Manufacturing machinery and equipment covers a very wide range of businesses — makers of engines and turbines, pumps and compressors, bearings, gears and transmission equipment, ovens and furnaces, lifting and handling equipment, agricultural and forestry machinery, machine tools, and machinery for specific industries such as food, textiles and construction. They share a starting point: production is machinery- and process-intensive, so the workplace health and safety duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 apply to all of you. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regulates in Great Britain and HSENI in Northern Ireland.
What sets this sector apart is the weight of product-conformity law: almost everything you make has to meet a conformity or type-approval regime — for machinery safety, electromagnetic compatibility, pressure equipment, lifts or vehicles — before you can place it on the market. Use the routes below to find the guides written for your kind of business.
Find your route
Every machinery manufacturer needs both routes below — the factory foundation and the product-conformity rules for what you make. Work through them, then confirm everything with the checklist.
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1
Run a safe factory and employ people
Whatever you make, start with the universal spine. Follow "Set up and run a safe machinery factory" for your health and safety, COSHH controls, work equipment, manual handling, fire safety, insurance, equality and data protection duties.
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2
Place your machinery and equipment on the market
Conformity and type approval for what you make — machinery safety, electromagnetic compatibility, pressure equipment and simple pressure vessels, lifts, agricultural and forestry vehicles, non-road mobile machinery engines, general product safety, and food-contact materials for food-processing machinery. Follow "Place machinery and equipment on the market".
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3
Confirm you have covered everything
Finish with the machinery and equipment manufacturer compliance checklist to confirm your obligations are met before you sell.
Open the guide you need
- Set up and run a safe machinery factory — the universal spine for every manufacturer.
- Place machinery and equipment on the market — the conformity and type-approval regimes for what you make.
- Machinery and equipment manufacturer compliance checklist — confirm you have covered everything.
Official sources
Authoritative starting points for machinery and equipment manufacturing.