Journey
Set up an other-manufacturing business
Learning path for new makers in Division 32 — jewellery, instruments, sports goods, toys, medical and dental devices and other goods. Work out which rules apply, put a safe workshop in place, meet the product-conformity regime for what you make, and verify everything with a compliance checklist.
What this journey is for
Making jewellery, instruments, sports goods, toys, medical devices or other goods puts you among the bench and workshop trades, with duties that begin before your first product reaches a customer. You have to keep your people safe around machinery, hot work and the chemicals you use. You also have to meet your obligations as an employer. And you have to meet the product-conformity regime that fits what you make — from general product safety to the specific rules for toys, PPE, medical devices and hallmarking. 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 shows 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. A jeweller carries the hallmarking rules, a toymaker the Toys (Safety) Regulations, and a maker of surgical or dental instruments the medical-devices regime and MHRA registration — though all share the same workshop-safety foundation. Working this out first tells you which product regime applies to what you make. Use the router guide to find your route before you commit.
Which other manufacturing regulations apply to your business
Work out which rules apply to what you make. A reference guide that routes you from the shared workshop-safety foundation to the product-conformity regime for your products.
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Put your safe-workshop foundations in place
Whatever you make, this is the universal spine. Risk-assess the work, control exposure to your solders, plating chemistry, casting fumes, lacquers and dusts under COSHH, keep your machinery safeguarded under PUWER, manage manual handling, carry out your fire risk assessment, hold employers' liability insurance, and meet your equality and data protection duties. Build this in from the start rather than retrofitting it.
Set up and run a safe other-manufacturing workshop
The duties every maker shares — general health and safety, COSHH controls, work equipment (PUWER), manual handling, fire safety, employers' liability insurance, equality and data protection.
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Meet the product-conformity regime for what you make
This is what differs from maker to maker. Most consumer goods must be safe under general product safety. Toys must meet the Toys (Safety) Regulations. Personal protective equipment must meet its conformity regime. Medical and dental devices must meet the Medical Devices Regulations and MHRA registration. Articles of precious metal must be hallmarked by a UK assay office. The product-safety, toys and PPE regimes are Great Britain regimes (UKCA, or CE which is still accepted on the GB market), medical devices is UK-wide via the MHRA, and hallmarking is UK-wide. If you also supply Northern Ireland, check that position separately. Work out which applies early, because it shapes your design and your conformity work.
Place jewellery, toys, medical devices and other goods on the market
The product-conformity regimes — general product safety, the Toys (Safety) Regulations, PPE, the Medical Devices Regulations with MHRA registration, and hallmarking of precious-metal articles.
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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 product-conformity rules — is genuinely met rather than assumed. Use it as your readiness review before you sell, and come back to it as your product range changes.
Other manufacturing: compliance checklist
Verify you have covered everything before you sell — the universal workshop and employment duties, and the product-conformity regime for what you make.
You will also need the general business set-up duties
Alongside the sector-specific path above, every manufacturing business carries general obligations that apply regardless of trade and 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 the COSHH assessments that bite around solders, plating and finishing chemicals.
- hold employers' liability insurance once you take anyone on.
- handle personal data lawfully — most businesses must complete data protection registration with the ICO.
- meet your fire safety duties for the premises you work from, which matter wherever you use solvents, finishes and hot work.
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-workshop 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 workshop in place, meet the product-conformity regime for what you make, and verify the lot. Work the guides in order and you will have a clear, defensible position from your first sale onwards.