Journey
Set up a repair services business
Learning path for new repair businesses — computers, phones, tablets, household appliances and personal goods. Work out which rules apply, put a safe business in place, meet your f-gas and WEEE duties if they apply, and verify everything with a compliance checklist.
What this journey is for
Repairing computers, phones, household appliances and personal goods puts you among the service trades, with duties that begin before you take your first job. You have to keep your people safe in the workshop, meet your obligations as an employer, handle customer data on the devices you work on responsibly, and — if you repair refrigeration or air-conditioning equipment or generate waste electronics — hold specific certifications and follow waste-handling rules. This journey walks you through that path in the order you will live it, from working out which rules apply through to checking you have everything in place.
It does not give you the step-by-step instructions or the figures — those live in the guides it points to. It tells you where you are, why each stage matters, and which guide to open next.
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Work out which regulations apply to you
Start by getting the picture right. Every repair business shares the same workplace-safety foundation, but what you add on top depends on what you repair. A fridge and air-conditioning repairer needs f-gas certification, and anyone generating waste electrical equipment must route it through approved treatment facilities. Most businesses repairing computers, phones and watches need only the spine. Working this out first tells you whether the f-gas and WEEE duties apply to your work. Use the router guide to find your route before you commit.
Which repair services regulations apply to your business
Work out which rules apply to the kind of equipment you repair. A reference guide that routes you from the shared workplace-safety foundation to the f-gas and WEEE duties.
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Put your safe-business foundations in place
Whatever you repair, this is the universal spine. Risk-assess your workshop — electrical safety, soldering fume, battery handling, manual handling of equipment. Carry out your fire risk assessment, hold employers' liability insurance, and meet your equality and data protection duties. Repair businesses handle customer devices that may contain personal data, so clear data-handling procedures are part of the foundation. Build this in from the start rather than retrofitting it.
Set up and run a safe repair services business
The duties every repair business shares — general health and safety in the workshop, fire safety, employers' liability insurance, equality and data protection, including data handling for customer devices.
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Meet your f-gas and WEEE duties if they apply
This is what sets some repair businesses apart. If you repair refrigeration, air-conditioning or heat-pump equipment containing fluorinated greenhouse gases, both your company and your engineers must hold f-gas certification before you do the work. You must carry out leak checks, recover gas rather than vent it, and keep records. If your repairs generate waste electrical and electronic equipment, you must store it separately and dispose of it only through an Approved Authorised Treatment Facility. You must also register as a waste carrier if you transport it yourself. If neither regime applies to what you repair, you can move straight to the checklist.
Meet your f-gas and WEEE repair duties
F-gas certification for repairing refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment, and WEEE waste-handling duties for repair businesses that generate waste electrical and electronic equipment.
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Verify you have covered everything
Once the moving parts are in motion, take a step back and check the whole picture holds together. A compliance checklist lets you confirm, in one place, that each obligation — workplace, employment, and the f-gas and WEEE duties if they apply — is genuinely met rather than assumed. Use it as your readiness review before you take on work, and come back to it as you expand into new kinds of repair.
Repair services: compliance checklist
Verify you have covered everything — the universal workplace and employment duties, and the f-gas and WEEE duties if they apply to the kind of equipment you repair.
You will also need the general business set-up duties
Alongside the sector-specific path above, every business carries general obligations that are not unique to repair services but are just as compulsory. As you build the business you will also need to:
- protect the people who work for you — meet your workplace health and safety duties, including electrical safety and soldering-fume extraction in the workshop.
- hold employers' liability insurance once you take anyone on.
- handle personal data lawfully — most businesses must complete data protection registration with the ICO, and repair businesses must have clear procedures for handling data on customer devices.
- meet your fire safety duties for the premises you work from, especially where you store lithium batteries and solvents.
These general duties run in parallel with the sector path rather than after it, so set them up as you establish the business. The safe-business spine and the compliance checklist bring the core duties together so you can confirm they are covered.
Where this leaves you
You now have the shape of the whole task. Work out which rules apply, put a safe business in place, meet your f-gas and WEEE duties if they apply, and verify the lot. Work the guides in order and you will have a clear, defensible position before you take on work.