Equipment safety checklist

The volume of electrical equipment that you have can easily add up, so it’s important that you have safe systems of work in place to govern its use. Our checklist can help you monitor them.

Equipment safety checklist

Once you’ve purchased equipment, you need to introduce safe systems of work. This is where checklists come in very handy, as they’re an easy means of ensuring that any systems you may have introduced are working. They can be very general, such as an Equipment Safety Checklist. This type of checklist can be applied to any piece of machinery or hand tool on your premises. Due to its extensive coverage, it’s presented in five sections.

Equipment safety and hazard management

The first two sections consider the equipment’s safety features, such as machinery guarding and isolation features and whether or not its hazards are being adequately managed. Potential risks include items being accidentally ejected or of the equipment catching fire. Other questions look at the potential effect of the working environment on safe use of equipment. For example, whether lighting levels allow operators to work safely and whether they’re protected from the effects of any temperature extremes.

Training, safe use and maintenance

Section three concentrates on what information and training is provided to staff and how it’s recorded, whilst the fourth looks at safe use of this equipment. This includes aspects such as clear marking of start and stop controls as well as appropriate use of warning signage. The fifth and final section looks at what planned preventive maintenance is in place and how well it’s documented.