Specification, safety and validation
Use current official sources and project-specific competent assessment for machinery supply, workplace use, explosive atmospheres, quantity control, guarding, cleaning and acceptance.
9 project guides
Compliance cannot be added at the end of a project. The product, pack, process, environment, interfaces and intervention tasks should be reflected in the original specification and acceptance plan.
PUWER duties apply to organisations that own, operate or control work equipment. Machinery must be suitable, maintained, inspected where required and used by trained people with effective controls for dangerous parts.
Open the planning guide →For machinery placed on the Great Britain market, check the current Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations guidance and the applicable conformity route. Current government guidance recognises both CE and UKCA routes for machinery in Great Britain, subject to the relevant requirements.
Open the planning guide →Where flammable liquids, vapours, gases or combustible dusts may create fire or explosion risk, the employer must assess and control the dangerous-substance risk. Equipment selection follows the classified environment and the complete process, not the product name alone.
Open the planning guide →Packers using the average system must control the batch against the three packers rules, use suitable equipment and retain required records. Filling-machine accuracy alone is not the complete quantity-control system.
Open the planning guide →Guarding should follow risk reduction by design and prevent access to dangerous parts while allowing safe production, cleaning, setting, fault recovery and maintenance. The complete integrated line must be assessed, not only each standalone machine.
Open the planning guide →A URS turns a product and packaging need into testable machinery requirements. It should state the operating window, interfaces, utilities, safety, cleaning, data, documentation and measurable acceptance criteria without dictating unnecessary design detail.
Open the planning guide →A factory acceptance test should demonstrate the agreed functions and performance with representative product and packaging before dispatch. The protocol must define the run boundary, samples, measurements, pass criteria, deviations and open actions.
Open the planning guide →Cleaning requirements should be defined from the product hazards, residue, allergen or chemical cross-contamination risk and the equipment design. A fast changeover is acceptable only when the validated clean and line-clearance result is maintained.
Open the planning guide →Product-contact machinery parts, hoses, seals, lubricants and packaging materials must be suitable for their intended food contact, temperature, time and cleaning conditions. Supplier declarations should match the actual application.
Open the planning guide →