take immediate action.

The next deadline under PUWER 98 is 5th December 2005 and applies to narrow bandsaws, re-saws, vertical spindle mounding machines (unless fitted with manual or foot operated brake), hand-fed routing machines, thicknessing machines, and surface planning machines.

If you are working towards 2005 there is till time to plan to spread the load by undertaking work in several stages.

Consider how the work can be accommodated with least disruption to the production process.

Do you have close-down periods when work could be carried out? Develop a schedule/timetable for necessary work to be undertaken on individual machines or groups of machines.

Time must also be allowed for machine specific training of operatives and any appropriate protective equipment must be purchased.

By spreading the work over a period of time, not only minimises downtime and disruption to production but also allows expenditure to be scheduled in accordance with forecast cashflow projections.

The final deadline under PUWER 98 is 5th December 2008 and applies to any other machines not included under the earlier deadlines where the risk assessment shows braking to be necessary.

Garry Burns is a Director of Fenay Machine Safety.

Fenay Machine Safety is widely recognised as the leading expert in PUWER 98 compliance and is a 'one-stop-shop' for all aspects of machinery safety and employee training issues, with consultants and engineers qualified and experienced in a wide range of industries.

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