With stock constantly being moved, refilled, and shipped out, workers in busy distribution centres are at significant risk of harm. This means that, as the employer, enforcing a high standard of warehouse health and safety compliance is incredibly important.
Mitigating or eliminating the likelihood of risks in the workplace will protect your employees, visitors, and any nearby pedestrians from injury. It will also limit the costly downtime of dealing with faulty company equipment, whether that means waiting for engineers, having to deep clean machinery, or replacing equipment entirely.
Undergoing frequent PUWER inspection services is a reliable and convenient way for distribution centres to ensure they are maintaining a responsible and compliant environment. Find out more below.
Understanding PUWER Regulations
The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) is an Approved Code of Practice and Guidance (ACOP) to help construction companies and other industries stay compliant with the legal requirements for workplace health and safety.
UK PUWER regulations require that any equipment provided for use in the workplace or on external worksites is regularly inspected to ensure that it is in safe condition, maintained for safe use, and suitable for the intended use.
PUWER provides important guidance for distribution centres to follow, but it also applies to anyone in any industry that is responsible for workplace equipment. Two important pieces of equipment for companies to maintain include roller shutter doors and dock levelers.
How Often Should Roller Shutter Doors Be Serviced?
PUWER is considered guidance rather than law, but many types of machinery and other workplace equipment fall under legal maintenance and service requirements under the Health and Safety at Work Act. Roller shutter doors, for example, must be serviced at least once every 12 months.
The legal requirement for roller shutter door maintenance should be considered an absolute minimum. It is always good practice to schedule professional servicing once every 6 months to keep them operating at their best.
Depending on your distribution centre, your roller shutter doors might be used more frequently or be exposed to harsher conditions than others. In this case, consider organising a roller shutter door service every 4 months.
How Often Should Dock Levelers Be Serviced?
The three main types of dock levelers include mechanical, air, and hydraulic. While hydraulic levelers tend to require less frequent servicing, mechanical levelers often need more, leaving air-powered levelers somewhere between the two – depending on your distribution centre’s demands.
It is recommended that you schedule mechanical dock leveler maintenance every 3 months. Between intervals of professional servicing, your staff should complete daily maintenance to eliminate any potential risks to users and identify faults that may affect the functioning of the equipment.
Air and hydraulic levelers may require servicing less often, but it is still recommended that you schedule qualified servicing every 3 months, alongside daily maintenance. It is also good practice to check and tighten the control box mounting hardware and re-torque shoulder bolts once every year.
Roller Shutters & Dock Levelers Regulations
Roller shutter doors have the potential to cause significant harm. Injuries can be prevented with high workplace health and safety standards, including basic safety devices such as:
- Built-in safety device – if the motor inside of the door has a built-in safety device, it can limit the force of the door as it opens and closes, reducing impact.
- Safety brake – a device that stops the door from dropping suddenly in the case of a fault.
- Deadman switch – a visible rocker switch that must be held down constantly for the door to function.
- CE marking – to ensure the equipment and any modifications are legally certified.
Like roller shutter doors, dock levelers regulations include basic safety devices, such as anti-crush devices, anti-fall systems, seals, bumpers, and barrier lips.
Ensuring that your workplace equipment is compliant with the Health and Safety at Work Act can seem complicated, but PUWER inspection services can help you keep on top of these routine services.
How We Categorise Risks & Report to the Client
At ISI, we offer expert impartial advice. We provide our clients with an Inspection Service contract for individual inspections or inspection plans setting out the equipment to be examined and the schedule of inspections over the next year.
When both parties are ready to proceed, one of our technically qualified engineers will make an appointment to carry out the inspection. Serious faults or defects will be reported immediately during the appointment. In serious cases, we will advise you to remove or isolate the faulty machinery.
Once the inspection is complete, our engineer will go over any other technical issues with you. We will then send you a full written report via our secure online reporting system or by email.
Why Use an Independent PUWER Inspection Provider Rather Than Your Maintenance Team?
Whether law or guidance, health and safety in the workplace is not something you want to get wrong. It can also be difficult to keep track of scheduling regular services if your distribution centre has a lot of different equipment. That’s why independent PUWER inspection providers are popular – they will do the hard work for you.
Often there is equipment in the workplace that can be considered lower-risk and may be inspected by your in-house maintenance team if they are sufficiently trained. However, inspections of high-risk company equipment must be thorough and completed by a qualified professional.
Independent PUWER inspection service providers, such as ISI, are a reliable and convenient way for companies to check that their roller shutter doors and dock levelers adhere to health and safety regulations. This will give you confidence that your workers, visitors, and nearby pedestrians are safe.
PUWER Inspections by ISI
Industrial Safety Inspections (ISI) offer workplace equipment assessments and testing at competitive prices across the UK.
When choosing ISI, you can be sure that our highly qualified specialists will provide you with impartial and professional PUWER inspections, helping you keep on top of maintenance and adhere to health and safety regulations.
At ISI, we pride ourselves on the quality of our service. For a no-obligation quotation, please get in touch.