10.

Plant

Plant and Equipment

Selection and type

United Enterprises Company will provide safe equipment and manage the risks in its use,
handling, storage and transport.

United Enterprises Company will provide work equipment suitable for the purpose for
which it is used or provided, and used only for operations for which it is suitable.

In selecting new equipment, United Enterprises Company will select it so that the risks to
the health and safety of users can be managed taking account of:
- The working conditions and risk to health and safety from the premises it will be
used in
- Who will use the equipment
- The work equipment itself and the purpose for which it will be used
- Its initial integrity and conformity with local safety requirements and legislation
- ergonomic factors, to avoid undue strain on the user
- The need for adequate space and safe access, including maintenance activities
(especially if working at height)
- The forms of energy used or produced (e.g. radiation, vibration, noise). Information
on noise and vibration emissions should be sought early on in the process of
selecting new work equipment. By selecting low vibration and lower noise
equipment, the risks from exposure to these hazards during its use will be reduced
- The substances used or produced (e.g. fumes)
To do this, United Enterprises Company will carefully go through the Information produced
by the work equipment manufacturer to select suitable work equipment. And wherever
necessary will perform risk assessment, to identify where hazards can be avoided or reduced
by selecting suitable work equipment (such as those with lower noise or vibration levels), or
to determine the specification of bespoke equipment.

Inspection Regime
The purpose of an inspection is to identify whether work equipment can be operated,
adjusted and maintained safely – with any deterioration detected and remedied before it
results in a health and safety risk.

Inspection should be carried for any equipment where significant risks to health and safety
may arise from incorrect installation, reinstallation, deterioration or any other circumstances.
The need for inspection and inspection frequencies should be determined through risk
assessment.

The result of the inspection should be recorded and this record should be kept at least until
the next inspection of that equipment. Records should be held securely and made available
upon request by any enforcing authority.

Work equipment that requires inspection should not be used, unless the inspection has taken
place. As a poof, the equipment should be accompanied by physical evidence of the last
inspection, such as an inspection report or, for smaller items of equipment, some form of
tagging, color coding or labeling system.

The circumstances where inspection is required to ensure healthy and safe conditions are
maintained:
- where the safety of work equipment depends on the installation conditions, it should
be inspected after installation and before first use, and after reassembly at any new
site / location
 - at suitable intervals, where work equipment is exposed to conditions causing
deterioration liable to result in dangerous situations
- each time exceptional circumstances (eg major modifications, known or suspected
serious damage, substantial change in the nature of use) are liable to have
jeopardized the safety of the work equipment

An inspection should concentrate on those safety-related parts which are necessary for the
safe operation of work equipment and, in some cases, this may require testing or
dismantling. An inspection can vary in its extent, from:
- quick checks before use (e.g. electric cable condition on hand-held power tools) to
- weekly checks (e.g. function of safety devices, tyre pressures) to
- more extensive examinations, undertaken every few months or longer (e.g. general
condition of a ladder, close examination of a safety harness)
- The use of checklists to be tailored to the particular type of work equipment to
minimize the burden to what is strictly necessary for safety.

Frequency
Work equipment which is exposed to conditions causing deterioration that could result in a
dangerous situation should be inspected at suitable intervals, and after every event liable to
jeopardize its safety.
The frequency of inspection may vary, depending on environmental conditions (e.g.
equipment subject to harsh outdoor conditions is likely to need more frequent inspections
than if used in an indoor environment).
The frequency of inspection should be determined through risk assessment, taking account
of the manufacturer's recommendations, industry advice and your own experience. It may be
appropriate to review the frequency of inspection in the light of your experience. Intervals
between inspections can be increased if the inspection history shows negligible
deterioration, or shortened where experience shows this is necessary to prevent danger.
Responsibility
Equipment shell be inspected by authorized personnel who has sufficient knowledge and
experience of it to enable them to know what to look at, what to look for, what to do if they
find a problem
The necessary level of competence will vary for inspections, according to the type of
equipment and how / where it is used. Inspections can often be done in-house by
experienced staff, taking account of:
- the manufacturer's recommendations
- industry advice
- their own experience of the equipment, its use, the particular factors of the workplace
and the people using the work equipment

Training and competence

United Enterprises Company must ensure that all persons who use work equipment have
received adequate training for the purposes of health and safety, including training in the
methods which may be adopted when using work equipment, and risks which such use may
entail and the precautions to be taken.

Requirements for adequate training may vary according to:

- the job or activity
- the existing competence of workers
- the circumstances of the work (e.g. degree of supervision)
- the work equipment etc.

The training standard required should be adequate in ensuring the health and safety of
workers and any people who may be affected by the work, so far as reasonably practicable.

All those providing training on the use of any work equipment should be sufficiently skilled
and competent. United Enterprises Company will establish what training is appropriate in
each particular circumstance; whether internally by in house staff or externally. Externally-
provided training on the use of work equipment (e.g. the operation of crane) could be
attained from a wide range of organizations. Or by relevant trade association that may have
training schemes in place for some work activities

Training and the techniques used can vary and may include (as appropriate to the risk,
complexity of the task, equipment and existing competence of staff):
- self-study, e.g. reading manufacturer's instructions
- simple in-house instruction and demonstration, with supervision
- formal in-house training, provided by competent, qualified or experienced staff –
often coupled with some form of documented competence assessment
- externally provided training (usually with a competence assessment), provided by
competent, suitably qualified people

Training will be undertaken on or off the job (whether at the workplace or elsewhere) but
should normally take place within working hours and at no cost to the employee.

Training may need to be refreshed at suitable intervals to ensure workers remain competent.

Changes in work equipment, the system of work or the introduction of new equipment may
all require additional training to ensure health and safety.

Competence and competent people who examine work equipment

All people using work equipment or supervising or managing its use should be sufficiently
competent to do so safely. Competence may include, in some cases, minimum medical
fitness (e.g. for driving vehicles) and either or both physical and mental aptitude (e.g. the
ability to climb and work at height to operate a tower crane), as well as knowledge and skill.

'Competence' could also be achieved by undertaking minimum training requirements to

undertake tasks safely and without risk to health.
A competent person to examine work equipment should have such appropriate practical and
theoretical knowledge and experience of the equipment to be thoroughly examined as will
enable them to detect defects and to assess their importance in relation to the safety and
continued use of the equipment.

United Enterprises Company will employ competent people, and those working
independently, to meet this definition in a number of ways, through training, continuous
professional development (CPD), assessment and reassessment.

Maintenance
To ensure work equipment does not deteriorate to the extent that it may put people at risk,
all work equipment should be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient order and in good
repair; where any machinery has a maintenance log, the log is kept up to date; and that
maintenance operations on work equipment can be carried out safely.

The frequency and nature of maintenance should be determined through risk assessment,
taking full account of:
- The manufacturer's recommendations describing what maintenance is required to
keep the equipment safe and how this can be done safely.
- The intensity of use
- Operating environment (e.g. the effect of temperature, corrosion, weathering)
- User knowledge and experience
- The risk to health and safety from any foreseeable failure or malfunction

For high-risk equipment, Maintenance logs are mandatory to provide useful information
for the future planning of maintenance, as well as informing maintenance personnel of
previous action taken. This must be kept up to date.
Steps should be taken to manage any risks arising from maintenance activity.
Manufacturer's instructions should be followed on how to safely undertake maintenance of
their work equipment.

Where possible, equipment should normally be shut down and any residual / stored energy
safely released. For high-risk equipment, positive means of disconnecting the equipment
from the energy source may be required (e.g. isolation), along with means to prevent
inadvertent reconnection (e.g. by locking off). Formal systems of work, such as a permit
to work [1], are required to safely manage high-risk maintenance operations.

In some cases, it may not be possible to avoid particular significant hazards during the
maintenance of work equipment so appropriate measures should be taken to protect people
and minimize the risk. These may include physical measures, eg providing temporary
guarding, management issues, including safe systems of work, supervision, monitoring
and ensuring the personnel competence (training, skill, awareness and knowledge of risk)

Maintenance work should only be undertaken by those who are competent [10] to do the
work, who have been provided with sufficient information, instruction and training [11].
With high-risk or complex equipment, these demands may be significant and, in some
cases, may be best undertaken by the manufacturer or specialist contractors.

Certifications
Certain equipment that present high risks in the working environment i.e. lifting
equipment such as cranes bought onto the project will require valid third party
certification as to testing. Such certification shall have been issued within the last 12
months and fulfill all relevant legislative requirements