Manufacturing & Engineering UK-wide

Set up and run a safe wood-products factory

Sawmilling and making wood products — sawn timber, veneers, plywood and particle board, joinery, packaging and other wood and cork goods — is machinery- and dust-intensive. Whatever you make, this is the universal spine. It takes you through your core workplace health and safety duties, control of wood dust, work equipment safety, manual handling, fire safety, employers' liability insurance, equality and data protection, and the environmental permit that larger plants need.

Guide summary

Set up safe machinery and control wood dust in your wood-products factory. Follow health and safety law, assess risks, and protect your workers from dust, noise, and machinery. You must also get an environmental permit if your plant is large enough.

  • Risk-assess all machinery, dust, noise, and material handling
  • Control wood dust under COSHH – it can cause cancer and asthma
  • Install local exhaust ventilation on saws, sanders, and routers
  • Keep wood dust below the workplace exposure limit
  • Arrange health surveillance for workers exposed to hardwood dust
  • Provide safe systems of work and train your staff
  • Check if you need an environmental permit for your plant
  • Follow HSE rules in Great Britain or HSENI in Northern Ireland
On this page

Related guides in Employment & HR

Running clinical trials in the UK

How to get MHRA authorisation for clinical trials of investigational medicinal products (CTIMPs). Covers combined review process, GCP …

Sawmilling and making wood products — converting logs, making veneers, plywood and wood-based panels, joinery and builders' carpentry, wooden packaging and other wood and cork goods — is machinery- and dust-intensive. The duties in this guide apply to running the plant and employing people, whatever you make. Get this spine in place first, then layer the rules for placing wood products on the market on top.

Health and safety law here is largely devolved. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the regulator in Great Britain and the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) in Northern Ireland. The underlying duties are equivalent across the UK. Work through the sections below in order.

A. Meet your general health and safety duty

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 is the foundation. You must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of your employees and of anyone else affected by your work. In a sawmill or wood-products plant that means risk-assessing sawing, planing and panel machinery, dust, noise and material handling, providing safe systems of work, and training and supervising your people.

B. Control wood dust (COSHH)

Wood dust is the defining health hazard in this division — hardwood dust is carcinogenic, and both hardwood and softwood dust can cause asthma. The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) require you to assess, then prevent or adequately control, exposure: provide local exhaust ventilation on saws, sanders and routers, keep to the wood-dust workplace exposure limit, and arrange health surveillance where the regulations require it. The same duties cover the adhesives, resins, preservatives and finishes you use. In Northern Ireland the equivalent COSHH (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2003 apply.

C. Keep your work equipment safe (PUWER)

Your machinery — circular saws and resaws, planers and thicknessers, spindle moulders, sanders, routers, panel saws, chippers and barkers — must be suitable, properly maintained, inspected and adequately safeguarded under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. Woodworking-machine guarding (the spindle moulder and circular saw in particular), braking, and safe isolation for setting and maintenance are recurring HSE enforcement themes.

D. Manage manual handling

Moving logs, sawn timber, boards, panels and packed product is routine and often heavy, so the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 apply. Avoid hazardous manual handling so far as is reasonably practicable. Where you cannot, assess the risk and reduce it — through lifting and handling equipment, better layout and safe systems of work.

E. Manage fire safety

Timber, wood dust, packaging and flammable adhesives and finishes give a wood-products plant a high fire load, and wood dust is also an explosion risk in extraction and silo systems. The responsible person must carry out a fire risk assessment and maintain fire-safety arrangements, including dust extraction and control of ignition sources. The duty is devolved: the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in England and Wales, the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006 in Scotland, and the Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 in Northern Ireland.

F. Hold employers' liability insurance

As soon as you employ anyone, you must hold employers' liability compulsory insurance — normally at least £5 million of cover — and display or make available the certificate. This is a legal requirement across Great Britain, with an equivalent duty in Northern Ireland.

G. Meet your equality duties

As an employer you must not discriminate against, harass or victimise people because of a protected characteristic. In Great Britain this is governed by the Equality Act 2010. In Northern Ireland separate equality legislation applies, enforced by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.

H. Handle personal data lawfully

If you process personal data — about staff, customers or suppliers — you must comply with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, and in most cases pay the data protection fee to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). This applies UK-wide.

I. Check whether your installation needs an environmental permit

Larger wood-processing plants need an environmental permit. Manufacturing particle board, oriented strand board, fibreboard or plywood above the regulated capacity, and burning wood waste or operating combustion plant above the thresholds, are permitted activities controlling emissions to air, water and land. In England the regulator is the Environment Agency and in Wales Natural Resources Wales, under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016. In Scotland it is SEPA and in Northern Ireland the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, under their equivalent regimes. Check whether your plant is in scope and apply for the right permit before you operate.

  1. 1

    1. Write your health and safety risk assessments

    Assess sawing, planing and panel machinery, wood dust, noise and handling, and put safe systems of work, training and supervision in place under HASAWA 1974.

  2. 2

    2. Put COSHH controls in for wood dust

    Assess hardwood and softwood dust and the adhesives, resins, preservatives and finishes you use. Fit local exhaust ventilation on saws and sanders and arrange health surveillance where COSHH requires it.

  3. 3

    3. Bring work equipment into a PUWER regime

    Make sure saws, planers, spindle moulders, sanders and panel machinery are guarded and braked, maintained, inspected and safely isolated for setting and maintenance.

  4. 4

    4. Control manual handling and carry out your fire risk assessment

    Reduce hazardous handling of logs, timber and panels, and assess fire and dust-explosion risk under the regime for your nation.

  5. 5

    5. Take out insurance, register with the ICO and check your permit

    Arrange at least £5 million of employers' liability cover, pay the data protection fee unless exempt, and confirm whether your plant needs an environmental permit before you operate.

What to do next

This spine covers the duties of running the plant and employing people. On top of it sit the rules for what you sell:

Official sources

Authoritative health and safety, data-protection and environmental guidance.