Manufacturing is the sector where a generic compliance package does the least good. The building duties are the same as any other premises, on a three-year electrical cycle. The risk lives in the process: the machine without a guard, the solvent without a COSHH assessment, the lathe operator without training. Spend the money there, with someone who understands your process, and keep the building services on sensible per-visit terms.
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Compliance for Manufacturing & workshops
Compliance for Manufacturing & Workshops — What You Actually Need
You run machinery, use chemicals or processes, and employ people to do physical work. Most of your compliance is about the work; the building compliance is standard but on a shorter cycle. Here is what applies, in order, and what to check before you pay anyone.
Your risk profile
High. Manufacturing carries the most specific regulations of any sector on this site: PUWER for machinery, COSHH for substances, noise and vibration regulations, LOLER for lifting equipment. The building compliance is the same as everyone else on a three-year electrical cycle. The workplace compliance is where the money and the enforcement sit.
What applies to you
In the order it matters. Each links to a plain-English guide.
Required by lawYou must do this. Not doing it is an offence.
Required if…Required in some situations, not others. Depends on your premises and how you use them.
Good practiceNot written into law, but it is the recognised way to show you have met a legal duty.
Insurers, landlords or clients ask for itNot a legal requirement. A contractual one. Check the wording of what is actually being asked.
Optional, often oversoldNobody is making you buy this. Suppliers will still try.
Health & Safety Risk AssessmentRequired by law
The foundation, and here it branches into the specific assessments the law names: COSHH for every hazardous substance, noise where levels reach 80 dB, vibration for hand-held tools, machinery under PUWER, lifting equipment under LOLER. A consultant who knows your process is usually worth paying for the specific assessments; the general one is still yours.
Workplace Safety TrainingRequired by law
Machine-specific training, abrasive wheels, forklift, manual handling, COSHH awareness, first aiders on every shift. Named training is expected in this sector because the regulations name the competence.
Fire Risk AssessmentRequired by law
Required and recorded in full. Processes, flammable materials, dust and hot work make this a registered-assessor job. Hot work permits and a DSEAR assessment where flammable atmospheres are possible sit alongside it.
Electrical (EICR)Good practice
Industrial premises: three-year maximum interval. Fixed machinery wiring, three-phase distribution and harsh environments raise both the risk and the price. Get the price per circuit in writing.
Fire Alarm SystemsRequired if…
Required at almost any manufacturing scale, category set by the FRA and adjusted for noise (visual alarms where sounders cannot be heard). Weekly test by you, six-monthly service by an engineer.
Fire ExtinguishersRequired by law
More types than other sectors: CO2 at electrical plant, foam or powder for flammable liquids, wet chemical if there is cooking, possibly specialist units for metals. The FRA sets it.
Emergency LightingRequired if…
Long escape routes, plant rooms and mezzanines. Monthly test by you, annual duration test by an engineer.
PAT TestingGood practice
Hand-held tools and anything in a harsh environment tested annually; the two-year cycle for the rest. A workshop is the one place where PAT intervals genuinely need to be short.
Gas SafetyRequired if…
Process gas, heating and any gas-fired plant: annual servicing by a commercially registered engineer. Industrial and commercial gas categories on the card, not domestic.
Legionella Risk AssessmentRequired by law
Welfare facilities, showers, and any process water or cooling. Cooling towers and evaporative condensers are notifiable and bring a full monitoring regime; most workshops have neither.
Asbestos ManagementRequired if…
Pre-2000 industrial buildings almost always contain it: roof sheets, lagging on old plant, insulating board. Management survey, register, and the register shown to every contractor before they drill.
Common questions
What is PUWER and does it apply to my workshop?
The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. If you have any machinery or work equipment, yes. It requires equipment to be suitable, maintained, inspected where necessary, guarded, and used only by trained people. It is not a certificate you buy; it is a maintenance and inspection regime you run and record.
Do I need a noise assessment?
If daily noise exposure could reach 80 dB(A), you must assess it; at 85 dB(A) hearing protection becomes mandatory and you must reduce exposure. Most workshops with machinery are over 80. A competent person with a sound level meter can do a basic assessment; a specialist is sensible if you are near the 85 threshold.
How is a factory EICR different?
Three-year maximum interval rather than five, more circuits, three-phase supplies, and often a harsher environment. Expect a higher price and a longer visit. C3 items are still C3: a recommendation, not a requirement.
What should this cost?
The highest of any small-business sector, and most of it is workplace rather than premises: specific assessments, training, machinery maintenance. The building lines are standard. Where manufacturers get oversold is on "compliance packages" that bundle the building services on long contracts while ignoring the machinery and COSHH work that actually carries the risk.
Not sure how this applies to your premises?
Tell The Guide about your business and it will help you work out what you actually need — in plain English or full technical detail, your choice.
Review my risk →General information to help you understand your obligations and judge your own risk. Not legal advice.